Senior UX Researcher

Address: USA-IL-Chicago-300 South Riverside Plaza
Store Code: CF Product Management (5157599)

Ahold Delhaize USA, a division of global food retailer Ahold Delhaize, is part of the U.S. family of brands, which includes five leading omnichannel grocery brands - Food Lion, Giant Food, The GIANT Company, Hannaford and Stop & Shop. Our associates support the brands with a wide range of services, including Finance, Legal, Sustainability, Commercial, Digital and E-commerce, Technology and more.

Primary Purpose

As a Senior UX Researcher, you will play a critical role in shaping user-centered design decisions and influencing product strategy. We're looking for an experienced user researcher with a proven track record of delivering mixed-method research studies at every stage of the product lifecycle. Someone who can do it all and is as adept at execution as they are at strategy. This role will serve as the research expert for multiple domain areas within the Product organization but also will work on strategic research projects with broad reaching influence.

• You are an expert at executing qualitative and quantitative research studies that uncover insights to inform the design, development, and optimization of digital experiences.
• You are passionate about the impact that research can drive within a product organization and like to push the boundaries on other people's thinking.
• You are an insightful thinker who brings sharp analysis and a strong point of view to their work and rapidly translates insights into opportunities that serve both design and business needs.
• You are an expert presenter, communicator, and influencer demonstrated by strong, clear, visual outputs and deliverables.
• You are experienced at working within the product lifecycle; you understand how software gets made and the complex ecosystem that your Product, Tech and Design colleagues work in.
• You take pride in ensuring that user needs, behaviors, and pain points are at the core of our decision-making processes, even when it requires tough conversations.
• You are a delight to work with and understand that research insights are meaningless without buy-in and collaboration from stakeholders
• Research Design & Execution: Lead qualitative and quantitative research efforts, including ethnographic studies, concept testing, large- and small-scale surveys, field work, user interviews, and usability testing. You will be responsible for scoping, planning, execution and analysis of complex, mixed methods research plans that address both tactical and strategic business questions.
• Rapid Insights: Quickly deliver research insights that directly influence experience design, product strategy and business decisions. Measure and track the impact of research on product outcomes, demonstrating how user insights contribute to improved customer satisfaction and OKRs.
• Driving Influence: Partner with cross-functional teams-including product managers, designers, engineers, data analysts and more-to ensure that research insights are at the center of thinking across the organization. Ensure research findings are actionable and influence both near-term and long-term decisions within the business.
• Mentorship & Team Development: Provide mentorship to junior researchers, fostering a culture of growth, collaboration, and best practices within the UX research team. Mentor UX designers on best practices for evaluative research techniques.
• Innovation & Thought Leadership: Stay abreast of emerging UX research trends, methodologies, and technologies, particularly in the grocery retail and e-commerce sectors. Introduce innovative approaches to research that help the team stay ahead of market trends and customer expectations.

• 5+ years of professional experience as an in-house UX researcher, working with cross-functional teams. Experience in eCommerce is a bonus.
• A Bachelor's or Master's degree in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, or a related field. Other degrees with relevant in-the-job experience will be considered.
• Ability to lead all aspects of a research project, including project management, scoping, planning, executing, analyzing, synthesizing, crafting deliverables, presenting to diverse audiences, and facilitating effective ideation workshops.

• Deep understanding of traditional and new research and recruitment methods, UX methodology and design thinking.
• Excellent communication, storytelling, and interpersonal skills; a team player and a strong partner.