Department Summary

The Digital Foundry sets the strategy to accelerate the adoption of industry leading practices across technology modernization domains, supporting a portfolio of enterprise-wide products and platforms that enable the activities of academic and administrative stakeholders across the university. The Digital Foundry team focused on three main pillars: 1) Human-Centered Product Strategy and Design, including product discovery, user-research, accessibility, UX, and UI services. 2) Cloud and DevOps Strategy support the evolution of our cloud and engineering capabilities across infra, data, and product delivery teams championing a cloud-first approach coupled with automation and AI capabilities to deliver features faster and more reliably. 3) Solutions Architecture fosters the implementation of cohesive end-to-end solution architectures, ensuring baseline interoperability, reliability, scalability, and security capabilities are in place when architecting new solutions or updating existing ones.The Product Strategy and Human Centered Design team sets the strategy for a portfolio of enterprise-wide products and platforms enabling the activities of administrative and academic stakeholders across the university. The product strategy and human centered design team designs, develops, configures, enhances, optimizes and maintains core enterprise technologies ensuring functionality, quality, business value, user-experience and digital accessibility of products and platforms that meet the expectations of the campus community. Product Strategy and Human Centered Design fuels ITS cloud-first strategy by strategically reducing technical debt in partnership with other departments and teams leveraging cutting-edge techniques to accelerate releases using automation and application lifecycle management standards and tools.

Position Summary

The User Experience (UX) Researcher will be responsible for conducting research studies and gathering data on user behavior, attitudes and preferences in order to inform the design process. They will explore user behaviors and motivations by conducting primary research such as interviews, surveys, field studies, participatory workshops and usability testing to gather insights that are used to improve the user experience for UCLA’s products, platforms and technologies. The User Experience Researcher will create and execute research plans that define objectives, hypotheses and assumptions that will continuously help in building understanding and empathy through observation by removing ambiguity and increasing alignment. The User Experience Researcher will communicate research findings through regular updates, persuasive and compelling written reports and group presentations.The User Experience Researcher will be responsible for creating a research repository that will provide ITS’s partners with research context, insights, perspectives and recommendations. This critical Human Centered Design team member will drive discovery for a broad range of websites, applications and services; and drive innovation in user experience and product usability for faculty, staff and students. The UX Researcher will collaborate with business analysts, designers, product managers and developers to identify and articulate end-user requirements, create meaningful user stories and target solutions that meet the underlying needs of our users. The UX Researcher will positively impact UCLA’s operations and culture by ensuring UCLA’s products and applications are human-centered, efficient and effective in service of the university’s academic missions. This team member will advance the University’s mission by delivering exceptional information technology services comprehensively and consistently across faculty, staff and students. This role will execute UCLA’s vision while modeling UCLA’s culture and values.

Salary & Compensation

*UCLA provides a full pay range. Actual salary offers consider factors, including budget, prior experience, skills, knowledge, abilities, education, licensure and certifications, and other business considerations. Salary offers at the top of the range are not common. Visit UC Benefit package to discover benefits that start on day one, and UC Total Compensation Estimator to calculate the total compensation value with benefits.

Qualifications

• Three years Experience working in one or more of the following fields: user research, information technology, or a related field. (Required)
• Prior experience conducting UX research. (Required)
• Experience leveraging analytics tools to measure success, present opportunities, and support decision-making. (Required)
• Demonstrated experience presenting technical topics in a business-oriented fashion to non-technical audiences. (Required)
• Experience participating in activities to advance an inclusive environment that values equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging. (Required)
• Five or more years Experience working in one or more of the following fields: user research, information technology. (Preferred)
• Experience in complex higher education environments, serving academic and administrative functions of a large public university. (Preferred)
• Strong understanding of the strengths and shortcomings of different research methods, including when and how to apply them during the product development process. (Required)
• Ability to conduct informed, user-centered research by leveraging user research, market analysis, data, and customer feedback. Experience planning and implementing user research strategies and methods. (Required)
• Strong written and verbal communication skills and is able to communicate technical information and ideas to a diverse community of colleagues and stakeholders. (Required)
• Able to establish and advance positive working relationships and a strong rapport with team members, stakeholders, and customers. (Required)
• Strong organizational skills and is able to balance competing priorities and support concurrent projects. Experience working in a project-based environment using leading project management practices including schedule management, status reporting, and communication of project risks and issues. (Required)
• Strong demonstrated problem-solving skills; scopes solutions based on knowledge of available resources and timelines. Able to ask questions, gather information, evaluate options, and make decisions with integrity. (Required)
• Thinks creatively and proposes innovative ideas, including the incorporation of new technologies or processes. Is able to work with agility in a fast-paced environment. (Required)

Education, Licenses, Certifications & Personal Affiliations

• This position is eligible for a hybrid work arrangement that includes regular visits to campus as needed (for those who work remotely, travel/lodging expenses are not eligible for reimbursement).The anticipated pay range for this position is $131,670 – $146,300, annually; salary is dependent upon the skills and experience of the selected finalist.NOTE: This position REQUIRES that a RESUME and COVER LETTER be submitted in addition to the application. Please have these two files ready to upload when applying.
• Bachelor’s Degree Computer science, computer information systems, design, or a related field, or equivalent combination of experience/training. (Required)
• Bachelor’s Degree Computer science, computer information systems, design. (Preferred)

Special Conditions for Employment

• Background Check: Continued employment is contingent upon the completion of a satisfactory background investigation.
• Live Scan Background Check: A Live Scan background check must be completed prior to the start of employment.

Schedule

8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. PT, Monday through Friday and/or variable based upon operational needs.

Union/Policy Covered

99-Policy Covered

Complete Position Description

https://universityofcalifornia.marketpayjobs.com/ShowJob.aspx?EntityID=38&JDName=User%20Experience%20Designer%203%20(TBD_542)