Job Posting: Principal Usability Researcher, PayPal -- 12-month contract

[Dave Yeats]

Principal Usability Researcher, PayPal

 

SUMMARY: 

We are looking for a gifted and seasoned usability practitioner with good karma.  We need individuals with a natural empathy for people, an eye for graphic design, and the kind of IT aptitude that allows tools like eyetrackers and remote technology to fade into the background -- while people and their needs shine through.

 

ESSENTIAL DUTIES:

• Help clients prioritize what they want to learn from usability testing
• Help teams strategically decide what kinds of users to invite to participate
• Draft recruiting screeners, and help clients settle on non-leading testing scenarios
• Facilitate sessions in as neutral and natural a way as possible
• Analyze hours and hours and hours of eyetracking or MORAE footage and identify and log potentially relevant clips
• Be thorough, and actually enjoy watching all of a study’s usability footage, so we’re not like all the other guys who just type up bullet points from memory and never get past the obvious
• Create affinity groupings of observed behaviors or insights and determine findings and recommendations
• Edit and produce highlight reels
• Document and communicate findings and recommendations
• Maintain an up to date knowledge of trends and research in website usability
• Help manage state-of-the-art eyetracking usability lab, including SMI & Tobii hardware and software, audio system, remote viewing, MORAE, Camtasia, etc.
• Play well with others and generally avoid:  1) yelling, 2) throwing things, or 3) otherwise expecting the world to change overnight such that everyone loves making things usable regardless of cost or other time commitments

 

QUALIFICATIONS:

• 6+ years of experience conducting usability studies (eyetracking a big plus)
• Masters or PhD in Cognitive or Experimental Psychology, Technical Communication, Human Computer Interaction, Visual Design, or relevant experience
• Excellent communication skills
• Ability to maintain a neutral demeanor during testing
• Experience with Tobii ClearView, Studio, MORAE, Camtasia, Final Cut, Premiere, AVID, front-end web technologies a plus
• E-commerce experience a plus
• Experience with branding and design a plus
• Experience as Information Architect a plus
• Work ethic, good personal hygiene, and dislike for slide guitar a plus

 

This position is located in Austin.  Questions, contact dye...@paypal.com