Manager, User Research

Job Description

Position Summary

We are hiring a Manager, User Research to support the Digital and Direct-to-Consumer business for Magnolia, a joint venture partnership between Discovery, Inc. and Chip and Jo Gaines. The Manager, User Research will help support and execute the strategy of our User Experience research practice and will contribute to bringing customer insights into every phase of the product development process, ensuring we have the customer data and insights we need to design and build experiences that delight users. Under the direction of the VP, Product Design and User Experience, this position will work directly with our product design, product management and content teams and our users to better understand user interactions and behaviors across mobile, tablets, web, connected TVs, voice and other emerging technologies. As the Manager, User Research you will combine the inspiration of the Magnolia brand with a data-driven approach to help bring to life compelling experiences that delight Magnolia fans and increase engagement.

Responsibilities
• Develop a deep understanding of our user research vision and roadmap, execute research priorities and contribute to delivering compelling product experiences to fans of Magnolia.
• Collaborate across teams and functions to communicate results and recommendations and advocate on behalf of our customers - including product, design, engineering, data science, content and marketing leaders.
• Work closely with design and product management teams to execute research opportunities in a fast-paced, rapidly changing environment.
• Create a deep understanding and empathy for our target customers through field research, surveys, personas, lab studies, and other methods (existing or invented) that you identify to be most effective.
• Synthesize and communicate research findings and insights to inform actionable decisions to different stakeholders.
• Follow up with advocacy to build empathy for our users throughout the organization.
• Build and maintain research plans and help build shared understanding around research priorities.
• Help identify the best method or mix of methods based on research questions, timeline and resourcing.
• Drive best practices and identify enhancements to our user research and testing processes and methodologies.

An ideal candidate will be excited about the Magnolia brand and what Chip and Jo Gaines's vision can deliver for customers. They will have a successful track record of user experience research and proven experience leading customer-facing projects and bring relevant insights in technology. They will be a creative problem-solver with insatiable curiosity that teams love to work with because they inspire their team members. They build trust with people from all areas of the business and have a proven track record of delivering research insights informing products that customers love. They take end-to-end ownership and consistently deliver results in a fast-paced environment.

Requirements
• 3+ years conducting user research and testing in a software development setting
• A strong portfolio demonstrating past work experience and deliverables in user experience research and testing (e.g. study plans, reports, presentations and data visualizations)
• End-to-end experience with all aspects of user research (i.e. study design, recruiting, moderation, analysis, reporting)
• Knowledge of the field of human-computer interaction, experimental design, observational and field methods and data analysis.
• BS degree in Human Factors, Human Centered Design, Cognitive Psychology, Cognitive Science or similar
• Must have the legal right to work in the United States

Preferred Qualifications
• Excellent understanding of the software, design and product development cycle
• Experience working in a software development environment within a highly entrepreneurial environment
• Strong communication and storytelling skills with an ability to convey complex concepts clearly and persuasively across different audiences
• Great organizational skills with an ability to balance multiple priorities and consistently deliver results
• Adept at working cross functionally across teams including product, product design and engineering
• Ability to understand, analyze and interpret complicated data
• Passion for translating data into actionable insights to improve the customer experience
• Ability to manage ambiguity, work autonomously, and multi-task in an agile and fast-paced environment
• Team player and relationship builder
• Experience in multimodal systems design research

Nearest Major Market: Seattle

Nearest Secondary Market: Bellevue

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-d8606m-3-149-229-253-42 in your application.