HDR UK requires the services of an experienced User Engagement and Project Manager to support the development and uptake of a Population Research Gateway in a collaboration with Population Research UK. The portal will be a unified, scalable, and researcher-centric discovery platform that re-uses, adapts, and extends the modular open-source codebase and infrastructure of the Health Data Research Gateway to serve the UK’s longitudinal population-study (LPS) ecosystem. This standardised LPS metadata register will collate and harmonise population cohorts through a single new intuitive portal, enabling for the first time researchers and clinical trial specialists to assess UK wide LPS data availability to rapidly discover and access datasets.
The successful candidate will be part of a multidisciplinary team that develops an over-arching interoperable infrastructure to ensure that UK LPS data assets are Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reuseable (FAIR) and accessible for research, innovation and clinical trials. The chosen applicant will be expected to work within an Agile software development team, providing the interface between our technology team and end users and data custodians to develop services to deliver scientific insights, that improve health and healthcare of the UK and worldwide populations.
The successful candidate will be expected to provide individual contribution as a highly active project manager, engaging with stakeholders directly and through workshops to identify key user stories for platform functionality, extend and develop existing metadata standards, streamline the landscape, and support onboarding of datasets to the new infrastructure.
Main responsibilities
- Act as the primary interface between technical teams, researchers, data custodians, and other stakeholders to ensure user needs are accurately captured and translated into platform functionality.
- Lead user discovery activities including interviews, surveys, and workshops to gather user requirements and develop detailed user stories.
- Champion a user-centred design approach to ensure the Population Research Gateway is intuitive, accessible, and aligned with researcher workflows.
- Facilitate continuous feedback loops with end users to iteratively improve platform usability and adoption.
- Support stakeholder communication by presenting progress updates, demonstrating platform features, and gathering input on priorities.
Project Management
- Manage the end-to-end delivery of the Population Research Gateway components, ensuring alignment with timelines, scope, and strategic objectives.
- Work within an Agile development framework, maintaining backlogs, prioritising tasks, and coordinating sprint planning and reviews.
- Track project risks, dependencies, and milestones, implementing mitigation strategies where required.
- Coordinate cross-functional teams including developers, data engineers, scientists, and external partners.
- Ensure effective documentation of processes, decisions, and deliverables to support transparency and continuity.
Scientific expertise
- Apply knowledge of longitudinal population studies and health data ecosystems to inform platform development and metadata standards.
- Support the harmonisation and standardisation of cohort metadata to enable cross-study discoverability and interoperability.
- Contribute to the development and adoption of FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) data principles across the platform.
- Work with researchers and data custodians to ensure scientific integrity and usability of datasets within the Gateway.
- Translate complex scientific and data concepts into accessible requirements for technical teams.
Capacity building
- Support onboarding of new datasets, cohorts, and data custodians to the Population Research Gateway.
- Develop guidance materials, training sessions, and documentation to enable users to effectively access and use the platform.
- Build capability within partner organisations to adopt metadata standards and FAIR data practices.
- Foster a culture of collaboration and knowledge sharing across the LPS ecosystem.
- Identify opportunities to scale platform adoption and support long-term sustainability.
Community and Engagement
- Build and maintain strong relationships across the UK longitudinal population study (LPS) community, including academic, clinical, and industry stakeholders.
- Organise and facilitate workshops, webinars, and engagement events to promote the Gateway and gather community input.
- Act as an advocate for the platform, supporting its uptake across research and clinical trial communities.
- Collaborate with partner organisations, including Population Research UK, to align engagement strategies and maximise impact.
- Monitor and evaluate community engagement activities to inform continuous improvement and strategic outreach.
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