Lead Hardware UX Researcher

Toast is driven by building the restaurant platform that helps restaurants adapt, take control, and get back to what they do best: building the businesses they love.

We’re looking for a Lead UX Researcher for hardware product research who will be dedicated to understanding the relationships restaurant hardware ecosystems owners, employees, and their guests have with physical technology. You’ll join a diverse, multidisciplinary team of problem solvers creating with purpose; to enable restaurants with the tools they need to do what they love and thrive.

About this roll* (responsibilities):

• You will collaborate with Hardware Leadership Triad  (Product, Design & Engineering) to identify areas of confidence & risk in the roadmap and craft a plan to address them
• You will scope, plan and conduct high-value UX research throughout the product development process, from generative to evaluative, crafting multi-method approaches to inform solutions to complex problems, employing your quantitative and qualitative expertise as needed
• You will evangelize research insights & create a shared understanding of user needs (both restaurant & guest) across teams in your domain to drive user-centered strategy and decision-making
• You will exemplify great research practices for your cross-functional teams; delegate, mentor, coach and provide guidance to others as needed to level up everyone's learning competencies
• You will conduct competitive analyses and stay up to date with industry trends to inform product development decisions
• You will collaborate with the Research team to establish and promote consistent, rigorous research practices and standards; model and advocate for those standards on your Product team and promote research excellence across the organization

Do you have the right ingredients*? (requirements):

• 5+ years experience in industry conducting applied research on consumer products with a depth in hardware product research.
• 5+ years experience as a researcher on an end to end product – creating strategic research vision, defining and tracking user experience goals and metrics, and driving execution on projects
• Demonstrated ability to use collaboration & influence to lead the research strategy for a product area and connect that to a broader product vision, including identifying & prioritizing research needs
• Demonstrated ability to use systems thinking to build out research infrastructure, defining cadences, processes and best practices
• Executive level presentation storytelling using persuasion & communication to drive user-centered strategy & design
• Deep and broad research toolkit - experience with generative research, workshop facilitation, concept testing, unmoderated methods, evaluative research and measurement, with deep expertise in at least one method
• Experience with unmoderated testing tools (ex. UserTesting) & survey tools (ex. Qualtrics)
• Experience conducting research in B2B environments, ideally including high-complexity experiences combining data visualization & information architecture

Special sauce* (nonessential skills/nice to haves):

• Your collaborative style inspires others to the point where people ask to work with you and your expertise and confidence have others seeking out your informed perspective.
• You’re passionate about maintaining a healthy work-life balance by scoping, setting expectations and maintaining your boundaries.
• You have a growth mindset - you see challenges as opportunities, believe feedback is a gift and can speak confidently about failures & what you learned from them.

Our spread* of Total Rewards (benefits):

• Flexible paid time off
• Sabbatical opportunity after five years
• 401(k) and matching
• Medical, dental, & vision coverage
• Mental Health Benefits
• 100% paid childbirth recovery medical leave
• 16 weeks of 100% paid parental leave
• Eligibility for 100% paid medical or family leave
• Subsidized backup childcare
• Professional Development Reimbursement Program
• Home office and telecommunications stipends
• Free access to Certified Financial Planners
• Commitment to Employee Wellness through resources such as a quarterly Wellness Stipend
• Various peer and company recognition programs
• We love great food and bread puns!

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