User Experience Researcher

Job Description

The User Experience (UX) Researcher within Technology-enhanced

Learning and Online Strategies (TLOS) works in the domains of user

research, evaluation, and service design. This role seeks

evidence-based insights that help shape Virginia Tech’s digital

learning environment to best support instructors’ success and

improve learning outcomes for Virginia Tech students. The UX

Researcher achieves these goals by translating findings from user

research into data-based insights and actionable recommendations

across TLOS’s four mission-focused areas: instructional tools and

environments, faculty digital fluency, accessible technologies and

universal design for learning (UDL), and course and program design.

Complementing their focus on research, the UX Researcher helps

gauge impact by assisting with the design and data collection for

evaluations of teaching and learning technologies, services, and

programs. This role also facilitates design of new services and

improvement of existing services to advance teaching and learning

using service design principles and methods.

As a member of the Digital Learning Innovation group, the UX

Researcher strives for a balanced, holistic view informed by a deep

understanding of faculty, student, and employee needs combined with

knowledge of institutional priorities, organizational capabilities,

emerging tools and technologies, and Virginia Tech’s digital

learning ecosystem. Synthesizing these multiple dimensions into

evidence-based insights, the UX Researcher develops practical

recommendations that guide strategic decision-making.

Core Responsibilities

• Lead user research initiatives from design through

delivery—including study design, participant recruitment, data

collection, analysis, and synthesis into actionable recommendations

that inform decision making and improve services.

• Create and maintain user experience artifacts, such as personas

and journey maps that accurately represent stakeholder perceptions

and experiences with digital teaching and learning tools.

• Partner with TLOS teams and instructional faculty to design and

implement evaluations for services, technology pilots, and

programs, providing both evaluation guidance and hands-on

assistance with data collection.

• Translate findings from user research or evaluations into clear

communications through reports, presentations, and visual materials

that highlight user needs and drive decision-making.

• Apply service design principles and methods to improve new and

existing services, providing both facilitation, consultation, and

methodology expertise.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a discipline that draws on qualitative

research methods, data analysis, technical communication, user

experience research, or related analytics and research skills, plus

working experience applying some of these skills.

• Demonstrated success designing, recruiting for, and conducting

user research to answer a research question or inform a

decision.

• Substantial experience carrying out qualitative research

interviews, focus groups, surveys, and other qualitative research

methods.

• Experience with quantitative or mixed-methods research and

analysis.

• Demonstrated experience communicating user research findings and

recommendations to stakeholders.

• Experience creating visualizations of user processes, workflows,

or journey steps.

• Demonstrated success in effective stakeholder engagement,

including facilitating team and/or user group sessions to

brainstorm, ideate, or explore solutions.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in a relevant field.
• Experience applying UX research or service design in higher

education or educational technology contexts.

• Experience designing and conducting evaluations for services,

projects, or programs.

• Strong understanding of service design principles or experience

with service design methods.

• Professional training or certification in UX research, service

design, or design thinking.

• Experience with learning management systems, especially Canvas,

and other academic technology platforms.

Overtime Status

Exempt: Not eligible for overtime

Appointment Type

Regular

Salary Information

$70,000 - $85,000

Hours per week

40

Review Date

November 28, 2025

Additional Information

The successful candidate will be required to have a criminal

conviction check.

About Virginia Tech

Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve),

Virginia Tech pushes the boundaries of knowledge by taking a

hands-on, transdisciplinary approach to preparing scholars to be

leaders and problem-solvers. A comprehensive land-grant institution

that enhances the quality of life in Virginia and throughout the

world, Virginia Tech is an

inclusive community dedicated to knowledge, discovery, and

creativity. The university offers more than 280 majors to a diverse

enrollment of more than 36,000 undergraduate, graduate, and

professional students in eight

undergraduate colleges , a

school of medicine , a

veterinary medicine college,

Graduate School , and

Honors College . The university has a significant presence

across Virginia, including Blacksburg, the greater Washington, D.C.

area, the Health Sciences and Technology Campus in Roanoke, sites

in Newport News and Richmond, and numerous

Extension offices and

research institutes . A leading global research institution,

Virginia Tech conducts more than $650 million in research

annually.

Virginia Tech endorses and encourages participation in professional

development opportunities and university shared

governance . These valuable contributions to university shared

governance provide important representation and perspective, along

with opportunities for unique and impactful professional

development.

Virginia Tech does not discriminate against employees, students, or

applicants on the basis of age, color, disability, sex (including

pregnancy), gender, gender identity, gender expression, genetic

information, ethnicity or national origin, political affiliation,

race, religion, sexual orientation, or military status, or

otherwise discriminate against employees or applicants who inquire

about, discuss, or disclose their compensation or the compensation

of other employees or applicants, or on any other basis protected

by law.

If you are an individual with a disability and desire an

accommodation, please contact Judy Alford at [email protected] during

regular business hours at least 10 business days prior to the

event.

Advertised: October 6, 2025

Applications close