Job Description
We are seeking a Principal UX Research Manager to join our multi-disciplinary team of over 50 user researchers and planners working on a breadth of experiences across Microsoft 365 (M365). In this position, youโll be leading a small team of researchers who are excited about creating the next generation of collaboration tools, including Microsoft Loop, and leveraging AI and Microsoft Copilot to enhance the user experience of M365. You will work closely with designers, product managers, and engineers to define and deliver innovative solutions that empower people and teams to collaborate more effectively and efficiently across Microsoft 365 apps. You will also be responsible for fostering a culture of inclusion, curiosity, and creativity within your team and across the organization. To succeed in this role, you will need to have a mixed methods research background, effective communication and storytelling skills, and the ability to drive product vision and strategy based on user and market insights. You will also need to be an innovative leader who can challenge the status quo and inspire new ideas. If you want to transform the way people work together and create a positive impact on the world, we would love to hear from you.
You are motivated by growing and leading people. You have a working knowledge of generative AI solutions and how they can improve collaboration. You have systems thinking skills, understanding how complex systems work and how they can be improved, to integrate AI with the existing M365 ecosystem to create a seamless and personalized user experience for both individuals and project teams.
Weโre looking for someone who wants to learn, grow, and embody new ways of working. If you embrace growth mindset, have a track record of delivering results both as an individual and with others, you light up collaborating with other researchers, planners, designers, product managers and engineers this is an awesome team to join.
We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace where everyone can thrive and contribute. We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, identities, and perspectives. This role is based in Redmond, WA but we are open to other locations across the US.
Responsibilities
- Lead a small team of researchers. Create clarity of purpose through scoping, alignment with stakeholders, and prioritization. Deliver success through empowerment and accountability by modeling, coaching, and caring.
- Model - Live our culture; Embody our values; Practice our leadership principles.
- Coach - Define team objectives and outcomes; Enable success across boundaries; Help the team adapt and learn.
- Care - Attract and retain great people; Know each individualโs capabilities and aspirations; Invest in the growth of others.
- Work across organizational boundaries and across disciplines with UX Designers, Planners, UX Researchers, Data Science, Program Managers, Marketers, and Engineers to ensure that weโre addressing the most critical business and technology objectives to meet the right user needs and opportunities, landing impact from your customer-focused knowledge.
- Identify stakeholders across Microsoft and bring them along as you provide qualitative and quantitative customer feedback to influence product development at different levels of granularity, from product strategy to cross-platform coherence to feature usability.
- Tackle problems that require an understanding of complex technical constraints across multiple platforms (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android) and devices (Desktop, Web, Mobile) while working to guide near and long-term investments. You should have the organizational agility and acumen to know when to push against product team resistance and when to fold constraints into your recommendations.
- Create research strategies and plans that leverage existing data and complement additional research that you need to execute. Key to this accountability will be identifying opportunities for growth, gaps, and customer pain points, as well as potential customer delighters.
- Define UX approaches, metrics, and work with others on research planning. Innovate and develop new approaches to measure userโs experiences.
Required/Minimum Qualifications:
- Bachelor's Degree in Human-Computer Interaction, Human Factors Engineering, Computer Science, Technical Communications, Information Science, Information Architecture, User Experience Design, Behavioral Science, Social Sciences, or related field AND 6+ years User Experience Research experience and/or product development experience or related experience in research
- OR Master's Degree in Human-Computer Interaction, Human Factors Engineering, Computer Science, Technical Communications, Information Science, Information Architecture, User Experience Design, Behavioral Science, Social Sciences, or related field AND 4+ years User Experience Research experience and/or product development experience or related experience in research
- OR Doctorate in Human-Computer Interaction, Human Factors Engineering, Computer Science, Technical Communications, Information Science, Information Architecture, User Experience Design, Behavioral Science, Social Sciences, or related field AND 3+ years User Experience Research experience and/or product development experience or related experience in research
- OR equivalent experience.
- 3+ years people management experience.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Hands-on research and/or product planning experience, with demonstrated skill in collecting and analyzing human behavioral data to improve plans and UX in a technology industry setting
- Experience impacting both product direction and detailed experience design
- 2+ years experience leading and growing research teams
UX Research M5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $133,600 - $256,800 per year. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $173,200 - $282,200 per year.
