Senior Manager, Global UXUI Experience Design – UX Research

Universal Orlando•Orlando, FL

About The Position

JOB SUMMARY: Universal Destinations and Experiences (UDX) seeks a Senior Manager, UX Research to lead mixed-methods research that informs product, marketing, and design strategies. This role shapes research vision, delivers actionable insights, and enhances guest experiences by integrating qualitative and quantitative methods into decision-making. The ideal candidate will collaborate with stakeholders, conduct UX assessments, and apply heuristic and persona-driven evaluations to improve satisfaction, accessibility, and business outcomes—driving innovation and design excellence guided by the voice of our users. MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES: Strategic Research Leadership: Lead and oversee user-centered research initiatives using methods such as experience analysis, contextual inquiry, interviews, and usability testing to inform product and service design. Operational Oversight: Manage multiple research initiatives simultaneously, balancing long-term strategic goals with short-term tactical needs and ensuring timely delivery of insights. Align and oversee a multi-quarter research roadmap to our Experience KPI scorecard, ensuring research initiatives across web, app, and in-park experiences directly support measurable performance indicators. Guide scoring flows against heuristics, identifying friction points, usability violations, and opportunities for improvement. Lead mixed-methods research initiatives, including usability testing, heuristic reviews, benchmark analysis, and synthesis of findings. Maintain standards, playbooks, and templates for planning, study design, sampling, analysis, and insight packaging to scale quality across teams. Product research: Guide experimentation strategy (e.g., success metrics, guardrails, instrumentation) for personalization, navigation, checkout, and mobile app features. Partner with UDX Analytics and Consumer Insights to triangulate qualitative + quantitative insights (funnel analysis, heatmaps/session replay, A/B & MVT results) and size opportunities Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with design, product, and UDX cross-functional teams to ensure research insights are integrated into experience design processes and ensure our solutions are both innovative and grounded in genuine user needs. Champion user-centered design across the organization, advocating for the value of research and helping teams apply insights effectively. Drive organization-wide evangelism and adoption of insights through self-serve libraries, office hours, roadshows and ongoing education. Demonstrate exceptional presentation skills by clearly communicating research insights to stakeholders at all levels, referencing key experience KPIs to anchor findings and recommendations. Tailor messages for maximum impact, confidently leading research discussions both before product launch and during post-mortem reviews. Team Development & Mentorship: Mentor and coach UX researchers and designers, fostering skill growth, promoting best practices, and supporting career development. Contribute to team growth through recruiting, interviewing, and shaping a collaborative, excellence-driven UX culture. Understands and actively participates in Environmental, Health & Safety responsibilities by following established UO policy, procedures, training and team member involvement activities. Performs other duties as assigned.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree is required in Human-Computer Interaction, Cognitive Science, Psychology, Anthropology, Information Science, UX Research, Design Strategy, Behavioral Science or a related field.
7+ years of professional experience in user experience research and analysis, including leadership of strategic initiatives across complex digital ecosystems.
Demonstrated impact partnering with Product and Marketing to shape strategy, roadmaps, and GTM — with measurable lifts in conversion, satisfaction, or brand health.
Deep hands-on expertise in conducting usability and heuristic testing—including direct engagement with users and evaluators
Ability to apply qualitative and quantitative research methodologies in fast-paced, agile environments to inform product strategy and design.
Experience working within large-scale enterprise environments, preferably in media, entertainment, travel, hospitality, or theme park industries, with a proven ability to navigate cross-functional collaboration.
Strong storytelling and executive communication; proven ability to influence senior stakeholders and drive decisions.
Proficiency with research tools (UserTesting, Qualtrics, Optimal Workshop, survey/panel platforms, session replay/heatmaps, experimentation platforms, Excel/Sheets, and data visualization).
Demonstrated success in leading and scaling UX research teams, research ops, mentoring talent, and fostering a culture of excellence and innovation.
Delivery on a research roadmap with defined decisions and measurable effects on KPIs.
Stand up durable research operations (recruiting, incentives, repos, tagging/taxonomy, templates) to increase speed and consistency and reduce time-to-insight using operational enhancements.
Applied research findings to inform product initiatives and marketing campaigns.
Increased adoption of insights across the organization.
Documented improvements in accessibility, inclusivity, and guest satisfaction.
Improved experimentation and innovation to advance research and product strategy.
Proactive reporting on KPI scorecards to measure impact and progress of experience metrics.
Administration of dashboards that mature and scale the research program across teams.
Collaboration with analytics leaders across the organization, including consumer insights, to drive holistic decision-making.
Enhanced experimentation and innovation to support research and product strategy; or equivalent combination of education and experience.

Nice To Haves

Master's degree is preferred.

Responsibilities

Strategic Research Leadership: Lead and oversee user-centered research initiatives using methods such as experience analysis, contextual inquiry, interviews, and usability testing to inform product and service design.
Operational Oversight: Manage multiple research initiatives simultaneously, balancing long-term strategic goals with short-term tactical needs and ensuring timely delivery of insights.
Align and oversee a multi-quarter research roadmap to our Experience KPI scorecard, ensuring research initiatives across web, app, and in-park experiences directly support measurable performance indicators.
Guide scoring flows against heuristics, identifying friction points, usability violations, and opportunities for improvement.
Lead mixed-methods research initiatives, including usability testing, heuristic reviews, benchmark analysis, and synthesis of findings.
Maintain standards, playbooks, and templates for planning, study design, sampling, analysis, and insight packaging to scale quality across teams.
Product research: Guide experimentation strategy (e.g., success metrics, guardrails, instrumentation) for personalization, navigation, checkout, and mobile app features.
Partner with UDX Analytics and Consumer Insights to triangulate qualitative + quantitative insights (funnel analysis, heatmaps/session replay, A/B & MVT results) and size opportunities
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with design, product, and UDX cross-functional teams to ensure research insights are integrated into experience design processes and ensure our solutions are both innovative and grounded in genuine user needs.
Champion user-centered design across the organization, advocating for the value of research and helping teams apply insights effectively.
Drive organization-wide evangelism and adoption of insights through self-serve libraries, office hours, roadshows and ongoing education.
Demonstrate exceptional presentation skills by clearly communicating research insights to stakeholders at all levels, referencing key experience KPIs to anchor findings and recommendations.
Tailor messages for maximum impact, confidently leading research discussions both before product launch and during post-mortem reviews.
Team Development & Mentorship: Mentor and coach UX researchers and designers, fostering skill growth, promoting best practices, and supporting career development.
Contribute to team growth through recruiting, interviewing, and shaping a collaborative, excellence-driven UX culture.
Understands and actively participates in Environmental, Health & Safety responsibilities by following established UO policy, procedures, training and team member involvement activities.
Performs other duties as assigned.