Principal Design Researcher

Teknik, data och digitalt · Produkt och design · UI/UX-design · Datavetenskap

I korthet

Microsoft seeks a Principal Design Researcher to lead discovery and research for customer engagements, turning insights into clear, evidence-based direction. This role involves applying AI tools responsibly, making complex problems tangible, and partnering closely with engineering to shape AI-powered experiences.

Ansvarsområden

Scope and manage research, including defining plans, setting timelines, coordinating participants, managing stakeholders, and delivering on schedule across multiple engagements.
Lead discovery research by planning and conducting interviews, contextual inquiry, field observation, and surveys at the start of customer engagements.
Synthesize qualitative and quantitative input into clear insights, frameworks, journey maps, and problem statements, identifying patterns and opportunities.
Map and understand end-to-end processes, including people, roles, workflows, data, technology, and AI's impact, to identify dependencies and leverage points.
Design and facilitate workshops with customers, engineers, and senior stakeholders for discovery, co-design, prioritization, and alignment.
Align stakeholders on scope and direction by translating research into shared understanding and agreeing on problems, priorities, and success criteria.
Translate findings into concepts, flows, storyboards, or prototypes to test assumptions and communicate direction.
Test concepts with users, measure outcomes, and refine direction based on evidence.
Study how people understand, trust, and recover from AI-driven features, helping teams design for transparency, control, and appropriate reliance.
Partner closely with engineering, involving them in research, grounding technical decisions in user needs, understanding constraints, and ensuring findings are implemented.
Apply AI tools responsibly in research planning, synthesis, and analysis, validating outputs and maintaining human judgment.
Advocate for human-centered design, helping teams adopt these practices and making them accessible for non-designers.
Mentor designers and researchers, share repeatable practices, and lead through expertise.

Krav

Master's Degree in Industrial Design, Product Design, Human Computer Interaction, User Experience, Interaction Design, or related field AND 6+ years experience working in product or service design; OR Bachelor's Degree in Industrial Design, Product Design, Human Computer Interaction, User Experience, Interaction Design, or related field AND 8+ years experience working in product or service design; OR equivalent experience.
Deep expertise in discovery and qualitative research methods (interviews, contextual inquiry, synthesis), with working knowledge of quantitative methods.
Strong systems thinking ability to map end-to-end processes and solve complex, ambiguous problems, turning findings into actionable direction.
Experience designing and facilitating workshops with cross-functional teams and senior stakeholders.
Strong project management skills, including scoping, planning, coordinating stakeholders, and delivering multiple research efforts on schedule.
Experience working closely with engineering teams and building support for human-centered practices.
Hands-on experience applying AI-enabled tools to research or synthesis, including evaluating output quality, limitations, and ethical considerations.
A portfolio or case study presentation showing problem framing, research approach, key insights, and impact on scope, direction, and outcomes.

Önskade kvalifikationer

T-shaped skills: depth in research with working ability in adjacent areas such as service design, interaction design, or content design.
Ability to produce service blueprints, concepts, storyboards, or prototypes in Figma or comparable tools.
Experience in client-facing, consulting, or customer engagement settings.
Experience researching enterprise users, complex workflows, or regulated industries.
Experience researching AI-powered products and services, or applying responsible AI frameworks.
Experience introducing or scaling human-centered design in engineering-led organizations.
Experience establishing research operations such as repositories, recruiting processes, or insight-sharing rituals.
Experience mentoring designers and researchers.

Förmåner

Typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $142,800 - $274,800 per year.
Specific range for San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area is USD $188,000 - $304,200 per year.
Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation.

Färdigheter

Product DesignUser ExperienceInteraction DesignHuman Computer InteractionFigmaAI

#Design Researcher#Product Design#Human-Centered Design#AI

Om Microsoft

Empowering every person and organization on the planet to achieve more

Every company has a mission. What's ours? To empower every person and every organization to achieve more. We believe technology can and should be a force for good and that meaningful innovation contributes to a brighter world in the future and today. Our culture doesn’t just encourage curiosity; it embraces it. Each day we make progress together by showing up as our authentic selves. We show up with a learn-it-all mentality. We show up cheering on others, knowing their success doesn't diminish our own. We show up every day open to learning our own biases, changing our behavior, and inviting…

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Företag

Microsoft

Publicerade jobb

för 1 dag sedan

Anställningstyp

Heltid

Arbetsform

Distans

Lön

142 800–274 800 US$ · Förhandlingsbar

Erfarenhetsnivå

Senior

Platser

United States

Kvalifikation

Masterexamen, Kandidatexamen

Sökande

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Saab

Fareham, United Kingdom

Principal Design Researcher

Ansvarsområden

Krav

Önskade kvalifikationer

Förmåner

Färdigheter

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