Senior UX Researcher

Overview

Our client is seeking a Senior UX Researcher to join a small, collaborative UX Research team. As a Senior UX Researcher, you will lead UX Research initiatives and support design discovery and product improvements across multiple touch points and experiences across product portfolios. You will partner with the business and engineering teams to prioritize UX research activities throughout the software development lifecycle by working closely with our program owners to understand their needs and help the team find solutions that serve user needs and achieve business goals. 
 

As a Senior UX Researcher, you will also contribute to the internal UX Research team by helping to define processes that enable product teams to center the user. In this role you will be integral in helping product teams design easy to use products for students and educators.

 

In this role, you will: 

 

Strategy & Research for Product Development (60%)

● Identify target users and help build hypotheses around user needs for projects 

● Plan, develop, own and lead research (generative and evaluative) for your team/products 

● Contribute to product roadmaps and help prioritize features based on data

● In addition to research, collect other types of data to inform design decisions/solutions (e.g., surveys, analytics dashboards, accessibility reviews) 

● Lead synthesis sessions with your team, following agile and lean methodologies 

● Create artifacts to share out UX Research synthesis and decisions and present research result to stakeholders

● Create user journeys and flows to capture current and future states of user pathways to influence planning of MVPs and prospective releases

 

Contribute to Internal Research Processes (30%)

● Collaborate with the team to promote communication and synchronicity in planning and centering the user in the product development process

● Contribute to the overall research strategy for our product designs, including refining research team processes and research templates

● Coach designers and other product team members on incorporating, advocating for and completing UX Research activities to inform and prioritize work

● Nurture a culture of user empathy and deep curiosity that enables us to build simple, intuitive products for our customers 

● Advocate for consistent design processes, methods, core systems, and patterns 

 

Project Management (10%)

● Self-manage workload and obtain necessary requirements and acceptance criteria needed to complete work 

● Coordinate with UX Lead, product leads, design team, and engineers to ensure timely delivery of research artifacts 

● Help foster an environment for collaboration by partnering with business and other creative units to align our visual design approach with project goals, and the College Board brand 

 

About You

● As a user experience researcher, you are independent in your support of a cross-functional team.

● A portfolio of your work is included in your application that shows examples of your experience leading user research initiatives.

● You have a bachelor’s degree in a related field (computer science, interaction design, HCI, industrial design, information science, social sciences, etc.) and/or equivalent years of work experience. 

● You have 5+ years of professional experience of relevant UX Research experience—including experience performing moderated user interviews or usability tests and experience performing at least some of the following: unmoderated usability testing, card sorts, web analytics data analysis, A/B testing, survey creation and analysis, cognitive walk-throughs and heuristic analysis.

● You have experience presenting and delivering research findings to product teams and to stakeholders in a variety of appropriate formats for actionable results.

● You have documented experience in researching for large, content-rich websites and/or applications; proven outcomes that impacted users’ needs.

● You hold a broad knowledge of digital products, web site architecture, user interfaces, and navigation on various platforms (Web, mobile, tablet). 

● You have experience guiding and teaching designers and other team members to complete basic research activities.

● You have experience contributing to the simplification of research processes.

● You understand the physical, cognitive, cultural, and social factors that affect design decisions. 

● You’re a strong communicator with an ability to demonstrate both leadership and understanding with respect to project partners; self-managing, but also used to working within a team. 

● You’re highly adaptable to new information, situations, or challenges and can work independently. 

● You like facing new challenges and thrive on opportunities to think creatively and come up with fresh approaches to tough business and operational problems. 

● You possess a ‘Product Design’ mindset, who owns the end-to-end design delivery: from strategy to validation of designs in process to establishing and collecting metrics.

 

Note: Experience in the educational field (as a designer, researcher, or teacher) is a plus.

 

The target hiring compensation range for this role is the equivalent of $58.50 to $65 an hour. Compensation is based on several factors including, but not limited to education, relevant work experience, relevant certifications, and location. 

 

About Aquent Talent:

Aquent Talent connects the best talent in marketing, creative, and design with the world’s biggest brands.

 

Our eligible talent get access to amazing benefits like subsidized health, vision, and dental plans, paid sick leave, and retirement plans with a match. We also offer free online training through Aquent Gymnasium. More information on our awesome benefits! 

Aquent is an equal-opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, and other legally protected characteristics. We’re about creating an inclusive environment—one where different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives are valued, and everyone can contribute, grow their careers, and thrive.