Sr Lead UX Researcher

Atlanta, GA, United States

Company

Cox Automotive - USA

Job Family Group

Engineering / Product Development

Job Profile

Sr Lead UX Researcher

Management Level

Sr Manager - Non People Leader

Flexible Work Option

Hybrid - Ability to work remotely part of the week

Travel %

Yes, 5% of the time

Work Shift

Day

Compensation

Compensation includes a base salary of $129,100.00 - $215,100.00. The base salary may vary within the anticipated base pay range based on factors such as the ultimate location of the position and the selected candidate's knowledge, skills, and abilities. Position may be eligible for additional compensation that may include an incentive program.

Job Description

The Sr . Lead User Experience (UX) Researcher will play a key role in ensuring that Cox Automotive Retail product experiences are intuitive, usable, and desirable. This individual will work closely with the Director of UX Design to establish research methods, processes, and best practices for the UX team and for our Product Management partners.

The Lead UX Researcher will oversee research planning and execution for a portfolio of products, including a solution at the heart of one of Cox Automotive's strategic focus areas. This role will work with UX and senior company leadership to spread an understanding of client goals and needs and provide guidance to help our teams design and develop effective, easy-to-use digital products for responsive web and mobile applications. They will engage and collaborate across a wide Product Management organization to rapidly increase customer contact quality and quantity within discovery efforts.

The Cox Automotive work environment is highly collaborative and requires an individual with excellent communication skills and a keen ability to build and foster strong partnerships through an open and transparent working style. Our UX team is deeply embedded in a scaled Agile environment and substantially impacts our experiences and the business. This is a remarkable opportunity for a motivated individual to establish UX practices across major automotive brands.

Responsibilities

Establish and manage new quantitative and qualitative UX research programs as needed.

Charter, plan, execute and report on research studies, from the strategic to the tactical.

Identify and apply the most appropriate research method, including, but not limited to, moderated and unmoderated usability studies, heuristic evaluations, card sorts, task-based analysis, surveys, and contextual inquiries.

Prioritize and coordinate multiple simultaneous research projects based on business need.

Create, model, and enforce research processes and best practices.

Maintain and evolve research artifact templates.

Develop or lead the development of user personas, journey maps, JTBD (Jobs To Be Done) frameworks, and other key research deliverables.

Work with product managers, data analytics, and designers to identify user experience research focus areas and drive proposals to explore them.

Proactively identify usability improvement opportunities and recommend research methods to understand them better.

Deliver insights, findings, and design recommendations based on research and usability best practices to colleagues within UX and across the organization.

Support the product team's continuous delivery approach with a research structure that fosters and encourages a continuous consumer feedback loop.

Democratize research by administrating training for UX and Product Management professionals to conduct effective rapid discovery interviews.

Manage a pipeline of rapid discovery studies from planning to recruitment, data collection, analysis, and dissemination of results.

Stand up and scale evaluative research efforts for Agile UX design spanning multiple teams and products.

Lead and coordinate research repository efforts for a portfolio of work.

Review online customer feedback and intercept surveys to identify themes and hot spots where users may be struggling.

Serve as a thought leader by acting as an expert consultant in reviewing designs, communicating best practices, and championing usability throughout the organization.

Develop and maintain relationships with vendors.

Maintain strong relationships with other departments, including Product Management and Engineering.

Maintain awareness of current human-computer interaction and usability research, theories, and methodologies.

Act as a research ambassador, inviting Product and Engineering partners to client sessions and helping to normalize research as a well-understood foundational design and development task.

Act as an advisor to the UX leadership team to ensure research has a voice in team strategy and major decisions.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

The candidate must have a proven track record of research expertise, strong moderation skills, mentoring, change management, communication, relationship management, and project coordination.

Ability to provide thought leadership and engage with other senior leaders in addressing complex business issues.

Leads by building trust to influence change and develop win-win strategies that deliver results for our clients and our business.

Demonstrated analytical ability in understanding data and making information relevant and actionable across the organization.

Good listener with outstanding interpersonal qualities and a natural, effective consultative style

Advanced communication skills as a successful storyteller in our business that moves hearts and minds to action.

Subject matter experience in the application of qualitative and quantitative research methods.

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in a related discipline and 8 year's experience in a related field. The right candidate could also have a different combination, such as a master's degree and 6 years' experience; a Ph.D. and 3 year's experience in a related field; or 12 years' experience in a related field.

Experience planning and executing usability research activities for both responsive web and native mobile applications.

Experience using a variety of usability research tools (e.g., UserTesting, UserZoom, Pendo, Qualtrics and Dovetail).

Strong understanding of current usability research, theories, best practices, and methodologies.

Demonstrated knowledge and experience with the principles of user-centered design.

Understanding of mobile human interface guidelines and current possibilities and limitations of hardware and operating systems.

Knowledge of Figma and experience creating prototypes for the purpose of testing digital interactive interfaces.

Experience with in-person and remote testing a must.

Excellent time management and prioritization skills.

Demonstrated ability to direct and multi-task effectively under pressure.

Strong attention to detail and the ability to deliver concise research summarization.

Exceptional verbal and written communication skills.

Strong teamwork and collaboration skills.

Knowledge of and experience in web user interface design and technology.

Understanding of project management principles.

This hybrid position may be located in Atlanta, GA. A successful candidate is expected to work in the office one day/week.

Preferred

An advanced degree in Human Factors, Human-Computer Interaction, Information Design, Cognitive Science, or a related field is strongly preferred.

Drug Testing

To be employed in this role, you'll need to clear a pre-employment drug test. Cox Automotive does not currently administer a pre-employment drug test for marijuana for this position. However, we are a drug-free workplace, so the possession, use or being under the influence of drugs illegal under federal or state law during work hours, on company property and/or in company vehicles is prohibited.

Benefits

The Company offers eligible employees the flexibility to take as much vacation with pay as they deem consistent with their duties, the company's needs, and its obligations; seven paid holidays throughout the calendar year; and up to 160 hours of paid wellness annually for their own wellness or that of family members. Employees are also eligible for additional paid time off in the form of bereavement leave, time off to vote, jury duty leave, volunteer time off, military leave, parental leave, and COVID-19 vaccination leave.

About Us

Through groundbreaking technology and a commitment to stellar experiences for drivers and dealers alike, Cox Automotive employees are transforming the way the world buys, owns, sells - or simply uses - cars. Cox Automotive employees get to work on iconic consumer brands like Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book and industry-leading dealer-facing companies like vAuto and Manheim, all while enjoying the people-centered atmosphere that is central to our life at Cox. Benefits of working at Cox may include health care insurance (medical, dental, vision), retirement planning (401(k)), and paid days off (sick leave, parental leave, flexible vacation/wellness days, and/or PTO). For more details on what benefits you may be offered, visit our benefits page. Cox is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer - All qualified applicants/employees will receive consideration for employment without regard to that individual's age, race, color, religion or creed, national origin or ancestry, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, physical or mental disability, veteran status, genetic information, ethnicity, citizenship, or any other characteristic protected by law. Cox provides reasonable accommodations when requested by a qualified applicant or employee with disability, unless such accommodations would cause an undue hardship.

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