Senior User Experience Researcher

Charles Schwab Inc.•Austin, TX

23h•$130,000 - $175,000•Onsite

About The Position

At Schwab, you’re empowered to make an impact on your career. Here, innovative thought meets creative problem solving, helping us “challenge the status quo” and transform the finance industry together. We believe in the importance of in-office collaboration and fully intend for the selected candidate for this role to work on site in the specified location(s). Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis without employer sponsorship. The Charles Schwab Digital Retail organization is a multi-disciplinary group that includes user experience designers, product owners, content strategists, operations, developers and UX researchers. We work with business and technology partners across the enterprise to build best-in-class digital experiences for our users. Our business is driven by our company strategy: “Through clients’ eyes.” This makes it a dream place to work as a Senior User Experience Researcher. Our company motto supports user advocacy. Our purpose is to help design tools and experiences that enable users to achieve their financial goals. In this individual contributor role you will be an expert in user experience research. You’ll operate with independent judgement, lead by example demonstrating passion, positivity and keen problem-solving skills. Product and design teams will look to you to lead the creation of UX research projects that help answer their critical questions in a timely manner.

Requirements

6+ years in applying user experience research at a tactical level
Proficiency and comfort running qualitative moderated and unmoderated research studies, and quantitative surveys, click tests, tree-tests, and more
Proven ability to determine the best research method to use with the ability to provide rationale for the tradeoffs of using one vs another
Experience with AI-enabled solutions to streamline UX research tasks and scale analysis
Effective relationship builder with the ability to partner cross-functionally, cross-enterprise and work effectively with various levels of the organization as well as various personality types
Ability to simultaneously run research for multiple product teams, managing shifting priorities with autonomy and initiative
Ability to communicate complex messages and tradeoffs and tell a compelling story
Proficient in research tools such as UserZoom and UserTesting, plus project management tools including MS Office, SharePoint, Jira, Confluence and more
Ability to partner with cross-functional teams to embed generative and evaluative research into product development
Ability to elevate research quality, define best practices, ensure methodological rigor, and support others in developing UX research knowledge and skills
Ability to translate insights into compelling readout decks with narratives and actionable recommendations
Ability to demonstrate the measurable impact of research on product and business outcomes

Nice To Haves

Strong self-management skills, comfortable with substantial responsibility, working directly with partners, and capable of aligning stakeholders on goals, scope, timelines, and project schedules
Experimental and innovative mindset
Comfort in an Agile project-oriented work environment, with a positive attitude and solid work ethic
Experience applying the right statistics to analyze user data

Responsibilities

Set expectations with project teams and align stakeholders on research goals, scope, timelines, and success criteria
Create and maintain research schedules, recruiting plans, and study logistics to ensure smooth operational execution
Communicate status, decisions, tradeoffs, and next steps clearly with project teams and stakeholders
Review work with UX managers, keep them updated on project status and escalate items appropriately
Works well with partners to deliver research and facilitate workshops or planning sessions that build alignment and shape direction
Thoughtfully listen to stakeholder needs and incorporate feedback to guide delivery strategically
Collaborative and cooperative, adept at shifting work to match changes in priority
Has a research point of view but adapts methods and recommendations to adapt to business constraints while preserving rigor and insight quality
Passionate about the team, our mission and the needs of our partners and users
Enthusiastic about UX research and advocating for our clients
Understands and advocates user needs, walking in their shoes when possible
Focuses on innovation and improvement
Regularly learns more about user experience research theory, practice, and tools with a curiosity for exploring and using AI in UX research methods
You will support an engaged set of clients and partners who rely on our products to manage their financial lives
By researching and understanding user needs you will be able to help improve how our clients do business with Schwab
You will partner with an engaged research team that fosters a learning, collaborative environment where team members support each other