SR UX Researcher with Security Clearance

Senior User Experience (UX) Researcher Palo Alto, CA Perm Direct Hire   As a Senior User Experience (UX) Researcher in our Palo Alto, CA office. Our team works on game-changing ideas, from technological experiments, leverage design, customer research, and engineering, to identify new ideas, build MVPs, and ultimately scale digital products. We aim to design and scale digital business models that make car enthusiasm more accessible with new solutions to create best-in-class experiences especially targeted to the next generation of car enthusiasts. Some of our products include DesignCar and Marqued. The team is looking for a seasoned User Researcher to inform the conceptualization, development, and scaling of user-centric products, and to provide customer insights throughout the product life cycle. As an ideal candidate, you are an advocate for user centricity, and have a proven track record using user research insights to inform product development on both strategic and tactical levels.  You know when to zoom-in and zoom-out, with a deep empathy on users as well as on your stakeholders/ the business needs. Responsibilities * Design, adjust, and execute research roadmaps that inform key milestones and product life cycles. * Manage, maintain, and expand a list of research tools and external agencies * Manage, maintain, and expand a Customer Advisory Group * Handle research operations including budget planning, procurement, recruiting, and agency management * Foster collaboration with product managers, designers, engineers for a user-centric culture within the organization.  * Deliver compelling research insights with clear recommendations Minimum Qualifications * 5+ years in user experience research or market research * Bachelor’s degree in Market Research, Sociology, Psychology, Cognitive Science, Human-Computer Interaction, Human Factors, Design, or a related field. * Previous experience in corporate research (or product) teams * Experience with Qualtrics and other research tools * Experience authoring survey questionnaires, user test protocols, and interview guides independently * Experience creating and owning research roadmaps independently as an individual * 2+ years’ experience moderating one-on-one in-depth interviews, usability testing sessions, or focus groups   Preferred Qualifications * A Master’s degree in related disciplines * Work experience or deep understanding of any of the following domains: automotive, innovation, entrepreneurship * Experience defining and driving larger-scale, foundational projects that have some degree of ambiguity and complexity * Ability to consult/probe/challenge stakeholders as necessary to put together a coherent research brief, and can advocate for consumers needs if not yet. * Experiences in both qualitative, quantitative, and design research methods, including but not limited to:  Ethnography research, Concept Testing (Qualitative and quantitative), Advanced quantitative methods including Segmentations, Pricing Studies, Remote-and-in-person usability testing. * Experience and understanding of basic UX principles and best design practices such as heuristic evaluations. * Highly skilled in synthesis. Can take multiple inputs from literature and previous studies and Client patterns and recommendations.