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User Researcher
Autodesk, Inc.
Manchester, NH, USA

Autodesk may not be a household name, but the buildings, games, movies, and products created with our tools are known worldwide. We're a $1.5 billion company with a market cap that's risen faster than the S&P 500-stock index. We hold the number 25 spot on the BusinessWeek top 50 list of the best-performing large companies. Consistently in the Fortune Top 100 companies to work for, we believe in customer-orientation, innovation, and taking important risks.

This is your chance to help shape the user-centered future of AutoCAD(r) Architecture and AutoCAD(r) MEP, our building design and construction documentation solution for architects & engineers based on the #1 general CAD platform-AutoCAD. Combined, these two products enjoy an installed base of more than half million commercial & educational customers worldwide.

Your Role:

As a User Researcher for the AutoCAD(r) Architecture and AutoCAD(r) MEP family of products, you will be responsible for usability and user research. You will work closely with interaction designers and product management to champion our users' needs through all phases of the UCD process-from requirements definition and throughout the design/development process.

Responsibilities:

  • Plan the long and short-term plans for and usability activities for a suite of products that will serve multiple personas.
  • Plan, design and conduct user research activities, including methods such as ethnographic field studies/contextual inquiries, participatory design sessions, focus groups, benchmark studies, usability studies, heuristic evaluations, and similar approaches.
  • Assist the team in collecting input via quantitative surveys (authoring, analyzing, reporting), as well as data analysis of customer usage data.
  • Assist the team with research into specific and general design issues as they arise.
  • Provide insight and vision to the team based on findings of researching user behavior and needs. Convert research findings into actionable results towards design solutions and measurable business metrics.
  • Define and teach best practices for the team for site visits and workflow observation (CI or ethnographic methods); perform such visits on broad investigative topics such as learnability of the application(s).
  • Track customer contacts and issues that arise related to usability issues.
  • Contribute to user interaction/interaction design for paper prototypes/wireframes/mockups as needed to support research efforts.

Your Attributes:

  • Excellent skills in problem definition and analysis: Ability to identify and describe the "right" problem from a set of data of varying types.
  • Communication skills: Verbal and written fluency in the English language; strong verbal and presentation communication skills.
  • Demonstrable understanding of both quantitative and qualitative research methods.
  • Ability to drive projects from concept to conclusion; work independently, manage multiple tasks, and set priorities with direction and/or feedback from management and teammates.
  • Strong organizational skills and be able to manage multiple programs effectively.
  • Interact with designers and engineers to communicate customer concerns in a cogent, actionable fashion.
  • Demonstrable interest in the details and the results of the design process as related to improving usability.

Desired Knowledge/Skills:

  • Bachelor's degree in Ethnography, Anthropology, Human Factors, Human-Computer Interaction, Cognitive or Experimental Psychology, Cognitive Science, or related field (or equivalent experience). Master's degree is preferred.
  • 5+ years of professional experience in usability evaluation/market research in a product design environment.
  • Thorough knowledge of user research methods, including site visits, interviews, card sorts, focus groups, user task flows, user profiling and task analysis.
  • Expertise with statistical analysis.
  • Experience with user interaction/interface design is a plus.

Autodesk provides one of the most exceptional compensation and benefit packages, including stock options for all employees, 401k matching, six week sabbatical after four years of employment, domestic partner policy, on going employee training and development, flexible work hours and more!

If you are an extraordinary person who strives for excellence, please apply at www.autodesk.com/careers - Job (63000) and contact denise.johannesson@autodesk.com.

Autodesk is proud to be an equal opportunity employer that is committed to a diverse workforce.

Received: 22-Nov-07

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