Sage is a global company built on the unique personalities and characteristics of 13,000 colleagues across 24 countries. The market leader for cloud-based accounting, financials, enterprise management, people and payroll software, we empower the world's business heroes. Steve Hare has been recognized by colleagues as the top scoring CEO on Glassdoor throughout the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, due to the high levels of communication and engagement throughout.

The Director of User Research reports to the VP of UX & Learning and will lead and grow the user research team for Sage Intacct. You will be strategic as you partner with design and product leaders to set vision and priorities for how to revolutionize ease across the user experience. You will perfect the user research processes to deliver on core parts of that strategy, pushing the boundaries of ease expectations across our intelligent organization ecosystem of products and services targeting the mid-market segment.

You will use a large toolkit of both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, and have expertise in applying the appropriate methodology for any given business objectives and project constraints. You should also have a track record of leadership experiences driving UX research to the next level, initiating, planning, and executing large research initiatives, and evangelizing research findings to make insights actionable to drive product strategy and design for both new and existing products. 

The position requires a laser-like customer focus, a data-driven approach, and the ability to thrive in a team-oriented, product-focused environment. The ideal candidate will be driven by the challenge of solving unique UX problems in a compressed timeframe while balancing the needs of the business and the constraints of the medium. The role will require someone comfortable with ambiguity, minimal direction, and who can thrive in rapidly-evolving environments.

This position will be located in our beautiful downtown San Jose, CA office.

Responsibilities:

• Manage a team of 5-7 UX researchers and design strategists to create end-to-end user experiences for existing and new product offerings that simplify the user's workflow.
• Scale the team and organization as needed in the future, including hiring managers.
• Collaborate with stakeholders including product management, design, engineering, documentation, training, and analytics teams to create research proposals through understanding the business needs, research goals and target customers.
• Apply proven and innovative research techniques to gain insight for solution design and development.
• Oversee team engagement and performance, including goal setting, ongoing feedback, and performance reviews.
• Effectively communicate conceptual ideas, design rationale and the specifics of user centered design process.
• Drive ongoing process improvements as needed to ensure a high-functioning team that produces quality work on schedule.
• Plan and execute user research in an agile development process using both qualitative and quantitative methods and analysis.
• Identify and prioritize actionable results based on research. Communicate detailed research findings and ensure the insights are translated into actionable direction through presentations, posters, graphics, displays, workshops, wireframes, etc.
• Use a wide range of research methods, including ethnography/field research, participatory design, persona development, journey maps, interviews, concept testing, surveys, diary studies, usability studies, usage analytics, etc.
• Apply usability heuristics and knowledge of current design best practices to evaluate new and existing features and offer viable suggestions for improvements.
• Be a thought leader that mentors other user researchers and drives user research best practices across the organization.
• Improve or establish new research operations processes, such as participant recruiting, results publishing, and an inventory of retrievable user data and insight.
• Lead design-thinking and other workshops to continually increase customer empathy across the broader organization.
• Proactively conduct strategic research to gather customer insights to inform future offerings.

Requirements:

• Master's degree or higher in Research, Cognitive Science, Human-Computer Interaction, Information Science, or a related field.
• 7+ years of work experience as a user experience researcher, preferably in financial or mid-market company.
• 3+ years of work experience leading or managing a team of UX researchers on a high-performing team.
• Proficiency with a breadth of qualitative and quantitative research methodologies and ability to come up with creative research solutions as needed.
• Innate curiosity and deep empathy for customers.
• Outstanding interpersonal skills in conducting live/field interviews, as well as remote user studies.
• Fluency in user-centered design best practices, as well as knowledge of usability principles and techniques.
• Exceptional observational skills to discover user motivations, obstacles, emotions, and needs beyond what is verbally communicated.
• Experience with data analysis and how to meaningfully convey research findings/insights with details, clarity, objectivity, and transparency.
• Excellent communication, presentation and persuasion skills with cross-functional teams and stakeholders; experience working in a collaborative team and proven ability to promote teamwork, collaboration, and innovation.
• Strong bias for action; confidence and ability to juggle multiple priorities and deliver in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.

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