Research Assistant

• CyberSmart is looking for a research assistant to support the Senior CyberPsychology & UX Researcher, who is based in the Research & Innovation (R&I) team.

• Part of the Product Engineering, R&I provides CyberSmart with a strategic capability to consider longer term opportunities.
• As CyberSmart's 'eyes and ears', R&I identifies and analyses relevant trends, concepts and other ideas emerging in the wider environment whether: political and economic; cultural and societal, scientific and technological, environmental, legal and regulatory; or business and organisational.
• R&I shares and discusses these analyses with the rest of the team in case they can be translated into new products or even company missions.
• R&I also supports thought leadership to help CyberSmart contribute its perspective and evidence towards wider debates about the future of cybersecurity and the digital society, and influence decision makers responsible for it.
• Beyond horizon scanning, R&I carries out research on socio-technical cybersecurity. Open innovation is a key value, so R&I has good links with researchers in academia, government and industry, with whom it frequently collaborates.

Key Tasks / Responsibilities

• The Senior CyberPsychology & UX Researcher has various responsibilities. Providing::
  • a strategic capability by
    • exploring socio-technical cybersecurity (especially for SMEs), especially psychological insights, behavioural incentives and other design interventions;
    • communicating analytical insights across the company in various formats, such as briefing papers, reports and presentations;
    • carrying out secondary research through external consultations and desk based analysis of key literature (academic papers, industry and government reports, as well as other articles).
  • the 'eyes and ears' by:
    • maintaining and building external networks of researchers, innovators and other thinkers across academia, government and industry;
    • attending, and representing CyberSmart at, relevant events, workshops and conferences, and feeding back relevant information across the company.
  • supports thought leadership by:
    • drafting formal and informal external outputs, such as blogs, articles or briefings;
  • contributes to product development by:
    • gathering and analysing behavioural insights from a variety of research methods, including desk reviews, surveys, interviews, log analysis, usability studies, diary studies and ethnographic observations and others;
    • developing and maintaining UX research processes, standards and guidelines for methodology usage and planning;
    • identifying trends and interpret insights into potential design and innovation opportunities and solutions;
    • leading research projects and working closely with designers and product managers.

The research assistant would provide flexible support to the Senior CyberPsychology & UX Researcher to fulfil her responsibilities. The Senior CyberPsychology & UX Researcher would decide in what specific areas needs support as and when it is needed.

Requirements

This role would require someone who has (or is):

• enthusiastic about research, and is familiar with research culture and innovation systems;
• genuine interest in the socio-technical aspects of cybersecurity and the governance of digital technology;
• excellent analytical skills with a high attention to detail, who can collect, digest and synthesise technical literature and communicate it in everyday language to different audiences in various formats;
• a self-starter who can organise their work and time effectively;
• intellectually curious and can learn fast and come up to speed with unfamiliar topics;
• empathetic with excellent people and communication skills

This role would require someone who also has:

• a postgraduate degree in cyberpsychology, cybersecurity or other relevant areas, such as psychology, human factors, human computer interaction or cognitive science; or equivalent relevant work experience;
• familiarity with behavioural and UX research methods (qualitative/quantitative);
• knowledge of how to perform remote/virtual research- preferably hands-on survey scripting and remote research platform experience);
• familiarity with academic databases and carrying out literature reviews;
• experience of writing reports, papers and presenting insights;
• experience working in cross-functional teams
• experience managing research projects

Benefits

• A competitive salary
• 25 days holiday plus all UK Bank Holidays
• Your birthday off in addition to your holiday entitlement
• 1 days additional holiday entitlement for every year with the company (up to 5 years)
• Employee equity options
• Pension Scheme
• Access to Perks: discounts that save you money in the places you shop the most
• Learning and personal development annual grant (£2,000)
• Personal development annual grant (£500)
• Work at home office provision grant (£500) in year 1
• Flexible working hours and working from home
• Regular team breakfasts and lunches
• Full access to our Mental Health & Wellbeing Network, Spill
• Monthly fun activities, chosen by the team, that are not based around the pub!
• A great, friendly team, who work to support each other
• Beautiful workspace in Shoreditch- flooded with natural light, filled with plants, free tea and (good) coffee
• The latest technologies to keep you productive. Our office has dual-screen workstations and we will support you with the necessary equipment for home working.