Careers

About Ashurst Advance:

We are recruiting for a strategic and collaborative User Researcher to join the Digital Experience team within the Digital Office, part of Ashurst Advance.

Ashurst Advance is Ashurst's NewLaw division that utilises market-leading technology, refined processes, and subject matter expertise in a wide array of technology-enabled legal and eDiscovery services that works alongside Ashurst's legal experts to solve our clients' business problems through optimal efficiency, cost effectiveness and digitally innovative legal service delivery. Our market leading offering has been globally recognised including:

• Band 1 ranking for Law Firm LPO, Alternative Legal Service Providers (Chambers Global, 2021, 2022 and 2023), the only Law Firm in Australia to have this ranking.
• Most Innovative Law Firm, APAC & Europe (FT Innovative Lawyer Awards 2023)
• Most Innovative Firm Headquartered outside Asia-Pacific (Financial Times APAC Innovative Law Awards, 2022 and 2024)
• Innovation in the Business of Law: New Solutions (Financial Times APAC Innovative Law Awards, 2022)

About the Role:

Division

Ashurst Advance

Practice Group

Digital Office

Team

Digital Experience(DX)

Role

User Researcher

Title

Specialist - Digital Experience

Location

UK - open to either London or Glasgow

The Digital Office is responsible for the articulation and implementation of the firm's digital strategy and has digital experience at the heart of its approach. The DX team is a supportive team that is unafraid to push boundaries and deliver change.

The DX team works as an in-house research and development team supporting the initiatives of the Digital Office through its capability and expertise in UX Research, Engagement Design, Service Design, UX/UI Design and Legal Design.

The team supports the entirety of the Digital Office portfolio that encompasses Client Solutions, Digital Workplace, AI and Automation and Digital Culture and Literacy. The team also supports broader firm and division initiatives on a consultancy basis as required/ appropriate.

Recent work has included envisioning the future digital workplace at Ashurst, designing and implementing numerous AI Trials for large swathes of the organisation, designing and delivering the global rollout of a third party generative AI solution, developing the firm's AI strategy and designing client facing digital products.

We believe the role offers the right candidate a chance to join a team at an exciting stage of expansion, to see initiatives through from idea to implementation and to shape and drive transformation in a firm committed to outpacing change.

What will you be doing?

Day-to-day, you'll collaborate with cross functional teams, influence decision making and drive transformation in legal service delivery.

Your responsibilities will include, but are not limited, to:

Understanding the user

Leading on or carrying out user research activities including:

• Designing and conducting user research, testing, experiments and workshops with users, internal and external, to elicit pain points, needs, requirements, motivations and understand behaviours and impact of changes on the user base
• Analysing, translating and synthesising often complex and sometimes legally intricate user experience insights into actionable design and strategic recommendations; and
• Bringing user research insights to life including through visual and storytelling techniques so that they can be understood and appreciated by a wider audience

Designing and delivering digital experiences and engagement activities

Including:

• Collaborating with service designers, UX/UI designers and engagement designers in the team to apply user research findings to the design and delivery of digital experiences and engagement activity; and
• Supporting, where appropriate, with the creation of wireframes, low fidelity prototypes, visuals and storyboards that ideas to life so that concepts can be communicated, tested and iterated with users

Creating the conditions and setting the standard

Including:

• Championing user experience evidence-based decision making across the firm and instilling an experience-led culture
• Driving organisational change by advocating for user research best practices and standards and advocate for inclusive and equitable design
• Developing and maintaining resources, templates and standards for use by the team, function, division and firm and coaching and upskilling others in the field, ethos and culture of user-centered design and cultivating a culture of experimentation and continuous improvement within the team, practice, division and firm

Driving the strategy and roadmap of the Digital Office

Including:

• Through the application of your skillset and experience supporting wider Digital Office projects and initiatives where relevant including, but not limited, to producing visually compelling and insightful reflections, thought leadership and content for both internal and external audiences; and
• Supporting the team to inform and influence investment, prioritisation and sequencing decisions based on collected research and insights

About you

Capabilities / Skills we are looking for:

Confident and diplomatic communicators

Collaborative, direct yet diplomatic, and inspiring visual communicators, mediators and storytellers who can articulate their work and concepts in a way that suits the audience and can translate between technical and non-technical.

Realistic reality makers

Pragmatic and resourceful reality makers that can translate ideas into reality through prototyping and experimentation bringing the future alive whilst mindful of the constraints of today.

Agile adapters

Ability to use skillsets and superpowers in a malleable way. Agile, adaptable, and open to learning with the ability to harness ambiguity to shape new opportunities and approaches.

Creative and visual thinkers and do-ers

Visually creative and daring do-ers and thinkers that can inspire whilst being willing to roll up their sleeves and get stuck in.

Collaborative co-creators

Human and team centred focused on creating and maintaining inclusive, safe, and inspiring spaces and places to work, share and co-create.

Skills and Experience

Must have:

• a degree in design, business or a related field
• 2-3 years' experience in a user research or user experience design related role;
• a strong portfolio that showcases your capability and experience and different facets of your toolkit/approach and how you have applied them;
• experience of and ease with working in agile, open and cross functional teams;
• enthusiasm and excitement for innovation, digital transformation, new research best practices and continual learning; and
• strong communication, facilitation and collaboration skills.

Should have:

• experience of working in a professional services, preferably legal, environment;
• knowledge or interest in the evolution and transformation of the legal industry;
• the ability to absorb and synthesise large amounts of information and create sense and simplicity;
• confidence and fluency in the language and tools of agile, lean and design (including the use of Miro and Figma);and
• expertise and or interest in generative AI and the risks and opportunities it presents your profession and the professional services industry.

Could have:

• interest or experience in content design and/or legal design;
• industry qualifications in user design, user research, design thinking and/or change management; and
• prior experience of running generative AI trials and large-scale user experiments.

Won't have

An aversion to getting hands dirty and training up others in your discipline!

Accessibility

We are committed to making all stages of our recruitment process accessible to candidates with disabilities or long-term health conditions. If you consider yourself to have a disability or a long-term health condition, please feel able to be open about this at any point during the recruitment process. If you are not sure what adjustments you require, we will work with you to establish the most suitable adjustments at each stage of the recruitment process. Please note that our online application form includes a section which allows you to advise us of any extenuating circumstances that are relevant for us to consider when reviewing your application form. Any information disclosed on your disability will remain strictly confidential and please contact us if you have any questions.

Background Checks

To comply with regulatory and client requirements, Ashurst will undertake appropriate vetting of staff. When applicants accept a job offer, Ashurst, alongside a specialist provider, will undertake professional verification and background checks. These checks are only undertaken with consent, and in accordance with our legal and regulatory obligations.

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