Architect, User Research

GE Healthcare - Chicago, IL

Full-time - Senior

Chicago, IL

Chemical Manufacturing

About the position

As an Architect of User Research at GE HealthCare, you will play a pivotal role in bridging the gap between design and technology. This position is responsible for the planning, execution, analysis, and synthesis of user research, ensuring that the end user's perspective is integrated into the design and development processes. You will work closely with stakeholders to understand project goals and articulate how user research can contribute to achieving those goals. Your expertise in various research tools, including Qualtrics and in-person testing, will be essential in gathering user insights that inform the design system tailored for a medical technology, pharmaceutical diagnostics, and digital solutions company. In this role, you will lead research sessions with users and stakeholders, including executives, and execute usability studies as needed. You will identify and summarize meaningful insights derived from user research and produce effective documentation of research findings, including notes, photos, videos, and analyses. Your ability to propose design or product solutions based on research analysis will be crucial, as will your leadership in evaluating current and emerging design, technology, industry, and market trends. You will advocate for user research and help champion buy-in from stakeholders and businesses, participating in discussions that influence the future direction of user experience initiatives across the organization. The ideal candidate will possess a minimum of a Bachelor's degree in a research-related field, with at least 6 years of experience in user research. A graduate degree in a relevant domain is preferred. You will need strong project management skills to create and manage project plans for user experience research, effectively balancing project commitments and adapting to changing conditions. Excellent communication skills are essential for conveying research findings clearly and building rapport with diverse, globally-dispersed teams. Your technical expertise in design and usability, along with knowledge of Agile and Lean UX methodologies, will enable you to make informed design recommendations based on research data. Familiarity with the healthcare industry is beneficial, as is an understanding of the complexities involved in designing and deploying products and services in enterprise-level domains.

Responsibilities

• Work with stakeholders to understand project goals
• Articulate how user research can best contribute to supporting those goals
• Build consensus among individuals and groups
• Select and use appropriate design research methods to address design opportunities
• Plan, conduct, and lead research sessions with users and stakeholders, including executives
• Execute usability studies as needed
• Identify and summarize meaningful insights derived from user research
• Produce and guide effective documentation of research and testing including notes, photos, video and resulting analysis
• Propose design or product solutions based on research analysis and synthesis
• Lead evaluation of current and emerging design, technology, industry, and market trends
• Lead multiple projects of various sizes in a cross-functional environment
• Advocate for user research and help champion buy-in from stakeholders and businesses
• Participate in and begin to influence the business-wide discussions relative to the future direction of user experience initiatives

Requirements

• Minimum Bachelor's degree ideally in research-related majors (human-computer interaction (HCI), psychology, anthropology, library science, technical communication, sociology, etc.)
• Minimum of 6 years of experience in user research
• Ideally a graduate degree in a research domain
• Ability to create project plans for user experience (UX) research projects
• Ability to effectively manage time and balance project commitments
• Ability to adjust quickly to changing conditions and project demands
• Ability to communicate research findings in a clear, approachable, and actionable fashion, both verbally and in written form
• Experience building good working rapport with globally-dispersed, diverse teams
• Deep knowledge of design and usability
• Ability to make design recommendations informed by expert knowledge and based on research data
• Experience leading individual interviews/workshops with individual contributors
• Ability to select appropriate research methods to answer questions and develop holistic understanding of user and customer needs
• Experience creating research protocols
• Knowledge of and experience with Qualtrics and ideally with other research tools such as Noldus, Optimal Workshop, Tobii, Teams, Miro, etc.
• Knowledge of Agile / Lean UX methodologies
• Understands key cross-functional concepts that impact the company, business priorities, & organizational dynamics
• Keeps current on industry landscape; ability to map industry trends to internal vision
• Ability to communicate effectively with various stakeholder groups
• Understands key principles of design thinking and research, what it is and why it is important
• Explores all ideas, regardless of their source
• Understands that designing, validating, developing, and deploying products and services for enterprise-level domains requires attention to complexities between systems
• Works to create an understanding of how individual people and things fit within larger structures (like systems or organizations), as well as the relationships between parts of a system and the system as a whole.

Nice-to-haves

• Knowledge of the healthcare industry is beneficial

Benefits

• Relocation assistance
• Health insurance