Senior User Experience Researcher

Overview

The Windows & Devices Research & Design organization in Redmond, WA is seeking a Senior User Experience Researcher role to build the next generation of tools, systems, and infrastructure that enable UX Research to scale in new ways across the Windows organization.

This technical role helps close the distance between what our researchers know and what the organization can act on. In close partnership with UX researchers, product managers, designers, data science, and engineering leaders, you will create and champion research tools that teams value and adopt-systems that make insights findable, composable, and ready for both human and AI-powered workflows. By connecting knowledge across studies, product areas, and audiences, your work will help surface broader patterns and opportunities that no single study can reveal. Success requires equal parts program strategy, operational excellence, and fundamental UXR skills with the opportunity to shape how Windows learns from customers and improves experiences reaching millions of users.

The ideal candidate is passionate about building systems that drive measurable improvements in UX quality and craft. You bring hands-on research experience, fluency working with data at scale, and the technical ability to architect, prototype, and operationalize tools and AI-enabled systems. You are as equally energized by doing the research as you are by building the systems that support and amplify it. You have concrete examples of tools you have personally built and delivered end to end that changed how organizations work. You create structure and repeatability by turning one-off activities into sustainable programs, and you know how to use AI and automation to improve efficiency.

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

• Design, operationalize, and maintain research infrastructure and quality scaling programs, including our research knowledge system.
• Leverage AI agents, agentic systems, and self-service infrastructure to scale quality programs across hundreds of product makers.
• Partner with UX researchers, product managers, designers, and engineering leaders to co-create programs that drive overall product and experience quality that teams value and adopt.
• Establish measurement frameworks that track program adoption, quality outcomes, and the impact of customer feedback and UX quality programs on product decisions, demonstrating how programmatic customer connections improve shipped experiences.
• Champion and drive adoption of new tools through training, best practices, showcase examples, and ongoing support that helps teams naturally integrate into their workflows.
• Continuously evolve tools and systems based on team feedback, emerging AI capabilities, and metrics, innovating on how the systems drive measurable improvements in product excellence.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

• Doctorate 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 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 3+ years User Experience Research experience.
  • OR 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 4+ years User Experience Research experience.
  • OR equivalent experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Deep understanding of research operations and research methodologies with end-to-end experience building production-quality internal tools, research platforms, data pipelines, and/or AI-enabled workflows.
• Ability to translate research and operational requirements into technical system designs. Experience with data modeling, taxonomies, or ontology design for both structured and unstructured data.
• Experience building or managing data pipelines (ingestion, storage, transformation, data delivery) as well as data cleansing, enrichment, aggregation and integration. Experience with modern data platforms for storing, transforming, and surfacing data at scale, especially Microsoft Fabric and data lakehouses.
• Track record of measuring and demonstrating program impact on product quality metrics, user satisfaction scores, or business outcomes, with compelling examples of quality improvements driven by systematic customer feedback.

#W+DJOBS

UX Research IC4 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $119,800 - $234,700 per year. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $160,200 - $261,000 per year.

Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here:
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This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance with religious accommodations and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations.