Audio UX Researcher III

Start/End Dates: 9/28/2026 - 9/27/2027
Tax Work Location: US - WA - Redmond 
Job Title: UI/UX - Audio UX Researcher III

Job Description: RLR Audio UX Researcher III (Contract) The Reality Labs Research (RLR) Team brings together a world-class team of researchers, developers, and engineers to create the future of virtual and augmented reality, which together will become as universal and essential as smartphones and personal computers are today. Just as personal computers have done over the past 45 years, AR will ultimately change everything about how we work, play, and connect. We are developing all the technologies needed to enable breakthrough AR glasses, including optics and displays, computer vision, audio, graphics, brain-computer interfaces, haptic interaction, eye/hand/face/body tracking, perception science, and true telepresence.

Must-Have Skills
● Audio perception — evaluating how people perceive sound
● Speech intelligibility — speech communication and listening clarity
● Spatial audio perception / spatial hearing / psychoacoustics — localization, externalization, binaural/rendered audio, sound-source placement (core to the role)
● Audiology or auditory-perceptual-research background — incl. testing hearing enhancements / hearing aids
● Rapid, lightweight qualitative research — conversational/semi-structured interviews, structured observation, same-week synthesis (days, not months)
● Advanced degree (MA/MS minimum) — Speech & Hearing Sciences, Psychoacoustics, Audiology, Cognitive Psychology, Linguistics, HCI, Human Factors, or Neuroscience
● Strong grounding in statistics (descriptive & inferential; R/Python)
● Experiment design, incl. EMA (Ecological Momentary Assessment) — polling users about real-world device experience
● Wearable technology research (AI glasses, headphones, smart watches)
● Heuristic evaluation / expert review methods
● VR/AR-based perceptual methods; rapid-prototyping / agile research experience
● PhD in a related field
● Strong narrative communication for cross-functional stakeholders

Ideal Background (Sourcing Targets)
Industry — hearing-aid / audio-device companies:
Starkey · Sonova · Oticon · GN Hearing · Widex · Signia


In particular, the RLR Audio team is focused on two goals: creating virtual sounds that are perceptually indistinguishable from reality and redefining human hearing. See more about our work here. These two initiatives will allow us to connect people by allowing them to feel together despite being physically apart and allow them to converse in even the most difficult listening environments.

We are seeking a contract UX Researcher III to support an ambitious new project; advancing Superhuman Communication & Connection initiative. This role is embedded in a fast-moving prototyping effort where the system itself changes week to week. We need someone who can sit in on demos and working sessions, absorb scattered feedback (what's clicking, what's confusing, what feels off), and synthesize it into concise, actionable insights on a timescale that keeps pace with development.

The core of this role is lightweight qualitative evaluation. We need someone whose primary strength is qualitative research, structured observation, conversational interviewing, rapid thematic synthesis, and the interpretive judgment to surface what matters from informal feedback. Quantitative methods supplement the work occasionally, but the initial day-to-day demand is for a researcher who thinks in narratives, patterns, and human reactions rather than sample sizes and statistical significance.

Because many of the core questions revolve around where and how received audio is rendered in space, this role calls for a researcher who can reason fluently about spatial audio and auditory perception, not just general UX method. The qualitative work here is fundamentally about how people perceive and locate sound.

This is not a role for elaborately planned months-out user studies. What we need is rapid, lightweight qualitative assessment: structured listening, quick-turn synthesis, and the judgment to know which signals matter so the team can course-correct in real time. Think short evaluative sessions with a handful of participants, heuristic walkthroughs of new interaction patterns, and same-week write-ups that land while the design questions are still live.

The ideal candidate treats the prototype as a living thing and their research as a conversation with it; not an audit of it. They are comfortable forming a qualitative read on an experience after a small number of well-chosen observations, and they know how to frame findings in ways that move a team forward without waiting for statistical confidence. An ideal candidate would have familiarity with some or all of the following areas:
Speech communication and human-AI interaction Audio signal processing or hearing sciences Wearable technology (AI glasses, headphones, smart watches) Rapid iterative design and prototyping environments Qualitative research in applied product or research settings


Minimum Qualifications
MA/MS in Speech and Hearing Sciences, Psychoacoustics, Audiology, Cognitive Psychology, Linguistics, Human Computer Interaction, Human Factors, Neuroscience, or a related UX field, with preference for candidates whose training or research focused on auditory perception, speech intelligibility or spatial hearing
2+ years' experience conducting applied qualitative research on consumer
2+ products, with an emphasis on methods such as interviews, contextual
2+ inquiry, observational studies, and rapid thematic analysis
Proficiency conducting qualitative interviews; including conversational and semi-structured formats with demonstrated ability to elicit rich, actionable user insights Experience with rapid-cycle research in fast-moving development environments where deliverables are measured in days, not months Strong interpretive judgment: ability to form a qualitative read from a small number of well-chosen observations and frame findings that move a team forward Demonstrated working knowledge of spatial audio (for example sound localization, binaural or rendered audio, and how sound is perceived in space). This is central to the role, not supplementary
1+ years of working in cross-functional teams

Preferred Qualifications
PhD in Cognitive Psychology, Linguistics, Human Computer Interaction, Human Factors, Speech and Hearing Sciences, Communication Ecology, Experimental Psychology, Neuroscience, or a related UX field Experience embedding in rapid prototyping or agile research teams where the product changes weekly
2+ years of experience conducting attitudinal or behavioral research
2+ with wearable technology (AI glasses, headphones, smart watches,
2+ etc.) years experience with quantitative research methods (e.g.,
2+ surveys, descriptive statistics, experimental design) as a
2+ supplementary skill
Experience with heuristic evaluation and expert review methods Background in psychoacoustics, hearing science, or audiology, or equivalent applied experience evaluating audio perception An audiology background is a welcome and accepted profile for this role Familiarity with speech communication, human-AI interaction, or audio user experiences Proficiency in descriptive and inferential statistics, and data visualization (e.g., R, Python) Strong oral and written communication skills with experience tailoring messages to various stakeholders and delivering findings in accessible, narrative formats