Your opportunity

At Schwab, you’re empowered to make an impact on your career. Here, innovative thought meets creative problem solving, helping us challenge the status quo and transform the finance industry together.

We Believe in the importance of in-office collaboration and fully intend for the selected candidate for this role to work on site in the specified location(s).

Our business is driven by looking through our clients’ eyes, which makes it a dream place to work as a user experience researcher. Our company motto supports user advocacy. Our purpose is designing tools and experiences that enable users to achieve their financial goals.

This individual contributor position is an expert in User Experience Research. This person operates with independent judgement and leads by example demonstrating passion, positivity, and keen problem-solving skills.

This position is responsible for

Research Consulting

Set expectations with the project teams and prioritize activities
Create and maintain research schedules
Communicate status and agreements with project team
Review work with UX managers, keep them updated on project status and escalate items appropriately

Teamwork, Collaboration and Engagement

Works well with all partners to deliver work
Support UX team members
Strategically listen to feedback and help guide the delivery

Collaborative and cooperative

Has a research position but is not rigidly fixed when given new information
Passionate about team, our mission and the needs of our partners and users
Enthusiastic about UX design

Empathy & Curiosity

Understands and advocates user needs, walking in their shoes when possible
Focus on innovation and improvement
Regularly learns more about design theory, practice, and tools

Why your work matters

You will support an engaged set of users who rely on our products to manage their clients’ financial lives
By researching and understanding the user needs you will be able to impact how our users do business with Schwab
You will learn how balance functionality against complexity on a highly visible platform which serves millions of advisors and retail customers
You will work with an engaged design team that fosters a learning environment

What you’ll do

Work with diverse stakeholders to develop research plans that include both foundational and iterative testing
Conduct research, deploying a variety of methodologies
Create or apply data-driven personas
Deliver actionable recommendations
Instill best practices for research, provide guidance on how to meet usability requirements, and deliver high-quality work on tight schedules
Keep up to date with current UX research trends, tools and technology
Serve as an evangelist for user research and the benefit it provides to our cleints

What you have

Required Qualifications

10+ years of UX research experience
Deliverables change on a project-by-project basis, but may include elements such as user interviews, task analyses, journey maps, personas, and usability testing
Expertise in synthesizing research data
Strong communicator and storyteller
Experience working in collaborative, geographically distributed software development environments on large, complex desktop web, mobile web, and mobile applications
Comfort in a project-oriented work environment, with a positive attitude and solid work ethic
Strong self-management skills, comfortable with substantial responsibility, working directly with our client partners, and capable of managing your project schedules
Ability to manage multiple projects at one time with attention to detail and deliver expected documents/recommendations on time
Effective relationship builder: ability to partner cross-functionally, cross-enterprise and work effectively with various levels of the organization as well as various personality types
Proficiency with Mac OS X and/or Windows office productivity software; hands-on experience with some of following software would be helpful but can be trained: SharePoint and MS office suite, UserZoom/UserTesting, or Alida
Prior experience within financial services industry

Preferred Qualifications

Advanced degree in applied psychology, experimental psychology, human factors psychology or engineering, human computer interaction, anthropology, sociology, or similar people-science-related discipline
Experience with financial services, systems / design for internal users, and new product launches

In addition to the salary range, this role is also eligible for bonus or incentive opportunities.

What’s in it for you

At Schwab, we’re committed to empowering our employees’ personal and professional success. Our purpose-driven, supportive culture, and focus on your development means you’ll get the tools you need to make a positive difference in the finance industry. Our Hybrid Work and Flexibility approach balances our ongoing commitment to workplace flexibility, serving our clients, and our strong belief in the value of being together in person on a regular basis.

We offer a competitive benefits package that takes care of the whole you – both today and in the future:

401(k) with company match and Employee stock purchase plan
Paid time for vacation, volunteering, and 28-day sabbatical after every 5 years of service for eligible positions
Paid parental leave and family building benefits
Tuition reimbursement
Health, dental, and vision insurance

Sr Manager, User Experience Researcher

Job Type