Senior Design Researcher
Product Design / Full-Time
USA Remote
About Kandji
Kandji is building the future of Apple Enterprise Management. The use of Apple devices in the enterprise is growing rapidly. Drawing on decades of experience in Apple IT, we saw a dire need for a modern Apple device management platform that could accommodate growing businesses and increasing regulatory demands.
Kandji grew to hundreds of B2B customers within a few months of initial product launch in 2019, and secured a $100 million Series C in late 2021. Today, we have a 95% Customer Satisfaction rate and a rapidly growing community of customers, including names like Crunchbase, Belkin, Rackspace, Allbirds, FabFitFun, VSCO, and Turo.
Behind our business is a handful of the best investors in tech. Together, we are creating a new category of device management that can better serve modern businesses.
The Opportunity
Kandji is growing fast and we’re building an in-house Product Design and Research team from the ground up. We are seeking a Senior Design Researcher who will help a team of designers (and their product teams) in uncovering meaningful human-centered insights that will drive great design as well as the current and future direction of our products. You’ll play a critical role in delivering next-generation Kandji products and features across web, macOS, iOS and iPadOS. As an organization, we look to rely on qualitative and quantitative data points to understand our customers, and to inform product design decisions. You will drive impact at all stages of product development and explore customer behaviors, attitudes, and motivations by conducting the primary and secondary research. Partnering with the lead design researcher, you’ll have the opportunity to also help grow an ideal research practice to meet the needs of the business in an organization that already understands and appreciates the value of design and design research. You’ll also get to help shape the Product Design team culture that is founded on passion, support, and fun.
Day to Day
- Conduct a variety of qualitative and quantitative research studies including but not limited to a field and lab studies, focus groups, moderated and unmoderated user sessions (in-person and remote), surveys, desirability studies, user and usability testing of UIs and concepts, A/B Testing, Diary studies, and participatory workshops.
- Support designers and product managers in undertaking user research to ensure a thoughtful approach to validating product ideas, hypotheses, and concepts with customers early and often.
- Perform usability benchmarking and heuristic evaluations across our products in conjunction with designers and product managers across all product teams/areas of our product.
- Help support Product teams in creating surveys, moderator scripts, prototypes, and other supporting research materials.
- Coordinate customer and user research programs across multiple teams.
- Liaise with the lead design researcher and the appropriate teams to find the best candidates for research studies while also contributing to research processes (and iterations of) and tooling to manage the pipeline of users and customers we speak to.
- Communicate read-outs, data analyses, and presentations of findings and actionable insights for a variety of audiences that include executives, product managers, and development teams.
- Create or help to create supporting wireframes, designs, prototypes, etc. in collaboration with members of the Product Design team.
- Organize and contribute to a repository of research data (using the latest tools and technologies) for sharing and coordinating findings so that they can be easily communicated across Product Teams and to the wider company in supporting a user-centered design process.
- Lead research for various product initiatives creating and implementing research plans/schedules, as well as advising/determining which methods to perform.
- Help with ongoing research process improvements, including establishing best practices and setting standards for the approach and rigor we apply to our research methods.
- Tell the story of the customer and their jobs to be done, and help create internal consensus around user outcomes. This includes funneling research findings into shaping a set of living Personas.
- Act as a champion for good user experience, sharing best practices and demonstrating curiosity about customer needs and behaviors.
- Engage in collaboration with your peers ensuring that you’re all in alignment on larger product goals and initiatives and the role research will play in supporting them.
- Be a big picture thinker – connect the dots as part of a larger system, and work with other Design Leads to ensure you are all in alignment about overall goals and priorities.
- Accelerate team efficiency by improving processes and workflows both within the design team as well as within wider cross-functional product teams.
- Sweat the small stuff – understand that the little details are what make people love a product.
- Be a team player – humble, hardworking, egoless, and willing to roll up your sleeves and do whatever it takes to help others be successful.
- Contribute to and positively shape the design team’s culture through collaboration, feedback, and process iteration.
Minimum Qualifications
- 3+ years of user research experience and a BA/BS in Anthropology, HCI, Human Factors Engineering, Information Science, Social Sciences, or in a related field.
- Experience with a research design using various methods in both generative and evaluative research for a range of responsive desktop and native mobile apps.
- You care deeply about users and customers and their experiences with products end to end.
- Demonstrated ability to plan and conduct a variety of research in close collaboration with people in a variety of roles, including design, engineering, and product management.
- Highly organized, a strong and precise presenter of information, and finds speaking with many people throughout the course of the day enjoyable.
- Strong attention to detail coupled with outstanding interpersonal skills in interviewing and interacting with a wide variety of users and customers as well as internal team members.
- An excellent communicator and cross-organizational team player that can thrive in a dynamic sometimes ambiguous working environment.
- A proven track record of being a self-starter with a flair for problem-solving across changing time, resources, and data constraints.
- You possess a deep sense of accountability, fostering a high degree of responsibility within your team and the wider Design team.
- You have a growth mindset, are naturally curious, and analytical, and possess an ability to uncover actionable insights and evangelize findings at various levels of the organization.
Preferred Qualifications
- Master’s degree or Ph.D. in a related field.
- Strong understanding of the strengths and shortcomings of various research methods, and knowing when and how to apply them during the product development process.
- Experience working on a SaaS product.
- Experience running research studies within Lean UX/Agile environment.
- Understanding different application platforms and development tools are preferred.
- A desire to take risks in terms of testing new research methodologies and iterating on those approaches.
- You are excited and intent on raising the bar with smart, delightful solutions that solve real customer problems and align with wider company goals and priorities.
- You seek and offer candid and constructive feedback, and lean into challenges with curiosity, humility, and a willingness to understand.
Benefits & Perks
• Competitive salary
• 100% individual and dependent medical + dental + vision coverage
• 401(k) with 4% company match
• 20 days PTO + Kandji Wellness Week off the first week of August
• 14 paid holidays per year
• 10 sick/wellness days per year
• Equity for full-time employees
• $1,000 virtual card for comfortable remote working equipment
• 12 weeks paid leave for new parents
• Cell phone & Internet stipend
• Work from anywhere in the United States and Canada!
• Exciting opportunities for career growth
• An outstanding, inclusive culture
We are excited to be serving a significant need for a fast-growing market, and are proud of the high-performing team we have brought together so far. If you’re someone who wants to engage in new, exciting projects that will challenge your skills in the best way possible, we would love to connect with you.
At Kandji we believe in fostering an inclusive environment in which employees feel encouraged to share their unique perspectives, leverage their strengths, and act authentically. We know that diverse teams are strong teams, and welcome those from all backgrounds and varying experiences.
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