Principal UX Researcher (SharePoint Authoring and Brand)

Join us in growing the SharePoint Authoring and Brand space! We are looking for a  Principal UX Researcher to join our larger UX Research team with a proven track record for delivering compelling user experiences that are usable, seamless, impactful, and deeply rooted in customer needs. 

SharePoint is a powerful intranet platform that enables organizations to communicate, collaborate, and control their content. SharePoint empowers users to create an engaging and personalized intranet that reflects their brand and culture while connecting with other Microsoft 365 products to create a seamless digital workplace. 

As a strategic partner and member of the product team your work will have a huge impact and reach, as SharePoint is used by more than 200,000 organizations and 190 million people worldwide. You will also have the chance to shape the future of SharePoint as the team embarks on the next evolution of the product, inspiring and enabling users to create modern and fully expressive sites, pages, and news. You will work closely with a talented team of designers, engineers, and product managers, while also being part the high-performing and well-established team, known for research excellence, collaboration, and our supportive culture.    

The candidate is dedicated to putting the customers front and center while creating solutions to complex problems that, ultimately, empower our users to be more productive, efficient, and successful. This person should be knowledgeable and interested in the rapidly evolving AI space, while never forgetting the human side of the equation regarding responsible AI and building solutions that work for all people. Our diverse team of researchers and designers who work on a variety of products including, but not limited to Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, Microsoft Viva, and more, our team will provide an environment where you will thrive and grow professionally. This is an amazing opportunity to reach a large audience with your innovative and creative work as we develop this product. We approach our problem space with empathy for our customers, as well as drive to innovate and evolve the product. We’re building partnerships with teams across Microsoft, functioning as scenario and customer experts to solve real customer problems.  

Our Culture  

We are a diverse team of UX Researchers, Designers, Producers, Content Writers, Creatives, and UX Engineers who partner closely across disciplines, such as Product Managers, Data Science, Engineering, and Marketing.  

We are a high-performing team that challenges ourselves to live the Microsoft philosophies around inclusive culture and growth mindset. Local mentoring rings and communities allow us to learn from each other and grow. We focus on having inclusive interactions that foster productive dialog. We are dedicated to the work of creating an inclusive, and transparent culture – a safe place to do our best work!  

We have a proven track record of delivering business results with key metrics to track our successes and failures. We are a truly hybrid work environment with much of our team in Washington state and across the USA and Prague.  We also work closely with our partners in India, China and new teams in Atlanta and Vancouver, Canada. We like to have fun, celebrate our wins, and learn and grow from our mistakes.  

 We’d love to talk to you if you want to...  

• Gain experience with AI and be excited by the opportunity to continue to learn and partner with others in a rapidly evolving space  
• Drive for excellence while never losing sight of the human side of the equation and what it means to be a team leader and partner.  
• Collaborate with design, product management, data science, marketing, and engineering teams around the company and globe, leveraging partnerships for diverse perspective on our products.  
• Provide principal-level thought leadership in user experience areas through collaboration with designers, participation in design reviews. 
• Lead by example with clean, focused, and inspiring work, through all phases of the product cycle. 
• Contribute to broaden multi-discipline team’s creative processes, team building, and our cultural values around diversity, inclusion, transparency, and growth mindset. 
• Contribute to the learning and growth of the broader research team. 
• Learn and understand about diverse audiences, their behaviors, context(s) and motivations – across all phases of the customer lifecycle and user journey. 
• Demonstrate empathy for users while balancing the vision and constraints of stakeholders. 

Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As employees we come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to realize our shared goals. Each day we build on our values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond.

Responsibilities

This is a unique opportunity for someone who thinks and works strategically and is motivated to partner across disciplines to deliver holistic experiences in a customer driven organization. SharePoint Premium is part of the Microsoft 365 family, bringing opportunities to work with a vast number of teams at Microsoft to deliver innovative and coherent solutions. Experience in UX Research practice and methodology throughout the Design cycle is critical for customer and product impact.

The following are core expectations of this position:  

• Understand UX Research needs and develop research plans and roadmaps to deliver insights that will guide product development decisions across the lifecycle.  
• Create and manage UX research knowledge that is leveraged across design and engineering teams and across products when appropriate.  
• Provide actionable insights as an outcome of research activities and drive those insights into product and design plans with peers in the PM and Design organizations.  
• Effectively communicate research strategies, methodologies and insights to peers, partners, and stakeholders throughout the organization.  
• Be a key partner in ensuring product success by representing the value of UX Research to product managers and engineers throughout the organization.  
• Work closely with design counterparts in global teams to align research activities and execution consistently.  
• Leverage your insights and experience in design reviews and planning cycles to improve the team’s ability to deliver world-class design solutions for our customers.  
• Embody our culture and values.

Qualifications

Required 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: 

• At least 8+ years of product UX Research experience (HCI, user experience, social psych, cognitive psych, behavioral psych, user Research, Usability, etc.), with at least 4 years prioritizing and conducting strategic research with high impact on product direction and experience design. 
• Most candidates have a graduate degree in Human-Computer Interaction, Psychology, Human Factors, Anthropology, Statistics, or related field but are also interested in candidates with different backgrounds who bring new or complementary skills to our team. 
• Proven ability to champion and drive plans for research programs for widespread impacts across a division, across the company, or within the industry.  
• Command of all aspects of UX Research across a product cycle; experience across a range of UX Research approaches and methodologies (theoretical and practical knowledge of both qualitative and quantitative).  
• Experience in articulating the implications of research insights in clear and compelling ways; translating research findings into actionable opportunities and recommendations; ability to translate data into insights; measurable record of impacting products as a researcher.  
• Proficient verbal, written communication and presentation skills. Active thought leadership in user experience issues and trends.  
• Track record of collaborating and enabling cross disciplines (design, program management, engineering, content writers, and marketing) to drive change into products; and be able to work independently as well as part of a cohesive team.  
• A high-quality portfolio review presentation is required to interview for this role. Your presentation should demonstrate your research experience, rationale for methodologies chosen, and communication skills. 
• Conducted qualitative and/or quantitative research in the AI space for 2+ years. 
• Knowledgeable about responsible AI and inclusive design, with a track record of incorporating these principles into your research practice.  

 

 UX Research IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across Canada is CAD $135,800 - CAD $253,000 per year.  Find additional pay information here: https://careers.microsoft.com/v2/global/en/canada-pay-information.html  Microsoft will accept applications for the role until July 10, 2024.

 

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. 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.