Senior User Researcher

About Us

AstrumU is a data services company based in Bellevue, WA that is leveling the playing field by identifying skills gap recommendations, so that individuals can achieve their career objectives. AstrumU quantifies skills and affinities developed through education, training, and professional experiences of all types. The AstrumU AI Translation Engine ingests verified data from learning, skills, and labor market outcomes to measure, map and make recommendations based on the probable impact to outcomes. We are on a mission to quantify the return on educational investments for all learners, education providers and employers, so everyone can maximize their potential in the Future of Work.

Using predictive models constantly updated to meet the evolving needs of a changing economy, our platform allows institutions to accurately forecast the labor market value of educational experiences to equip students, faculty, and advisors with information on how learning translates to marketable skills in the workforce. Going beyond publicly-available data and job boards, we are the only technology solution that uses industry-verified data-from proprietary employer sources-to match educational inputs to workforce outcomes.

Our investors currently include Kingdom Capital, Ignition Partners, Correlation Ventures, City Light Capital, the University of Kansas, Arizona State University and private investors.

About the Role

The right person for this role can proactively communicate, work, and contribute in a small team environment. The person must possess technical aptitude and effective, respectful communication and interaction skills; must be a quick learner and have the ability to handle multiple tasks at any given time. They must be flexible and results oriented as we as be able to work in a changing and fast paced environment. They must be a self-starter and able to prioritize, make decisions and work independently.

The Senior User Researcher will develop strategies to gather, share and translate user requirements for AstrumU in a way that can dictate product requirements. The individual will lead efforts to gather and translate feedback from current and potential clients. Activities may include interviews, observations, usability studies, competitive analysis, focus groups, and research of the workforce development domain. Communication of these requirements may include interview summaries, creation of personas, writing use cases and reality maps, and writing product requirements. In addition to leading these efforts, the role requires being a champion for the users and their product needs. Evangelizing the importance of facilitating these activities is vital.

Responsibilities

• Lead strategic research to identify novel product opportunities and conduct independent research on multiple aspects of products and experiences.
• Collect and analyze user behavior through lab studies, field visits, ethnography, surveys, benchmark studies, server logs and online experiments (A/B testing).
• Work closely with the Principal Designer to develop processes to tie learned user requirements to User Stories and Interaction Design outputs.
• Acquire a strong understanding of education, workforce development and other learning domains and workflows.
• Understand and incorporate complex technical and business requirements into research.
• Share learned user requirements by maintaining and building the User Research Library.
• Provide metrics to show successful integration of user requirements into final released product features.
• Champion and evangelize the importance of gathering user requirements toward product successes.
• Champion and evangelize the importance of leveraging verified skills for individuals, including privacy, in product development.
• Advocate research findings to diverse audiences through written reports and in-person presentations.
• Work with Designers, Product Managers, Engineers and other UXRs to prioritize research opportunities in a fast-paced, rapidly changing environment.

Skills and Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or above in Anthropology, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Human Factors, Psychology, Sociology, or another related field.
• 4+ years of industry experience within a research setting.
• Experience utilizing various research design methods (i.e., usability studies, contextual inquiry, surveys, etc.).
• Relevant product research experience, either in an end-to-end, usability, or generative setting.
• Experience leading strategic research efforts and integrating user research into product designs.
• Comfortable in a highly technical environment; ability to engage with quantitative stakeholders and understand quantitative findings and materials.
• Familiarity with both quantitative and qualitative research methods
• Strong interpersonal communication and collaboration skills; the ability to communicate complex concepts clearly and persuasively across different audiences and varying levels of the organization.
• You are self-motivated with an amazingly positive attitude and able to efficiently execute on a project without close supervision.
• With excellent communication and presentation skills, you can clearly articulate your design decisions.
• You have great empathy for engineering and interaction design constraints and possibilities.
• You can effectively apply strong prioritization and multitasking skills.
• You have an online portfolio with great examples of your work that you want to share with us.
• You possess strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• You can flex as needed to work well in large or small environments, and with a high degree of initiative, autonomy, self-motivation, and reliability.
• You possess strong collaboration and teaming skills for effectiveness in working with customers, direct team members, and cross-functional co-workers.

What We Offer

AstrumU pays a gross annualized base salary range for this position of $115,000 to $145,000 based on qualifications, skills, experience, and company values and culture alignment. Hiring at the maximum of the range is not typical to allow for future and continued compensation growth. Additionally, the following key benefits are offered for this full-time role:

• Choice of PPO or high-deductible HSA plans for medical, dental, and vision insurance; 100% company-paid premiums for employee only; dependents can be added for an employee-paid premium cost.
• Company-provided short & long-term disability, and life insurance plans
• Flexible Spending Account
• 401K Plan
• Self-managed PTO
• 10 company-paid holidays per year
• Stock Options
• Commuter transportation benefit & free parking

AstrumU is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances.