User Experience Researcher

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Job description

Job Title: UX Researcher - Principal

Client Location: Atlanta, GA

Starting: 11/29/2021

Salary/Pay Rate: $70-74 per hour

Hours: Full-time

Duration: 12 months with possible extension

Job Description:

Our Financial client is looking for a candidate that is capable of meeting the following requirements:

- Individual Contributor.

- Highly visible leader of the UX Research team, and a senior liaison for Research to a particular Line of Business or initiative.

- Plan, conduct, analyze, and report research as needed at an expert level.

- You will generate advanced insights that influence product strategy, feature design, and prioritization.

- Provide authoritative subject matter expertise on an area or set of areas of particular focus, such as a set of methodologies or area of user psychology.

- Work with fellow researchers, Product teams, and other partners to devise sound research strategies, timelines, and goals for a dedicated Line of Business.

- Educate leadership on the value of research, its best practices, and how to be critical consumers of user research.

- Manage research vendor relationships.

- Continually monitor for opportunities to improve Research capabilities.

- Serve as a Research team mentor and resource for authoritative knowledge, guidance, and advice.

- MS degree or higher in Psychology, HCI, Human Factors, or other related social science or research discipline; PhD in Psychology, Sociology, UX, HCI, Human Factors, or related research field strongly preferred; SME level experience with applied product/design research.

Responsibilities:

1. Develop industry-leading expertise in multiple research techniques that are critical to the research needed by the business. Lead the internal usage of those techniques to ensure quality and efficiency.

2. Lead research activities for multiple groups of Agile teams, identifying opportunities, prioritizing efforts according to business value, educating teams on value, and measuring business outcomes.

3. Mentor and develop exceptional design talent. Teach by showing and doing. Play an active part in evaluating, recruiting, hiring and developing talent. Develop a culture of design excellence. Demonstrate thought leadership and be seen publicly as a leader in design.

4. Develop/measure Experience Design key performance indicators that correlate with business revenue and financial key performance indicators. Manage and oversee user research conducted by others to scientifically measure the user experience and those key performance indicators.

5. Scientifically conduct user research studies to provide measurements of value to the client that can be used to refine product strategies and that identifies client needs, met and unmet by current products.

6. Identify and adopt new and emerging user experience research techniques, technologies, and methodology process improvements to improve efficiency and value of user research data collected.

7. Manage and direct user research vendors and tools. Create a vision, direction and roadmap of how third party research vendors will be used to supplement our internal research capabilities, including research tool suppliers, survey vendors, market research companies, and outside consultants. Supervise consultants and research contractors to ensure quality of deliverables.

8. Serve as a consultant to ensure appropriate research techniques are utilized. Estimate time, effort and costs of different approaches to guide the selection of a research approach, what to do internally and what to outsource, size and scope of the research, and data to collect.

9. Plan and conduct user research using techniques such as usability testing, remote moderated and unmoderated studies, performance benchmarks, competitive benchmarks, structured surveys, user interviews, focus groups, ethnographic research, contextual inquiry, opinion benchmarks, longitudinal studies, diary studies, concept testing, card sorting and tree testing.

10. Analyze research data scientifically using the appropriate statistical analysis, comment analysis, and other quantitative and qualitative data analysis techniques. Summarize research findings for project teams by creating usability problem lists, user requirements, and personas, scenarios, and presentations.

Must Have Skills:

1. MS degree in User Experience, Interaction Design, Communication Design, Information Architecture, Psychology, HCI, Human Factors, other related field or equivalent work experience.

2. Minimum of 6 years of experience in the role of a user experience researcher

3. Minimum of 3 years of experience overseeing the experimental design, moderator guides, statistical analyses, and final reporting of other user researchers to ensure quality and accuracy.

4. Extensive knowledge of research techniques and the understanding of when to use what technique to ensure validity of data collected when conducting research with human participants. Extensive knowledge of experimental design obtained through post-graduate education to ensure bias is not introduced in the conducting of user research. Strong command over a wide range of qualitative and quantitative methods.

5. High proficiency in the statistical analysis of results generated through research with humans, utilizing parametric and nonparametric statistics and statistical analysis software such as SPSS or SAS. Experience with management of large datasets

6. Strong track record of conducting research complex projects and delivering transformative insights. Scholarship, recognition, or other demonstration of authoritative subject matter expertise in a relevant topic of particular focus, such as a methodology, domain of inquiry, or area psychology. Proven experience representing and evangelizing user research to business partners.

7. Team-oriented leadership style that exemplifies a strong work ethic, high energy and commitment to achieving goals. Ability to operate independently and lead teams decisively, while taking appropriate and calculated risks towards achieving desired results

8. Solid teamwork and interpersonal skills and ability to express broad technical concepts in clear and concise business terms for interaction with all levels of management

9. Solid negotiating skills and ability to create win-win scenarios.

Nice to have skills:

1. PhD in UX, Interaction Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Psychology, Sociology, UX, HCI, Human Factors, or related field. Experience in agile development.

2. Banking or financial services experience.

3. Experience using a remote usability and survey platforms such as UserZoom, UserTesting.com, Qualtrics or others.

4. Background in Cognitive/Applied/Experimental Psychology, or Behavioral Economics.

Client Description:

Freelancing long-term with Aquent gets you access to some pretty cool things:

- You're paid weekly

- Subsidized health and dental benefits after your first four weeks of work (averaging at least 20 hrs/wk)

- Paid Sick Leave for all US and Canada talent

- Access to Fidelity 401(k)

- Access to FSA Program (pre-tax payment toward bus or train passes, etc.)

- Direct deposit for your paycheck

- Access to our Talent Rewards Program (we reward for referrals!)

- Access to free online courses via Aquent