About the Role
Title: Sr UX Researcher
Location: US
ShiftType: Regular Full-Time
Job Description:
HMH is a learning technology company committed to delivering connected solutions that engage learners, empower educators and improve student outcomes. As a leading provider of K-12 core curriculum, supplemental and intervention solutions, and professional learning services, HMH partners with educators and school districts to uncover solutions that unlock students’ potential and extend teachers’ capabilities.
HMH serves more than 50 million students and 4 million educators in 150 countries. For more information, visit www.hmhco.com
Senior UX Researcher
Remote (work may be performed from any state in the U.S.)
We are seeking an exceptional User Experience Researcher to join our UX/UI team and help us understand, craft, and carry out studies that highlight solutions for product development and emerging technologies. You will work closely with interaction designers, visual designers, product managers, learning experience designers, and engineering teams to support the user experience for the HMH products, platforms, and applications, including mobile, web, and desktop clients.
Our users, teachers, administrators and students, are at the heart of everything we do. You’ll dive deep into the end-to-end user experience, ensuring our products are effective, engaging, and easy to use. This role demands expertise in interviewing, usability testing, survey design, and other research methods, from recruiting and planning through analyzing data and sharing insights to influence decision-making and product development.
Job Responsibilities
Planning and Forecasting
Collaborate with designers, product managers, engineers, and UX team to scope studies, build team empathy, and communicate findings. Outputs may include personas and user journeys.
Identify research needs by working closely with stakeholders, product management, and UX/UI design teams.
Define research objectives and create comprehensive research plans, selecting the most appropriate research methods and participant pools, combining or creating new research techniques as needed.
Apply a thorough understanding and deep knowledge of a wide range of research methods to develop a test strategy and plan, define type/category/scope, execute test cases, and analyze results.
Prepare, conduct, and validate working hypotheses with customers through usability research of wireframes, clickable prototypes, and published products, and participate in design critique.
Own the entire research process from start to finish including defining, recruiting, scheduling, moderating, synthesizing, reporting, and presenting reports.
Collecting and Analyzing
Lead, coordinate, and conduct user research studies of various methods, including moderated and unmoderated interviews, usability studies, and surveys.
Create research assets to support studies, e.g., screeners, question plans, facilitator guides, and interview protocols.
Make recommendations about the most suitable study design and participant pool based on study goals, combining research techniques, or creating innovative approaches as needed.
Analyze and synthesize qualitative and quantitative data from user research studies to drive decision-making for product teams and senior leadership.
Apply appropriate statistical methods when analyzing and reporting quantitative data.
Sharing and Advocating
Advocate for user-centered design practices and the importance of usability within the development groups and across the organization.
Create presentations and reports to communicate findings and recommendations to project teams and senior leadership.
Use storytelling to deliver persuasive and compelling research insights.
Prioritize recommendations and follow through to ensure they are implemented.
Research Leadership
Mentor and teach product and UX colleagues how to conduct effective research and empower designers to perform their own research through coaching.
Create and communicate resources, tools, and best practices to advance our UX research program.
Engage in thought leadership by continuously developing new skills, participating in conferences, and other professional development activities.
Qualifications
Skills and Competencies
Strong ability to envision and articulate the program experience
Strong ability to articulate study and UX research methodologies to stakeholders and senior leadership
Deep understanding of research methods and their application to business objectives for collecting valuable insights.
Exceptional communication skills with a special focus on creative ways to tell the story of research projects in a memorable, engaging style; must be comfortable presenting work to senior management
Expert attention to detail, logic, and analytic skills
Ability to organize time effectively, determine priorities, and advance multiple projects with competing deadlines
Nice to Have
Demonstrated understanding of UI complexities such as cross-browser requirements and user-centered design heuristics
Experience working with Agile development teams and with other development methodologies
Education and Experience
Bachelor’s Degree in Design, Human Computer Interaction (HCI), Psychology, Anthropology, Cognitive Science, Human Factors, Information Design, Web Design, or related field, or comparable experience in the industry. An equivalent combination of education and experience will be considered in lieu of a degree.
5-7+ years of experience in UX Research for product and design teams
Broad experience designing both qualitative and quantitative research studies, analyzing results, and creating reports with actionable product and design insights
Experience working with Product Management, Design, and Engineering leads
Experience with the analysis of product usage patterns
Proficiency with MS Office
Experience with analytical tools and techniques to investigate data trends, issues, and to draw conclusions with data
Nice to Have
Working knowledge of accessibility and accommodation requirements related to User Interface development
Physical Requirements
- Might be in a stationary position for a considerable time (sitting and/or standing)
- Constantly operate a computer
- Must be able to collaborate with colleagues via face to face, conference calls, and online meetings