Design Research

Having built expertise as a Design Researcher fluency in UX metrics and effective collaboration skills working in multidisciplinary teams you will apply your knowledge and expertise to strongly advocate for customer needs and drive exemplary product experiences. You will continue to develop the depth and breadth of your T-Shape skills especially in the Business Acumen and Industry/Technology areas. You will actively contribute to our design community’s health culture and success through your involvement in community-focused initiatives and through mentorship of junior teammates and other colleagues.

Role & Responsibilities

Strategic Responsibilities
•Demonstrate deep domain knowledge and understanding of key users and the market.
•Demonstrate fluency in your portfolio’s business strategy and the value proposition of the product(s) within your scope.
•Help align the design work of your team with product strategies and user experience insights/requirements.
•Influence decisions tied to the business strategy and processes of your products.
•Establish and own research goals for your Product (aligned with business strategy) and measure progress towards those goals.
•Participate in portfolio Commitment pitches MMT OMT Lean Governance etc. meetings.
•Act as the voice of the customer.

Cross-Functional Responsibilities

•Lead research efforts for a product(s) / project(s).
•Help drive the execution of an experience roadmap based on awareness of user and business needs.
•Advocate for end user experience steer design and development in a different direction when needed.
•Closely partner with Product management and development to cultivate manage and administer sponsor user relationships.
•Work with Agile product team leaders to measure progress and review design outcomes against user insights (via playbacks).
•Be an active member of Product squad(s) by attending and presenting playbacks coaching designers providing input in the prioritization of Product backlog.
•When applicable participate in planning and other product delivery processes.
•Champion research as a driving force for innovation.
•Participate in cross-disciplinary collaboration to facilitate innovation.

Functional Responsibilities

•Determine types of research needed on individual initiatives and develop research goals and plans.
•Evaluate early ideas for products workflows or features to determine viability.
•Execute product/project research deliverables in alignment with project timeline and roadmap milestones.
•Develop and engage network of sponsor users.
•Build your eminence with our customer base and the external business industry you engage with.
•Help define user experience goals and design principles.
•Help align 3-in-a-box teams to research insights utilize research insights to drive prioritization of product backlog and roadmap.
•Develop strong storytelling capabilities.
•Support and guide individual designers through leadership coaching and mentoring.
•Engage with broader IBM Z Research community.
•Share expertise at studio-wide events.
•Develop experienced-level literacy in AI.
•Develop mid-level knowledge of IBM Experience Standards.