Company Description:
We are a small but mighty design research practice in San Francisco looking for a Senior Design Researcher to join our smart, creative and warm team. This role is an opportunity to further develop your craft within a growing, fast-paced agency.
Sutherland Labs is an international team of researchers, designers and creatives who work with world-leading clients to improve everyday experiences. We pride ourselves on delivering creative, customized research solutions to address our clients’ questions with clarity and inspiration. Our practice is rooted in qualitative research, with a focus on uncovering rich, contextual insights to inform design strategy.
Job Description:
The Role
Senior Researchers make critical contributions across the range of our engagements: from one-off usability studies, to ethnographic inquiries at home and abroad, to structured programs of research – and deliverables that range from immersive videos and visual artifacts to thoughtfully designed slide decks. Seniors at Sutherland Labs are encouraged to expand their methodological toolkits and refine their specialisms, developing their unique points of view as practitioners. They are involved in all aspects of proposal development, costing, research design, project management, facilitation, data collection, analysis, and delivery. Seniors work on the front line of our practice, building trusting relationships with client partners, playing both contributor and lead roles on engagements.
Substantial experience across generative and evaluative methodologies is foundational to success in this role. Versatility across industries, and a willingness to fearlessly enter new domains, is vital.
We also seek candidates with at least one research specialism: applicants with established skills in accessibility research, ethnographic film, research with kids or marginalized communities, or experience running research sprints for incubators, innovation centers or startups, are especially welcome to apply.
Key Responsibilities
Research Teamwork and Leadership
- Confidently perform a range of roles, including project leadership, to deliver insights that matter to client partners and stakeholders.
- Manage multiple engagements simultaneously, thoughtfully planning workstreams and prioritizing demands on your time.
- Deliver engaging learning experiences for client teams throughout the research process, from senior executives and product leaders to junior researcher partners
- Create polished and compelling deliverables that enable action to realize organizational goals. These may include insights reports, journey maps, service blueprints, design concepts and video reels (with support from our in-house creative team).
- Facilitate client meetings and workshops to achieve consensus and clarity.
Practice Development
- Participate in building and evolving our research methodology toolkit, codifying and improving existing processes, and aid in the growth of our research design practice’s maturity.
- Provide mentoring and peer support to team members, especially in professional specialisms and areas of personal interest.
- Advocate for the team and our work, e.g. publishing thought leadership, attending industry events, writing blogs, activity on social media.
- Champion human-centered innovation across our broader organization, Sutherland Global, through collaborating with business development colleagues.
- Interest in and demonstrable experience in business development activities is highly desirable.
Qualifications:
Education and Experience:
- Academic qualifications in Cognitive Psychology, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Anthropology, Sociology, Interaction Design, Design Strategy or a related field are useful; however exceptional candidates may instead have experience that serves as an equivalent.
- The ideal candidate can demonstrate experience in financial services.
- 6+ years of full-time design or user research experience in an agency or in-house setting. Experience in a fast-moving agency, startup or innovation lab setting is strongly preferred.
- 2+ years leading research engagements is highly desirable.
- Established skills in project management, research and experiment design, crafting and writing of deliverables. Mixed-methods research skills desirable.
Other Requirements:
- Eligibility to work in the US. Unfortunately, visa sponsorship is not available.
- Occasional global and domestic travel may be required.
- Role is located in downtown San Francisco on a hybrid basis. For exceptional candidates, a fully remote role in NYC may be possible.
- You need to be someone who can carve out goals as well as the plan to reach them, and is comfortable with ambiguity.
**A willingness to get scrappy and roll up your sleeves on occasion. We're looking for someone who brings not only research experience, but also humility, a sense of humor, and a clear sense of what really matters!
Additional Information:
All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.
EEOC and Veteran Documentation
During employment, employees are treated without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital or veteran status, medical condition or handicap, or any other legally protected status.
At times, government agencies require periodic reports from employers on the sex, ethnicity, handicap, veteran and other protected status of employees. The purpose of this Administrative EEO Record is for statistical analysis only and is used to comply with government record keeping, reporting, and other legal requirements. Periodic reports are made to the government on the following information. The completion of the Administrative EEO record is optional. If you choose to volunteer the requested information, please note that all
Administrative EEO Records are kept in a Confidential File and are not part of your Application for Employment or Personnel file.
Please note: YOUR COOPERATION IS VOLUNTARY. INCLUSION OR EXCLUSION OF ANY DATA WILL NOT AFFECT ANY EMPLOYMENT DECISION.
