Across the industry, developers are increasingly diversifying the languages they use, platforms they target, and types of applications they build. Microsoft’s Developer Division (DevDiv) delivers tools to make all developers successful and productive in building all types of applications in any language for any platform. The DevDiv UX Research Team brings a world -class user experience (UX) to Visual Studio, .NET, and Azure. Millions of developers around the world use these tools every day to build rich applications and use is growing at a phenomenal rate. The applications built span web, mobile, desktop, cloud, gaming, AI, machine learning, and Internet of things.
We are looking for an exceptional Principal UX Researcher with a proven track record of strategically influencing overall product and business direction . In addition to leveraging qualitative and quantitative research to set strategic business direction, successful candidates will illustrate how they directly influenced what the business decided to build and how the resulting user experience was optimized for customer’s needs. You will be joining 20 + talented UX researchers whose charter is to influence product direction, determine what to build, and design end-to-end experiences for all developers that are useful, usable, and desirable. In this role, you will work in a highly collaborative environment with engineering, design, product manage ment , and business teams across the division to help make customer – driven decisions , including directly working with leadership directors and VPs. You will think big picture, as well as be able to define, articulate, and defend research details with partners. You will have access to a new, state of the art , modern research lab facility equipped for a variety of research types located in a central hub area on our Redmond campus . You will use remote tools incorporating the latest technology to collaborate with a distributed team and to execute research on a global customer base. This is a unique opportunity to grow in your career during this period of transformation . Join us and help re-invent the future of the developer experience in this exciting era !
Qualifications:
Required/Mimimum 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
- 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
- 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
- OR equivalent experience.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Thorough knowledge and experience of a range of UX research approaches and methodologies
- Familiarity with modern developer platforms and ecosystems
- A solid track record of driving strategic insight and the ability to move others from insight to execution of ideas for products
- Demonstrated, hypothesis-driven, problem-solving orientation with the ability to leverage innovative qualitative and quantitative methods
- Systems thinker with the ability to take a holistic view to planning, research, and design
- Analytical and synthesis skills with a proven ability to turn research results into product insights
- Ability to influence a range of audiences from targeted impact with teams to broad impact with executives
- Project management skills, including the ability to manage multiple projects concurrently
- Ability to p roactively identify creative solutions and solve ambiguous problems in an autonomous way
- Value diversity and inclusivity in the workplace
UX Research IC5 – 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.
Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here: https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay
Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form .
Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.
Responsibilities:
- Drive product direction through networking with industry interpreters, future casting research , third party data foraging , and aggregate sense-making
- D etermine what to build and how to build it through continuous product discovery and iterative product delivery research
- Coordinate and lead the execution of multiple projects in parallel
- Collaborate closely with design, engineering, product management, and marketing/business development during all steps of research
- T ranslate research findings into actionable recommendations and deliver th em in compelling way s
- Triangulate multiple data sources into integrated insights
- C ommunicate and evangelize research results to engineering and business teams and upper management
- Influence upper management with a persuasive user data driven stance on difficult user experience and/or business issues
- E volve the team’s research techniques and toolset to meet changing environment al needs
- Align product experience s to the broader developer and M icrosoft ecosystem
- Evangelize UX research as an essential aspect of product and business development
- Coach other UX researchers on best practices and methods