Cambridge Residency Program: Researcher in User Experience Design

We are seeking a designer who can work with us for two years, exploring new experiences for knowledge in the workplace. We need someone with a passion for improving people’s lives through technology, a keen sense of how to unlock the design process to help drive innovation, and the creative prototyping skills to help build and study novel experiences that use complex technology.
We are a multi-disciplinary team of developers, designers, and social scientists who, in Project Alexandria, are using A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) to automatically extract valuable knowledge from a company’s data for their employees to use to improve the way they work. Together, we are creating a people-centric vision of how this knowledge can change the way work happens for the better. Project Alexandria is part of the Future of Work group in Microsoft Research Cambridge (UK).
The position offers a unique opportunity to contribute to state-of-the-art research at the intersection of A.I. and human-computer interaction in collaboration with a multi-disciplinary team.
This role requires:

• A passion for solving real world user problems.
• The ability to understand complex technologies like A.I.
• The ability to conceptualize new experiences that use our innovative AI.
• The skills to create interactive prototypes which allow us to build and test new experiences with real people.

The Project Alexandria team are working closely with Microsoft Product organisations to get our ideas out into the real world. If you are passionate about technology, fluent in the design process, and looking for a creative and impactful way to improve people’s daily lives then we would love to hear from you! Responsibilities

• Collaborate closely with people from different disciplines, including A.I. engineers and social scientists, both in and outside of the team.
• Propose creative solutions to complex user experience journeys, drawing on your ability to map end-to-end experiences.
• Build and prototype, from scenarios, storyboards, and wireframes through to interactive prototypes.
• Plan, carry-out and facilitate user research (e.g., user studies, workshops and focus groups).
• Summarize research findings and communicate compelling new experiences.

Qualifications Required

• Masters or PhD in human-computer interaction or design.
• Strong design crafting skills, including capacity to build interactive prototypes.
• Ability to synthesize findings and requirements from user research, related literature, or product partners.
• Effective communication skills and ability to work in a collaborative environment.

Preferred

• Experience designing interfaces driven by A.I., and/or prototyping using data from A.I. systems.
• Ability to lead ideation activities to support multi-disciplinary team working.
• Budding leadership capability to drive own work in the context of the team goals.
• Advanced prototyping/coding skills with JavaScript and derivatives (e.g., React, P5JS).

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances.
Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.