Senior UX Researcher

at  Rekuten Global

Job Description:
Rakuten is Japan’s leading Internet services company, the largest e-commerce company in Japan, and the third largest e-commerce marketplace worldwide with a combined membership of almost 1.3 billion. Rakuten has 70+ businesses and services spread across 30 countries and regions worldwide, this includes Viber, eBates, Lyft and more, reaching a global audience of nearly 1 billion users. Rakuten is an ecosystem of online services, providing a variety of consumer and business-focused services including e-commerce, e-reading, travel, banking, securities, credit card, e-money, portal and media, online marketing and professional sports.
Rakuten Viki is a premier global entertainment streaming site where millions of people discover and consume primetime shows and movies subtitled in more than 200 languages, by our community of fans. With billions of videos viewed and more than 1 billion words translated, Viki brings global entertainment to fans everywhere!
We are looking for a Senior UX Researcher to help deepen and elevate our UX research practice to the next level. This is a strategic role, in that, the job ends not only at uncovering insights but also in helping to see through the translation of those insights into action, through collaborative efforts, workshop facilitation, and strategic communications with stakeholders.
This role will involve deep collaboration with UX designers, Product Managers, Data Analysts and Marketers, and will report to our Manager of UX Research, resting within the UX Research team that reports to the Director of UX.

Key responsibilities:

• Independently (and proactively) plan and lead strategic research initiatives involving multi-functional stakeholders end-to-end
• Act in a consultative and advisory role to various levels within the design and product teams, as well as to relevant business teams to enable them to independently run tactical research without compromising on quality
• Build strong relationships with cross-functional stakeholders in ways that create influence, and help drive impact through research findings
• Represent the voice of the users: create, maintain, and put into practice a process to analyze user feedback from diverse sources, socialize these with relevant stakeholders in a bite-sized, timely and impactful manner
• Seamlessly and continually manage research operations: e.g. creating and maintaining guides/templates, managing participant recruitment and incentive payouts, maintaining clean documentation of research artifacts, adhering to data privacy and deletion SOPs, etc.
• Support prioritization efforts, and quarterly and annual strategic planning by providing appropriate insights, and highlighting key problem spaces and statements
• Propose, plan, and facilitate workshops to drive alignment, internalization of insights, and the journey from insights to action
• Actively mentor and coach team members on best research practices, setting an example for them and elevating the quality of our research outputs

Qualifications:

• Degree in Psychology, Social Science, Human Computer Interaction, with a focus on qualitative and quantitative research, or an equivalent qualification;
• 7+ years’ experience as a UX or design researcher in a product/service design consultancy, research agency, or as part of an in-house research team;
• Experience planning, designing, and leading qualitative and quantitative research projects end-to-end, remotely and in-person, and at a global scale;
• Experience conceptualizing, executing, and facilitating workshops for alignment, internalization of insights, and translation of insights to action.
• Strong communication skills (verbal and written) to collaborate with cross-functional teams across the globe (remotely and in-person), manage stakeholders end-to-end throughout the research process, and to impactfully present research findings;
• Strong sense of ownership and responsibility, coupled with attention to detail, active listening skills, and analytical thinking;

What success looks like for this role:

• After 3 months: You have taken ownership of our current foundational user research responsibilities, and longitudinal satisfaction surveys, alleviating the rest of the UX research team’s workload.
• After 6-9 months: You have been a valuable guide and mentor to teams seeking to run tactical research, you have helped amplify the voice of the user by regularly socializing research insights in a relevant, timely, and impactful manner through varied (existing and new) avenues
• After 1.5-2 years: Your foundational research has allowed for longitudinal insights to surface that are actively influencing product strategy and enabling Viki to leapfrog competition.

Rakuten is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based on race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, national origin, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, marital status or any legally protected status. Women, minorities, individuals with disabilities and protected veterans are encouraged

Key responsibilities:

• Independently (and proactively) plan and lead strategic research initiatives involving multi-functional stakeholders end-to-end
• Act in a consultative and advisory role to various levels within the design and product teams, as well as to relevant business teams to enable them to independently run tactical research without compromising on quality
• Build strong relationships with cross-functional stakeholders in ways that create influence, and help drive impact through research findings
• Represent the voice of the users: create, maintain, and put into practice a process to analyze user feedback from diverse sources, socialize these with relevant stakeholders in a bite-sized, timely and impactful manner
• Seamlessly and continually manage research operations: e.g. creating and maintaining guides/templates, managing participant recruitment and incentive payouts, maintaining clean documentation of research artifacts, adhering to data privacy and deletion SOPs, etc.
• Support prioritization efforts, and quarterly and annual strategic planning by providing appropriate insights, and highlighting key problem spaces and statements
• Propose, plan, and facilitate workshops to drive alignment, internalization of insights, and the journey from insights to action
• Actively mentor and coach team members on best research practices, setting an example for them and elevating the quality of our research output

What success looks like for this role:

• After 3 months: You have taken ownership of our current foundational user research responsibilities, and longitudinal satisfaction surveys, alleviating the rest of the UX research team’s workload.
• After 6-9 months: You have been a valuable guide and mentor to teams seeking to run tactical research, you have helped amplify the voice of the user by regularly socializing research insights in a relevant, timely, and impactful manner through varied (existing and new) avenues
• After 1.5-2 years: Your foundational research has allowed for longitudinal insights to surface that are actively influencing product strategy and enabling Viki to leapfrog competition