Title: Usability/Design Researcher (DTJP00012752)
Duration: 0-9 month(s)
Location: Austin, TX 78753 [Candidates must be able to work onsite.]
Job Description:
The Usability/Design Researcher will work within the PC Software division of the Dell Experience Design Group. The Researcher will be an integral part of the UX/Design team and assist in creating and implementing world-class experiences for Dell’s software and hardware. The role will primarily involve planning and conducting studies and design research (in the form of usability testing, focus group/concept testing, surveys/questionnaires and more), analyzing results and synthesizing findings, presenting to the design and product teams. The role will also routinely involve the following: • Help form project conceptions. • Prototype concepts (hardware or software). • Work in teams – both internal (usability & design) and external (marketing & engineering). • Contribute to product specifications. • Define and Apply user-centered design principles. The ideal candidate has a passion for user centered research and design and has a wide breadth of experience across multiple types of products, channels and research methodologies.
These requirements include: • Extensive knowledge of usability and user experience research tools and techniques (e.g. field research, heuristic reviews, benchmarking, card sorts, lo-fidelity prototyping methods, etc.) • Ability to communicate research results, graphically depict data, and justify methods and approaches orally and in writing. • Strong moderation skills and methods for group facilitation and consensus building. • Ability to work independently, in a team, and with or without direction is imperative. • Bachelor's degree in psychology or related user-research field. • 3+ years of usability research experience with multifaceted responsibilities.
• Strong project management and negotiating skills • Strong communication, critical thinking, and creative problem-solving skills • Related experience in another field such as market research, human factors, interaction design, information architecture, graphic design • Experience designing wireframes and creating interactive prototypes using related tools such as Axure, JustinMind and Sketch • Experience creating user personas and journey maps to support a user centered design methodology • Strong aptitude for learning new technologies • Comfortable in fast-paced environment
Work Environment: Our team of 40+ software UX'ers work across two studio sites in an open studio environment. The work and our group is highly collaborative and there are multiple UX disciplines represented - visual/graphic design, interaction design, research/usability, frontend development/prototyping internally to our team - as well as product management, development, quality/test, program/project management more broadly.
Team Structure: Design Project teams are typically 2 to 4 people in size and most people work across multiple projects simultaneously.
Accountabilities:
Translates data into usable design solutions and leverages results to spark focused design efforts. Integrates Human Factors Engineering principles to the design & development process, accounting for perceptual, physical, and cognitive abilities in the usage of products & services. Produces specifications, standards, user requirements, as applied to Product Design and Development. Represents the needs &preferences of the end user throughout the design and development process. Has broad accountability of the user experience, from initial set-up/ install (out of box experience) through the product lifecycle. Defines & executes the necessary behavioral studies to guide the design process (e.g., yielding both qualitative and quantitative data). Performs a variety of data analysis techniques to surface insights that are actionable and can be applied to the design process. Works with cross-functional development teams to design products (Engineering, Marketing, Quality, etc.). Delivers the necessary artifacts to capture the intended user experience to implementation/engineering entities (e.g., specifications, guidelines, prototypes, UI designs, etc.). Presents test results to development teams and executive leadership to guide and drive the business in accordance to corporate strategies.
Responsibilities:
Supports the user experience process, from initial set-up/ install (out of box experience) through the product lifecycle Understands the fundamentals of product development and the role of own functional processes while aware of tradeoffs Understands role and responsibility to vendors, while establishing good working relationships by providing timely feedback internally and vendors Able to effectively communicate accurate, timely project details and status with peers and team leads
Qualifications:
****MUST INCLUDE RESEARCH PORTFOLIO FOR REVIEW***
The ideal candidate has a passion for user centered research and design and has a wide breadth of experience across multiple types of products, channels and research methodologies. – Extensive knowledge of usability and user experience research tools and techniques (e.g. field research, heuristic reviews, benchmarking, card sorts, lo-fidelity prototyping methods, etc.) – Ability to communicate research results, graphically depict data, and justify methods and approaches orally and in writing. – Strong moderation skills and methods for group facilitation and consensus building. – 3+ years of usability research experience with multifaceted responsibilities – Experience designing wireframes and creating interactive prototypes using related tools such as Axure, JustinMind and Sketch – Experience creating user personas and journey maps to support a user centered design methodology. – Solid knowledge of the field of human-computer interaction, experimental design, observational, and field methods and data analysis is required – Experience with a broad range of data collection and analytical techniques such as survey construction/analysis, UI prototype development, usability testing, focus group facilitation, and qualitative/observational methods, ethnography, and quantitative statistical data.