Director, User Experience Research

gn org within UKG. This role will lead the team responsible for delivering user insights to our product and design teams across all flagship product suites of UKG. You should have a talent for seeing the big picture, providing strategic guidance on the best areas to research to inform product plans, vision, and roadmaps in support of our business outcomes and customer needs. The position will require taking a creative approach to scaling the research function at UKG by introducing new methods, processes, and approaches to elevate the organization's purpose of putting people first with a spirit of continuous discovery and delivering value. This role is also responsible for the practical matters of ensuring the successful execution of research within the team. This means managing work against milestones, allocating resources, and reviewing and critiquing deliverables. You should be undaunted by rolling up your sleeves and supporting the range of research efforts across the team. As a people manager, you will work effectively to build, coach, and mentor the team.

This highly strategic and innovative research leadership role is the key to harmonizing and scaling the UKG product suites, while helping define the future of life-work technologies and enabling customers to be the best employer they can be and helping employees reach their full potential. This role will be based out of our Lowell headquarters.

Responsibilities
• Lead our research team responsible for delivering user insights across our product portfolios by gathering alignment on positioning the research function, developing strong partnerships with leaders across UKG and fine-tuning process to enable leveraging research throughout the product development cycle.
• Support and coach researchers to collaborate effectively with cross-functional partners and executive stakeholders, translating their curiosities into actionable research questions and help them break new ground expanding their field of vision through discovery.
• Help the team work on the most impactful highest leverage problems to drive the business forward and enable product teams to embrace and apply the research-mindset to all their customer interactions.
• Assess and grow research capabilities for a team responsible for designing mixed-method studies in an efficient, yet rigorous manner and broadening the research spectrum from discovery to validation and measurement so that we can help the organization gain empathy with those we serve.
• Drive the evolution of a framework of experience metrics and the Experience measurement program to offer the organization a solid grasp on how user experience is trending for our product suites and its potential impact on other business and CX metrics.
• Develop and mature the UX research practice to scale and drive the best practices and methodology in an inclusive and psychologically safe environment.
• You will thoughtfully scale and foster a collaborative and innovative team culture that encourages continuous learning and development by implementing meaningful mechanisms & systems to help the team thrive.
• We work in a hybrid model; 3 days in the Lowell MA office each week is required. Local candidates are preferred

Qualifications
• Bachelor's or Master's degree in a related field (e.g., Human-Computer Interaction, Psychology, Sociology).
• 10+ years of User Experience Research
• 7-10 years of managing user research or hybrid design teams that were also responsible for user research.
• A strong body of pragmatic, innovative, customer-centric research work/ case studies that demonstrates success in driving organizational change and growing the capabilities of the research team.
• Solid history in leading research or design strategy for business applications and SaaS offerings in complex domains. Experience leading accessibility research is a plus.
• Forge relationships with cross-functional partners (Product, Design, engineering and beyond) by building trust among internal partners and driving influence in decision-making across the teams.
• Ability to bridge strong connections with other insight gathering groups and helping consolidate a fuller and clearer big picture to enable strategic decision making.
• Excellent communication, presentation, facilitation, and interpersonal skills including the ability to communicate research value clearly and persuasively across different audiences and at all levels of the organization.
• Ability to navigate ambiguous challenges in research, strategy, influence, and process and inspire teams to embrace new ways of working.
• Masterful time management, organizational skills, and execution ability including ability to make strategic decisions on tools, software, vendor management, and staffing requirements.
• Strong, committed, nurturing leader with proven experience in scaling teams with high quality results and thriving team members.
• Demonstrates an awareness and sensitivity to the needs and concerns of individuals and stakeholders from diverse cultures, backgrounds, and orientations.
• Bonus: Prior experience in working on Human capital management or Workforce management products and services.

EEO Statement

Equal Opportunity Employer

Ultimate Kronos Group is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and is committed to maintaining a diverse and inclusive work environment. All qualified applicants will receive considerations for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, marital status, familial status, sexual orientation, pregnancy, genetic information, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, veteran status, and any other legally protected status under federal, state, or local anti-discrimination laws.

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Disability Accommodation

For individuals with disabilities that need additional assistance at any point in the application and interview process, please email [email protected].