Design Researcher

Job description

Introduction
As IBM Z Designers, you are part of a community of innovators, creators, and design thinkers. Our systems power the world’s most important industries, and our clients are the architects of the future. Transforming our business to deliver on that future is at the heart of our Design mission.

As an IBM Z Design Researcher, you will assume ownership of research deliverables on your product, either as an individual contributor or leader of a team. Fusing your understanding of customer needs, deep domain knowledge and familiarity with the positioning and strategy behind your products, you are seen as a subject matter expert in your domain, producing the insights needed to develop high-quality, experience-led solutions that meet end-user expectations while delivering business value. You are highly skilled in developing research goals and executing research plans. You have a passion for technology and the capacity to learn and understand complex technical details. You will also assume a degree of responsibility in meeting business success metrics.

Having built expertise as a Design Researcher, fluency in UX metrics and effective collaboration skills working in multidisciplinary teams, you will apply your knowledge and expertise to strongly advocate for customer needs and drive exemplary product experiences. You will continue to develop the depth and breadth of your T-Shape skills, especially in the Business Acumen and Industry/Technology areas. You will actively contribute to our design community’s health, culture, and success through your involvement in community-focused initiatives and through mentorship of junior teammates and other colleagues.

Your Role and Responsibilities
Strategic Responsibilities
·  Demonstrate deep domain knowledge and understanding of key users and the market.
·  Demonstrate fluency in your portfolio’s business strategy and the value proposition of the product(s) within your scope.
·  Help align the design work of your team with product strategies and user experience insights/requirements.
·  Influence decisions tied to the business strategy and processes of your products.
·  Establish and own research goals for your Product (aligned with business strategy) and measure progress towards those goals.
·  Participate in portfolio Commitment pitches, MMT, OMT, Lean Governance, etc. meetings.
·  Be an SME that acts as the voice of the customers. Cross-Functional Responsibilities
·  Lead research efforts for a product(s) / project(s).
·  Help drive the execution of an experience roadmap based on awareness of user and business needs.
·  Advocate for end user experience, steer design and development in a different direction when needed.
·  Closely partner with Product management and development to cultivate, manage, and administer sponsor user relationships.
·  Work with Agile product team leaders to measure progress and review design outcomes against user insights (via playbacks).
·  Be an active member of Product squad(s) by attending and presenting playbacks, coaching designers, providing input in the prioritization of Product backlog.
·  When applicable, participate in planning and other product delivery processes.
·  Champion research as a driving force for innovation.
·  Participate in cross-disciplinary collaboration to facilitate innovation.
Functional Responsibilities
·  Acquire skills in specialized research techniques.
·  Determine types of research needed on individual initiatives and develop research goals and plans.
·  Evaluate early ideas for products, workflows or features to determine viability.
·  Execute product/project research deliverables in alignment with project timeline and roadmap milestones.
·  Develop and engage network of sponsor users.
·  Explore, document and socialize what matters most to customers.
·  Run sponsor user efforts throughout the lifecycle (recruiting, sessions, synthesis playbacks).
·  Build your eminence with our customer base and the external business industry you engage with.
·  Identify cross-disciplinary partners who will champion research.
·  Define user experience goals and design principles.
·  Help align 3-in-a-box teams to research insights, utilize research insights to drive prioritization of product backlog and roadmap.
·  Develop strong storytelling capabilities.
·  Build your eminence in the design world outside of IBM and contribute to IBM and IBM Design to grow your presence internally.
·  Support and guide individual designers through leadership, coaching, and mentoring.
·  Engage with broader IBM Z Research community.
·  Actively lead efforts benefiting the design community (e.g., innovation processes, community building, etc)
·  Share expertise at studio-wide events.

Required Technical and Professional Expertise

·  A minimum of 3 years of experience in executing research deliverables on design projects.
·  A minimum of 4 years of experience in product or service design.
·  A minimum of 2 years of experience working with product managers and engineers.
·  A minimum of 4 years of experience in a hands-on design research role.
·  A minimum of 4 years of experience with design research tools, including analytics tools.
·  Demonstrated experience conducting design research and familiarity with research practices.
·  Exposure to Agile processes (e.g., SAFe), enterprise design thinking, managing allocation and prioritization discussions, and the IBM Universal Experiences.
·  Portfolio of projects that demonstrate your skills as a design researcher. Required Technical Expertise
·  Expert-level design research skills
·  Experience with IBM-preferred research tools, including Alchemer, UserInterviews and AirTable.
·  Extensive experience in defining and executing UX Metrics assessments.
·  Competency with standard presentation programs Powerpoint & Keynote.
·  Strong portfolio showing a breadth of complex, technically-oriented projects.

Preferred Technical and Professional Expertise

·  None