Principal User Experience Researcher

Job description

American Express is a global service company, providing customers with exceptional access to products and experiences that enrich lives and build business success.

Each day, we make it easier, safer and more rewarding for consumers and businesses to purchase the things they need and for merchants to sell their goods and services, enabling them to do and achieve more.

We're committed to becoming the world's most respected service brand and daily deliver extraordinary service to our customers, constantly reinventing our ways of working to ensure we offer rich rewards that redefine expectations for our clients and ourselves.

American Express is on a mission to digitise millions of customer interactions each day while creating new ways to connect that are meaningful and relevant. The Digital Customer Experience team, as part of the CTO organisation, is focused on Enabling Innovation, Accelerating Agility, and Empowering Customers by providing breakthrough products and experiences designed to delight customers.

Our team lives by a set of guiding principles:

· Show don't tell

· One Voice

· Customer Focused

· Simple and Relevant

· Focused on Results

As part of the User Experience Research (UXR) team, the Principle User Experience Researcher will be the go-to lead across multiple products/experiences, partnering with product owners to create a user-cantered experience for the core journeys of AmericanExpress.com, and adjacent user journeys.

They will champion our customer-centric approach – one that systematically observes, investigates, and optimises our company's interactions with its customers by getting real-time feedback from Card Members, as we continually iterate Amex.com.

Crucially, the UXR team delivers the user insights informing the creative output from its sister team – the User Experience and Design team – as they design the next generation of our digital assets.

The Principal UX Researcher will also work closely with the Analytics & Experimentation team, along with internal partners and other functions across the organisation.

As a Principal Researcher you will be hands-on in all aspects of user experience research, steering multiple products/projects, whilst providing guidance, direction and oversight to other members of the team. This is a very exciting opportunity for someone who can blend business needs with customer focus to drive innovative solutions.

Responsibilities:

· Lead multiple projects/products, delivering insights for consumer-facing digital experiences during all phases of design and development, across different markets.

· Champion UXR across americanexpress.com – core and adjacent journeys – using a variety of methodologies and a Human Factors approach, in an Agile environment.

· Consult with internal product owners and UX/UI designers, to determine research requirements, and make appropriate recommendations to meet identified needs.

· Direct rostered agencies to carry out usability and user experience research with customers, and make those insights relevant to our business.

· Guide more junior members of the team, and manage contractor resource, whilst also being a strong individual contributor with end to end project ownership.

· Act as Subject Matter Expert, generating cross-channel thought leadership based on research outcomes, bringing best practices and innovative thinking to the organisation.

· Ensure a cohesive user experience across products, channels (including browser and mobile), and markets.

· Partner effectively with Product, Marketing/Content, Standards, UX, Visual Design, Analytics/Testing, Capabilities, Web Engineering and business partners in a matrix environment.

· Be the voice of the customer to internal teams, executives, and partners.

· Infuse the culture with a user-cantered mindset.

Offer of employment with American Express is conditioned upon the successful completion of a background verification check, subject to applicable laws and regulations.

Desired profile

Skills Required:

· Interactive/digital experience, with expertise in User Experience Research

· Proven experience in identifying research needs, using multiple methodologies to meet those needs, and tying them to business strategy and digital product/platform development

· Expert knowledge of a range of qualitative methodologies and tools, e.g. usability testing, remote testing, focus groups, card sorting and co-creation.

· A full understanding of how quantitative research methods (A/B, MVT testing) work together with qualitative methods to provide a comprehensive range of insights.

· Proven ability to drive results whilst managing multiple projects and deliverables in a fast-paced, changing environment

· Change agent; not afraid to challenge the status quo for the benefit of the customer.

· Excellent communication and presentation story telling ability

· Tirelessly committed to turning insights into actionable recommendations for digital product owners and design teams

· Can manage stakeholders and vendor partners effectively, to deliver multiple projects at pace and scale

· Proven ability to synthesise multiple inputs (reporting data, metrics, qualitative and quantitative insights, and stakeholder/business direction) to arrive at recommendations that deliver customer-focused outcomes for the organisation

· Bachelors or Masters Degree in Computer Science, Product/Interaction Design, Human Computer Interaction or related field



We place great importance on doing what is right, what is best and what is innovative. And we continue seeking people to champion these values and beliefs as we grow. The world's a big place, filled with big ideas and amazing people. And we want the best of them here at American Express. We're interested in where you came from, but we're even more excited about where you will go with American Express.

To complete your application please click on the links below. However, if you require any assistance with the completion of this process – or need any reasonable adjustments to be made – then please contact the Recruitment Team on ************@*******.** or +44 (0)116 2421776.