Senior UX Researcher, YouTube Fan Funding

At Google, we follow a simple but vital premise: "Focus on the user and all else will follow." User Experience Researchers (UXRs) make this possible.

Google User Experience (UX) is made up of multi-disciplinary teams of UX Designers, Researchers, Writers, Content Strategists, Program Managers, and Engineers: we care deeply about the people who use our products. The UX team plays an integral part in gathering insights about the needs, attitudes, emotions, and behaviors of people who use our products to inspire and inform design. We collaborate closely with each other and with engineering and product management to create industry-leading products that deliver value for the people who use them, and for Google’s businesses.

As a User Experience Researcher (UXR), you’ll help your team of UXers, product managers, and engineers understand user needs. You’ll work with stakeholders across functions and levels and have impact at all stages of product development. You’ll play a critical role in creating useful, usable, and delightful products. You’ll explore user behaviors and motivations by conducting primary research such as field studies, interviews, diary studies, participatory workshops, ethnography, surveys, usability testing, and logs analysis.

The UXR community at Google is unique and will help you do your best work. You’ll have the opportunity to work with and learn from UXRs across Google through regular meetups, mentor programs, and access to internal research tools.

In this role, you will drive the research agenda by employing mixed-methods studies and AI tools to uncover creator and viewer needs. You'll partner cross-functionally to translate ethical, actionable insights into product solutions that solve problems and exceed user expectations.

At YouTube, we believe that everyone deserves to have a voice, and that the world is a better place when we listen, share, and build community through our stories. We work together to give everyone the power to share their story, explore what they love, and connect with one another in the process. Working at the intersection of cutting-edge technology and boundless creativity, we move at the speed of culture with a shared goal to show people the world. We explore new ideas, solve real problems, and have fun — and we do it all together.

The US base salary range for this full-time position is $151,000-$222,000 + bonus + equity + benefits. Our salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location. Within the range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process.

Please note that the compensation details listed in US role postings reflect the base salary only, and do not include bonus, equity, or benefits. Learn more about benefits at Google.

Responsibilities

• Define and prioritize a high-impact research agenda for the Hype experience, partnering with cross-functional teams to establish core research goals and User Experience (UX) metrics.
• Grow in high-velocity environments, managing end-to-end product development from identifying research gaps to executing project plans.
• Design and analyze qualitative and quantitative studies including surveys, interviews, and diary studies to uncover actionable patterns in user behavior.
• Build influential relationships across Fan Funding and broader product teams to ensure research is integrated into every stage of the development life cycle.
• Drive product change by delivering compelling written and visual insights to stakeholders and leadership, translating user understanding into business decisions.

Minimum qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.
  
• 6 years of experience in an applied research setting (e.g., product or academic), or similar.
• Experience with research methods (e.g., usability studies, contextual inquiries, one-to-one interviews, and unmoderated research studies).
• Experience collaborating with and influencing cross-functional stakeholders (e.g., Product, Engineering, and Sales) to drive project outcomes.
• Experience designing and analyzing surveys to gather user insights in an industry setting.

Preferred qualifications:

• Master's degree or PhD in Human-Computer Interaction, Cognitive Science, Statistics, Psychology, Anthropology, or a related field.
• Experience collaborating across global time zones and matrixed organizations, using discussion skills to align teams.
• Experience into findings and actionable insights, engaging everyone from product teams to executives to drive project buy-in.
• Experience conducting User Experience (UX) research and project management in applied settings, ensuring high-quality, methodologically sound deliverables.
• Experience using Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to accelerate workflows and enhance research outputs within high-velocity, changing environments.