Quantitative User Experience Researcher

At Google, our philosophy is “Focus on the user and all else will follow.” In our User Experience (UX) teams, UX Researchers partner with Designers, Product Managers, Engineers and Googlers across the company to improve the user experience and drive product excellence. Quantitative UX Researchers conduct empirical research using methods from computer science, quantitative social science, statistics, econometrics and other fields to understand user behavior and extract meaningful patterns from large data sets.

As a Quantitative UX Researcher, you combine skills in experimental design, statistical analysis, programming and human-computer interaction to improve the user experience. As a key member of a product team, you work with stakeholders across functions and levels. You solve challenging problems and empower the team to move forward by developing metrics, measuring results and integrating new methodologies into existing systems. You do more than just crunch numbers: through reports and team engagement, you provide a UX perspective on quantitative data to help stakeholders understand their users. Coming up with solutions is only one part of your job. Equally important is to identify and quantify problems, and to embark on new research areas worth exploring through innovative methods. You apply principles of rigorous and ethical research to build and improve products that satisfy users’ needs and exceed their expectations.

Google is not a conventional company, and we don’t intend to become one. True, we share attributes with the world’s most successful organizations – a focus on innovation and smart business practices comes to mind – but even as we continue to grow, we’re committed to retaining a small-company feel. At Google, we know that every employee has something important to say, and that every employee is integral to our success. We provide individually-tailored compensation packages that can be comprised of competitive salary, bonus, and equity components, along with the opportunity to earn further financial bonuses and rewards.

Googlers thrive in small, focused teams and high-energy environments, believe in the ability of technology to change the world, and are as passionate about their lives as they are about their work. For more information, visit www.google.com/careers.

Responsibilities

• Define and measure quantitative UX goals and metrics in collaboration with Designers, Qualitative Researchers, Engineers and Program Managers.
• Examine existing data and product designs to generate hypotheses and plans for high-impact research.
• Prioritize and drive research to improve user experience.
• Develop code and statistical models to understand user experience.
• Drive change by communicating findings to stakeholders in the company. Make research findings convincing and actionable for both research experts and non-experts.

Qualifications
Minimum qualifications:

• BA/BS degree in Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, Statistics, Psychology or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 2 years of experience in an applied research setting.
• Experience in a programming language commonly used for data manipulation and computational statistics (such as Python, R, Matlab, C++, Java or Go), and in SQL.

Preferred qualifications:

• MS or PhD degree in Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, Psychology, Statistics or a related field.
• 5 years of relevant work experience with User Experience or Human-Computer Interaction teams.
• Expertise in multivariate statistics and the design of experiments.
• Proficiency in programming computational and statistical algorithms for large data sets.
• Track record of demonstrating excellent command of research questions within a given domain, and of technical tools for the analysis of data within that field.