UX Researcher II - Microsoft Corporation

The Microsoft AI Design & Research team is a creative community of designers and researchers on a mission to create and deliver holistic customer experiences while imagining the future of web experiences. Between Copilot, Edge, Bing, and apps, we're creating end to end web experiences from shopping, to search, to ads, news, sports, and gaming. Our diverse team works collaboratively to create products and ideas that empower us to move fast to build seamless and delightful experiences for billions of customers worldwide. Join us! We're building a culture based on learning. We want to know what our customers want and what's going to make their work and lives better. Innovation only happens when we really get to know our customers and what they need. ?That's where you come in. We're looking for an empathy-driven **UX Researcher II** with experience?using a wide array of research methods and activities, and a proven track record of success working directly with partners. As your product team?creates new features, you'll?help?them make?decisions based on data and user perspectives.?You bring your skills to your fellow collaborators with optimism and an open mind.? **Responsibilities** **Research Core Work** + Creates and drives plans for research studies and/or programs for a feature area. + Defines and scopes end-to-end research plans with clear success criteria relevant to business needs. Reviews previous research and data from other sources to inform the plan. + Plans research to include diversity, inclusion and accessibility principles. + Guides multi-person research efforts resulting in strong product outcomes for a feature area. + Collects and analyzes quantitative and qualitative data to draw conclusions for a feature area. + Applies statistical analyses to strengthen hypotheses to influence business decisions. Enables problem identification and distills data to form aggregate insights for a feature area. + Shares insights to activate design and engineering processes. Uses communication methods that promote an emotional connection to customers and conveys real user stories to reveal insights. Creates a common understanding of feature usage, reactions, feedback, or needs for a defined feature area. **Product Applications** + Conducts research that identifies and clarifies who the customer is and the critical parts of their context in order to inform product strategy for a feature area and user experience direction. + Develops customers' insights into a target customer profile or description. + Helps formulate solutions for a feature area. + Collaborates with others on generative research to determine which solutions or concepts should be used. + Focuses on the problems to determine solutions. + Uses the right method at the right time: Heuristic evaluations, product walkthroughs a combination of moderated and unmoderated user experience testing methodologies, etc., to distill continuous improvement insights or to trigger product or experience direction pivots when appropriate. + Assesses user insights along funnel dynamics from awareness, adoption, startup/install, first use, extended use, and churn/abandonment. Uses quantitative and qualitative analyses to understand churn and the reasons for feature area abandonment. **Cross-disciplinary Enablement** + Collaborates with others on cross-disciplinary research efforts resulting in strong product outcomes. Educates and mentors other disciplines on the value of research and importance of rigor, etc. Models techniques with teams to be able to help junior team members. + Provides tools and templates to enable product makers to capture their assumptions and express them as testable hypotheses. + Recruits for programs and participation in research for a feature area. Assists in planning, coordinating, and executing larger scale customer learning events as requested. + Reviews product maker customer engagement plans and makes recommendations to improve their them to increase product team learning and customer goodwill. + Collaborates with team to create well-formed user experience goals, signals, metrics, and criteria (e.g., objectives and key results [OKRs]) for a product. Embody our culture and values **Qualifications** **Required Qualifications** + Bachelor's Degree in Human-Computer Interaction, Human Factors Engineering, Computer Science, Technical Communications, Information Science, Information Architecture, User Experience Design, Behavioral Science, Social Sciences, or related field AND 2+ years User Experience Research experience + OR Master's Degree in Human-Computer Interaction, Human Factors Engineering, Computer Science, Technical Communications, Information Science, Information Architecture, User Experience Design, Behavioral Science, Social Sciences, or related field AND 1+ year(s) User Experience Research experience + OR equivalent experience. **Preferred Qualifications** + 2+ year(s) relevant domain experience within technology sector + Experience with heuristic evaltions, product walkthroughs and testing methodologies + Ability to create and drive plans for research studies + Proven experience with user-focused research + Experience working cross-functionally with design, engineer and other stakeholders UX Research IC3 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $98,300 - $193,200 per year. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $127,200 - $208,800 per year. Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here: https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay Microsoft will accept applications for the role until November 9, 2024. Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. Consistent with applicable law, all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations (https://careers.microsoft.com/v2/global/en/accessibility.html) .