Senior UX Researcher

Job Description

A Senior UX Researcher will have demonstrated their ability to work successfully with designers, product managers, engineers and cross functional stakeholders in product development organization. The right candidate will have:

• Familiarity with evaluation methods relevant to each stage of the customer journey, and experience measuring the success of initiatives designed to improve user experience and business outcomes.

• Specific examples of how they have influenced the product strategy and impacted design and business outcomes during their research career.

• A collaborative and agile approach to validating concepts and usability evaluation, with experience working with a variety of stakeholders.

• Experience using ethnographic or qualitative methods, heuristic reviews, survey design and conducting concept or usability validations, demonstrating deep expertise with at least two of these methods in studies they’ve independently run in the past (Experience managing multi-site, multi stage research plans would be a bonus.)

• Experience partnering with product teams in all stages of development (discovery, ideation, validation, design, development, launch) within an Agile environment. 

• Solid experience using web service tools to conduct surveys or remote research (examples including Qualtrics, SurveyMonkey, UserTesting, Optimal Workshop.)

Responsibilities

This person will work closely with product managers and designers on multiple product teams across the organization. They will be responsible for designing and executing trusted research that helps inform product strategy and ensure that our designs and concepts meet and exceed user’s needs and expectations. Fundamentally, research outcomes will inform intelligent design and result in a superior customer experience.

The Senior UX Researcher will be expected to disseminate research insights across the organization and educate other Zendesk team members about UX research. They will also be expected to use and contribute to the Zendesk UX Research playbook and advise design and product team members on best practices for conducting their own UX research. 

The candidate must be prepared to build relationships with stakeholders across their product team and to coordinate their efforts with teams primarily in the EMEA region, but also with stakeholders in APAC and AMER. Accordingly, they must have the flexibility to accommodate meetings with stakeholders in other time zones and be prepared to travel when it is reasonable and necessary to do so.

Desired qualities 

Breadth and depth of research skills

The ideal candidate has experience with partnering with product development in B2B, mobile and/or SaaS environments using a variety of research methodologies. They are able to help stakeholders articulate relevant research questions, and get buy-in on appropriate questions at various points in the development cycle. The ideal candidate will have a solid tool-kit of qualitative and quantitative research methods, be able to match research questions to the appropriate method, be comfortable working with both formative and summative research modalities and be open to scrappy, mixed-method approaches in addition to traditional research methods. This candidate will know when to advocate for more research rigor and when to trade rigor for speed.

Collaborative

As a global company with a distributed development team, we need a team member who is enthusiastic and willing to take the initiative about collaborating and sharing knowledge across teams. This researcher needs to partner effectively with multiple product managers, designers, engineers, product marketing leads and be a persuasive advocate for improving the user experience. The ideal candidate will be able to demonstrate examples of effective cross-functional communication and ownership in their previous roles. 

Growth Oriented

The right candidate will be comfortable with advocating for continuous improvements to the design and product development process, with a goal of building scalable, sustainable opportunities for user research across the product design team. 

Self starter/able to multitask and work smartly within constraints

Research projects at Zendesk can be challenging: the goals may be ambiguous at the start, the customers may be hard to find, resources are limited and deadlines are frequently tight. The right candidate will have demonstrated experience in dealing positively with constraints, figuring out challenges and ambiguity, while still able to identify actionable insights and persuade organizational action despite these challenges.

What our researchers get to do every week

Work collaboratively with designers, product managers, marketing and engineering teams to provide customer insights that fuel our product development efforts.

Participate in and lead weekly huddles and standup meetings with product, design, and research teams.

Select appropriate research methods to turn open questions and curiosities into formal research plans, and execute those plans to inform product and design strategy.

Partner with product management, data analysts and other UX Researchers to craft coordinated research strategies and insights, triangulating data from different sources and methods to find opportunities for improving the customer journey.

Use workflows, scenarios, profiles and reports to document customer behavior, and articulate the goals, behavior and preferences of Zendesk customers.

Translate insights into meaningful recommendations for design and product partners.

Assist in the creation and evolution of user personas, our research training materials, and our Research & Insight Center.

Share research insights across the organization to generate empathy and inspire action on behalf of Zendesk’s users, customers and prospects.

What you bring to the role:

• A portfolio of work samples demonstrating expertise in a broad palette of research methods (e.g. moderated and unmoderated testing, ethnographic research, group facilitation, survey design, sampling methods and validity in research design) and how your research has impacted the customer experience or business strategy

• A proven record of proactively seeking opportunities to share expertise and build knowledge amongst the rest of the UX Research team and Product Development organization 

• Excellent communication skills with the ability to deliver crisp presentations, appropriate tone, and clear insights that allow for quick and accurate decision making 

• Leadership skills to proactively stand up research programs (i.e., benchmarking research, UX measurements/tracking  programs, creating guides/tools to scale research) and the foresight to ensure research programs are aligned with the product strategy

• Strong collaboration skills to build team level relationships between the UX Research team, their own product team, and other cross functional team members

• Ability to conceptualize and implement original solutions to challenging and impactful business problems, requiring creative and outside-the-box thinking

• The flexibility to meet remotely with teammates and customers in different time zones, and occasionally travel (when safe to do so) to meet them in person 

• University degree (e.g., Bachelor of Science or equivalent) in sociology, human computer interaction, social psychology, human factors, anthropology, communications, or a related subject area. 

Preferred requirements:

• At least five years of professional experience in applied product research, preferably supporting a design team for a commercial B2B, B2C, SaaS or mobile product experience.

• An advanced degree (e.g., MS, PhD) in sociology, human computer interaction, social psychology, human factors, anthropology, communications, or a related subject area. 

The intelligent heart of customer experience

Zendesk software was built to bring a sense of calm to the chaotic world of customer service. Today we power billions of conversations with brands you know and love.

Zendesk believes in offering our people a fulfilling and inclusive experience. Our hybrid way of working, enables us to purposefully come together in person, at one of our many Zendesk offices around the world, to connect, collaborate and learn whilst also giving our people the flexibility to work remotely for part of the week.

Zendesk is an equal opportunity employer, and we’re proud of our ongoing efforts to foster global diversity, equity, & inclusion in the workplace. Individuals seeking employment and employees at Zendesk are considered without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition, ancestry, disability, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We are an AA/EEO/Veterans/Disabled employer. If you are based in the United States and would like more information about your EEO rights under the law, please click here.

Zendesk endeavors to make reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities and disabled veterans pursuant to applicable federal and state law. If you are an individual with a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to submit this application, complete any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participate in the employee selection process, please send an e-mail to [email protected] with your specific accommodation request.