UX Researcher II

Microsoft SharePoint is seeking a UX Researcher II who can drive human-centered strategy, help set product direction, and contribute directly to ongoing product development by integrating insights about human behaviors, attitudes, practices, and norms. In this role, you will leverage your skills in evaluative and foundational research to guide near and long-term product strategy. You will work closely with UX designers, product managers, engineering, data science, and engineering to ensure that we are addressing the most critical user needs and opportunities.   

We are especially enthusiastic about candidates who are AI skilled and curious, want to learn, grow, and embody new ways of working. If you embrace growth mindset, have a record of accomplishment of delivering results, and you light up collaborating with other researchers, designers, product managers and engineers this is an awesome team to join.  

The ideal candidate prioritizes customer needs while solving complex problems that empower our users to be more productive, efficient, and successful. Our diverse research team works on products like Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, Viva, and Mesh, offering an environment for professional growth. This role is an opportunity to impact a wide audience as we as we innovate SharePoint for the era of AI and beyond, collaborating across Microsoft to address real customer challenges with empathy and expertise.

We are part of the CxD organization which is a diverse team of UX Researchers, Designers, Producers, Content Writers, Creatives, and UX Engineers who partner closely across disciplines, such as Product Management, Data Science, Engineering, and Marketing. The CxD Research team is known for research excellence, collaboration, and our supportive culture. We have a proven track record of delivering business results with key metrics to track our successes and failures

We are a high-performing team that challenges ourselves to live the Microsoft philosophies around inclusive culture and growth mindset. Local mentoring rings and communities allow us to learn from each other and grow. We focus on having inclusive interactions that foster productive dialog. We are dedicated to the work of creating an inclusive, and transparent culture – a safe place to do our best work!

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

• Drive research and UX practices that ensure diversity, equity, and inclusion in our product making decisions.   
• Design, execute, and analyze research, both qualitative and quantitative to deliver insightful and actionable results. 
• Continuously inform a product roadmap using customer data (qualitative and quantitative). Key to this accountability will be identifying gaps and customer pain points, as well as potential delighters.  
• Perform ongoing UX Health studies to evaluate if design-built experiences are at the appropriate level for release to engineering.
• Communicate research findings in clear and compelling ways to all levels of the product team, with the ability to explain methodology, insights, and recommendations.  
• Land impact broadly from your customer-focused knowledge by working across engineering, design, and marketing disciplines.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

• 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 1+ year(s) 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 2+ years User Experience Research experience
• OR equivalent experience.

Preferred 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 2+ years user experience research experience
• 1+ year(s) relevant domain experience within technology sector.
• 1+ year(s) experience in research methods impacting both product direction and detailed experience design.
• Hands-on research and/or product planning experience, with demonstrated skill in collecting and analyzing human behavioral data to improve plans and UX in a technology industry setting.    
• You are eager to learn and understand about user audiences, their behaviors, context(s) and motivations – across all phases of the customer lifecycle and user journey.   
• Demonstrates empathy for users while balancing the vision and constraints of stakeholders.  
• Experience working in a fast-paced environment that requires independent time management, task prioritization, and flexibility.
• Track record of operating independently, embracing ambiguity, demonstrating creativity, being detail-oriented, and delivering results in a highly organized manner.
• Experience building collaborative relationships with peers and stakeholders.
• A high-quality portfolio review presentation is required to interview for this role. Your presentation should demonstrate your strategic research experience, rationale for methodologies chosen, and communication skills.
• 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 5+ years user experience research experience
• OR equivalent experience.

UX Research IC3 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $100,600 - $199,000 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 $131,400 - $215,400 per year.

Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here: https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay

Microsoft will accept applications for the role until September 25, 2025.

Microsoft 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.  We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form.

Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.