UX Researcher

Job description

DESCRIPTION

Sitting at the intersection of entertainment, media, and technology, IMDb fuels the passions of movie and show fans worldwide. The IMDb searchable database provides access to more than 185 million data items - including more than 4 million movies, TV and entertainment programs and more than 6 million cast and crew members. The IMDb consumer site (www.imdb.com) is the #1 entertainment website in the world and its portfolio serves entertainment fans across multiple devices, operating systems, and services, including entertainment apps, IMDb X-Ray, Alexa Skills, IMDbPro, Box Office Mojo, IMDb original programming, and IMDbTV.

IMDb's long-term vision is to bring together the next billion people in the shared joy of shows and movies, with IMDb available everywhere entertainment fans are, in every language, in every country. IMDb Research is seeking a talented and passionate user experience researcher to help us implement this vision with customer-obsessed insights and innovation.

As an IMDb employee, you enjoy the benefits of working for Amazon with the autonomy of working on a nimble, engaged team. As the next member of the IMDb Research team, your efforts focus on informing the tactical details of next generation IMDb experiences (e.g. UI interaction, accessibility, internationalization, brand look and feel, evolutions in UI trends and best practices).

Key responsibilities:
· Own the usability arm of IMDb Research to inform tactical design decisions on medium-to-large sized projects across the IMDb portfolio
· Contribute to large-to-complex sized projects that raise UX and research fluency throughout the organization and grow knowledge in additional design research areas (e.g. user research, brand, trends)
· Interact regularly with a wide variety of internal and external stakeholders to ask the right questions (known and unknown), design and conduct insightful research studies, uncover actionable insights, form clear recommendations, share and document knowledge across teams and the organization
· Mentor and assist others in implementing large and small portions of the end-to-end research process (e.g. forming objectives, observing sessions, analysis, reporting, dissemination of learnings)
· Manage a queue of multiple simultaneous studies and projects - some of which you lead, some of which are led by IMDb designers, PMs, engineers, interns, and others
· Suggest, document, and implement new and improved research approaches, methods, and processes
· Build and maintain customer panels for specific niche customer types
· Track impact as measured by changes to the product design and development roadmap
· Contribute usability-focused feedback during critiques and peer reviews of others' deliverables
· Stay aware of emergent UI patterns and trends and their pros/ cons from user, accessibility, social/ cultural, business, brand, and industry points of view
· Help evangelize UX research as one component of a broadly disciplined design research program
· Build and network across research and design to continuously improve a robust and thoughtful approach to gathering actionable customer insights at IMDb and Amazon
As a researcher, you can demonstrate a proven track record:
· Diving deep on user pain points, triangulating qualitative (e.g. usability studies) and quantitative data (e.g. usage metrics) to provide clear, impactful tactical product direction
· Utilizing a variety of research methods (e.g. qualitative and quantitative; unmoderated and moderated; remote, lab, and field studies) in order to obtain user data at both a high level (e.g. workflow analysis, journeys, needs identification) and a detailed level (e.g. testing specific interfaces)
· Scoping your work with business goals, timelines, and resourcing in mind, understanding the impact of your efforts in a wider scope
· Performing quick but thorough data analysis to communicate timely results and opportunities
· Telling compelling and simple evidence-based stories across different audiences and varying levels of leadership
· Influencing outcomes and proposing well-informed new directions
· Amplifying users' points of view, even when they differ from (and even challenge) prevailing ideas/ your own point of view
· Triaging competing priorities, communicating needs and tradeoffs when projects are in jeopardy, and organizing yourself to ensure you deliver on your commitments
· Continual growth, expansion, and improvement in UX research as a craft (and, possibly, research and/ or design in general)
What you bring:
· You are a passionate, curious researcher with strong observational and analytical skills, an impressive ability to collaborate with other teams and designers, and a relentless determination to do what is right for your users
· It's not enough to answer interesting questions about human behavior; you are driven to translate research insights into meaningful and impactful design and product decisions. The challenge of owning usability research as part of a broadly disciplined design research program excites you.
· You draw from existing guidelines and standards, but also drive innovation in these areas - seeking out balanced and appropriate input and feedback as you do so.
· You bring a great amount of personal and creative energy to your work. Your usability expertise is an expression of your innate energy. It is impossible to contain.
· You're equally happy in independent and collaborative modes. Your work demands both capacities and neither drains you.
· You are transparent with your ideas and communicate clearly and effectively to at levels of an organization. You deliver high-quality outputs with minimal direction. You proactively identifying when guidance and collaboration would be helpful and routinely prepare recommendations and proposed actions as part of asking for support.
· You are proud of your work - the sum of your skills and experiences collected thus far - and the future of research excites you. You embrace cross-functional collaboration, automation, creativity, and experimentation in your field.

Desired profile

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS

· 3-6+ years of hands-on experience conducting UX research in an applied setting with demonstrated impact
· BA/BS in psychology, sociology, anthropology, human computer interaction or an otherwise related discipline (though practical experience and a strong portfolio is a welcomed substitute)
· A strong portfolio demonstrating all aspects of the UX research lifecycle (e.g. study design, stakeholder involvement and consideration, planning, recruiting, moderation, extracting actionable insights from qualitative and quantitative data, reporting, communicating, data visualization, knowledge management)
· Proficiency in core usability tools and platforms (e.g. legacy and newer remote testing and survey platforms, video/ audio editing, usability labs and related AV)