Senior Product Researcher at MultiChoice

Purpose of the Position:

The Senior Product Researcher is responsible for leading UX and market research initiatives at Showmax, overseeing daily research operations, from recruitment to insight documentation. Develop and maintain a current understanding of user digital video habits, viewing behaviors, and purchasing needs. Investigate cultural and territorial variations in these behaviors. Collaborate with product managers and designers on product strategy, ensuring key decisions align with user needs. Establish efficient research processes, prioritizing and managing both short and long-term UX research activities to drive continuous improvement.

Research

• Lead and own research for Showmax
• Establish processes for organising user research and testing across product team, ensuring appropriate prioritisation of projects and managing short and long-term research plans.
• Provide regular reports to the Showmax product teamon deliverables, project status and any issues encountered.
• Conduct research using a wide variety of qualitative methods, subset of quantitative methods (i.e. surveys), and interpret analysis through the lens of UX, HCI, and social science.
• Drive best practices in user research, usability and analysis; lead research and protocol reviews, and provide feedback and guidance to larger team.
• Develop a healthy panel of participants from which we can recruit for various product, UX studies.
• Research market, customers and potential customers to keep an up to date view of digital video habits, behaviors and user needs.
• Generate profiles of Showmax customers to be used in product design e.g. in the creation of empathy maps and personas.
• Generate insights and recommendations, that both fuel ideation and evaluate designs.
• Design studies that address both user behavior and attitudes.
• Incorporate statistics and analytics as research tools where applicable when considering studies.
• Manage multiple projects simultaneouslyusing strong communication skills to manage time and expectations appropriately.

Stakeholder Management

• Work cross-functionally with designers, product managers and other key stakeholders.
• Collaborate with product leaders to prioritize research questions based on analysis of current knowledge, project goals, identified risks, and project impact. Identify best method or mix of methods to address research questions, with consideration for timeline and resources with minimal guidance.
• Advise product team on research opportunities and best practices at all stages of product development process.
• Build strong stakeholder relationships, effectively communicate with product managers and designers to make decisions based on a strong understanding of business, customer and design tradeoffs.
• Present results from usability tests and other user research activities to other teams.
• Evangelize good user experience, the importance and value of UX research, and encourage a customer first mind set.
• Foster a healthy tension between stakeholders, encouraging discussions that take into account business needs, user needs, and what is possible.

Qualifications

• B.A/B.S. in Anthropology, Psychology, Social Science, Multimedia or a related field or equivalent.
• User experience qualification and training beneficial.
• Management, systems thinking certifications beneficial.

Technical Competencies (List the key technical competencies)

• UX research + testing
• UX design
• Project management
• Market awareness
• Concept presentation
• Communication and negotiation
• Report writing
• Assertiveness
• User empathy
• Product Development
• Customer Behavior Analysis
• Data Analysis
• B.A/B.S. in Anthropology, Psychology, Social Science, Multimedia or a related field or equivalent.
• User experience qualification and training beneficial.
• Management, systems thinking certifications beneficial.

Experience

• 5 – 8 years experience in research, customer experience or related field.
• 2 – 3 years experience leading UX research projects.
• Comprehensive knowledge in a variety of industry-centric qualitative research methods, such as semi-structured interviews, contextual inquiries, usability studies, diary ethnographic studies, unmoderated remote studies, paper prototyping, surveys, A/B testing and Card sorting.
• Demonstrated ability to plan and conduct research in close collaboration with people in a variety of roles, including design, technology, and product management.
• Knowledge of quantitative, behavioral analysis, and statistical concepts.
• Experience with survey research (questionnaire design, sampling, analysis).
• Ability to ask, as well as answer, meaningful and impactful questions.
• Ability to clearly, concisely, and persuasively communicate your findings, translate data into actionable insights, verbally and in writing.
• Understanding of qualitative analysis and reporting methods suitable for the fast pace of industry; ability to quickly shift the methodology and scope of research projects to meet short deadlines while collecting the best possible data and delivering actionable results.
• Experience in creating user testing scripts and leading testing sessions.
• Experience creating UX test protocols, specifications and presentations.
• Good understanding of UX and user centered design principles.
• Ability to present findings to diverse audience.

Behavioral Competencies

• Accountability
• Teamwork
• Delegation
• Interpersonal Support
• Motivating
• Prioritisation
• Relationship Building
• Conflict Resolution
• Decision Making
• Critical Appraisal
• Holistic, Strategic + Analytical Thinking

Persuading & Influence

• Coaching
• Active Listening
• Perseverance, good work ethic and initiative.