Staff Researcher (remote)

This position is fully remote

 Work on things that matter

Our teams connect Veterans with services designed for their needs, help millions of people access affordable health care, and support important programs like Head Start. As we work with agencies to deliver critical services, we’re also changing how the government thinks about and uses technology.

Committed to high expectations and a welcoming culture

Ad Hoc values acceptance, accountability, and humility. We aren’t heroes. We leave our egos at the door to learn from our mistakes and improve the process for the next time.. We build small, inclusive teams to bring the best of consumer technology to the problems of government.

Organizational Overview: 

The Veterans Affairs business unit helps transform the VA into a modern digital services organization where Veteran outcomes are at the center of every effort. We partner with the VA to design and deliver seamless user experiences for Veterans, their families and caregivers, and VA employees. By applying better practices in service design, product management, and technology, we enable VA to increase the usage, quality, and reliability of services and decrease the time Veterans spend waiting for outcomes.

A Staff Researcher is an experienced researcher who supports multiple delivery teams. They lead UX efforts, effectively advocating for the prioritization of UX research, balancing user and business needs, and positively shaping product strategy for their teams. The Staff Researcher conducts small amounts of hands-on research work and applies their deep knowledge of research methods, theories, and approaches to proactively tackle undefined, complex challenges and consistently bring a big-picture, strategic mindset to their work. They are excellent communicators and storytellers who make compelling artifacts and presentations that distill highly complex issues into focused, understandable solutions. They plan and facilitate collaboration, building strong relationships across disciplines, stakeholders, customers, and business partners. They lead interviews, mentor, and provide overall guidance and individual career direction to their assigned team. 

The Staff Researcher Primary Responsibilities:

• Support initiatives by connecting research insights and data to service design strategy.
• Lead a team in refining and maintaining Veteran unmet needs for portfolio-level prioritization and strategy efforts
• Develop a deep understanding of what the client is trying to accomplish and create strategies to facilitate experience-led decision-making across a large portfolio.
• Lead mixed methods research and data analysis to support portfolio-level experience strategy.
• Lead in the creation of CX research and strategy deliverables, managing team contributions, and providing overall quality control.
• Support clients in prioritization and decision-making through the creation of frameworks, tools, and facilitation of stakeholder workshops.
• Facilitate sharing research insights and strategy with multiple teams and stakeholders.
• Act as a connector to research happening at multiple levels and departments across the organization.
• Collaborate with stakeholders on service design and strategy across multiple Veteran journeys.
• Craft experience visions and strategies to help VA agencies and teams embrace a shared approach and collaborate on seamless end-to-end experiences.
• Applies a range of research methods and approaches to distill undefined, blurry problems into cohesive research questions and directions for multiple delivery teams.  
• Works independently and performs multiple tasks without supervision. 
• Contributes to planning, conducting, and synthesizing research.
• Sets and aligns expectations with their team, customers, and the company as a whole. Expertly facilitates interactions toward course correction when goals are misaligned.
• Excellent communicator and storyteller.
• Makes compelling artifacts and presentations that distill highly complex issues into focused, understandable solutions.
• Contributes to and leads internal practice, company, and strategic initiatives.
• Interviews candidates and recommends staffing needs for their team. 

Basic Qualifications:

• Minimum 5+ years of relevant experience with a Master's Degree in Business Administration, Business Management, Computer Science, Information Systems, Information Resource Management, Industrial Engineering or related fields.
• Prior experience serving as a mentor to junior and senior level team members. 
• Extensive experience with design principles and relevant technolo