User Experience Researcher

Xbox Research is a leader in driving gaming and entertainment experiences for customers worldwide. We create for players of all types across Console, PC, Web, Mobile, and beyond. Most importantly, we design for fun.   

Are you curious about how people interact with games and technology? Do you excel in storytelling with data? As a User Experience (UX) researcher in Xbox Research, this opportunity will allow you to generate consumer insights to help drive the development of world-class entertainment games and experiences. You will be joining a unique, diverse team at Microsoft known for pioneering and institutionalizing the adaptation of psychological research methods to games and the entertainment industry. 

Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As employees we come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to realize our shared goals. Each day we build on our values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond. 

Responsibilities

In this position, you’ll need to excel in understanding the needs, wants, and desires of our customers to help inform the content we create for Microsoft’s entertainment platforms (including Microsoft’s Xbox ecosystem of devices, Windows, and future platforms). You will: 

• Partner closely with design & development teams to deeply understand and inform product goals and strategies 

• Develop research plans that involve and engage your team and impact business strategy, product design and quality 

• Design and execute appropriate research activities to answer relevant design and/or business questions, leveraging and triangulating both qualitative and quantitative methods (observation, interviews, journals, ethnography, surveys, lab studies, instrumentation, etc.) 

• Bring a wide range of both established and innovative research methods to your work and develop new methods where needed to evolve the desirability of our experiences 

• Provide your design and development team partners with research context, perspective, and recommendations on what will make our products and services both useful and delightful 

• Communicate research findings through persuasive, compelling written reports and group presentations 

• Contribute your research and perspective through the entire product design cycle, from planning to implementation to post-release 

• Partner with other researchers across a diverse team 

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree in Human-Computer Interaction, Human Factors Engineering, Computer Science, Technical Communications, Information Science, Information Architecture, User Experience Design, Behavioral Science, Social Sciences, or related field AND 2+ years User Experience Research experience
  • OR Master's Degree in Human-Computer Interaction, Human Factors Engineering, Computer Science, Technical Communications, Information Science, Information Architecture, User Experience Design, Behavioral Science, Social Sciences, or related field AND 1+ year(s) User Experience Research experience
  • OR equivalent experience
• Demonstrated experience designing and executing experimental research studies using established quantitative and/or qualitative methodological approaches (e.g. interviewing, ethnography, field studies, questionnaire development and survey research, experiments, usability studies, contextual inquiry, instrumentation, biometrics, etc.). 
• Proficient written and oral communication skills, persuasiveness, and the ability to make compelling group presentations 

Pr