Manager, User Experience Research

• Compensation: USD 124,500 - USD 236,500 - yearly

About Abb Vie

Abb Vie's mission is to discover and deliver innovative medicines and solutions that solve serious health issues today and address the medical challenges of tomorrow. We strive to have a remarkable impact on people's lives across several key therapeutic areas including immunology, oncology, and neuroscience - and products and services in our Allergan Aesthetics portfolio.

As the Manager, UX Research, you will help lead and scale Abb Vie’s UX research discipline within a multidisciplinary Design Practice team embedded in enterprise IT. Acting as an internal consulting agency, the team partners with business and technology leaders across Abb Vie to shape strategic, evidence-based digital experiences aligned to business priorities and enterprise strategy. This role requires a seasoned research leader with the ability to build research capabilities, influence cross-functional partners, and embed human-centered practices across a complex global organization.

You bring strong leadership in human-centered design, UX research strategy, and organizational influence. You know how to establish scalable research programs, guide teams through ambiguity, and turn research insights into clear action. You are energized by improving research quality and consistency, and by helping teams make better strategic decisions grounded in employee understanding.

This position reports to the Director of User Experience at Abb Vie’s global headquarters in Lake County, Illinois.

Responsibilities:

• Help lead and mature an enterprise UX research function within the multidisciplinary Design Practice team
• Establish scalable research practices, standards, governance, and operating models
• Partner with product, design, engineering, and business leaders to embed research in strategic decision-making
• Plan, design, moderate, and synthesize qualitative and quantitative research studies
• Manage research repositories and insight libraries such as Dovetail
• Leverage AI-enabled tools and workflows to accelerate synthesis and translate findings into actionable insights
• Conduct usability testing, tree testing, and other evaluative methods using tools such as Optimal Workshop
• Support service design efforts by mapping journeys and identifying friction points
• Facilitate design-thinking workshops and strategic working sessions
• Mentor and coach researchers and cross-functional partners to strengthen UX research maturity

Required:

• Bachelor’s Degree plus 8 years of experience;
  Or Master's Degree plus 7 years of experience;
  Or PhD with 3 years of experience
• Respective years of UX research experience
• Outstanding verbal and written communication skills
• Strong consultation, facilitation, and collaboration skills
• Proven expertise in qualitative and quantitative research methods
• Experience scoping complex research programs and selecting appropriate methods
• Experience managing research repositories and insight systems such as Dovetail
• Experience using AI to synthesize research findings and identify opportunities
• Experience turning research insights into clear, actionable recommendations that inform strategy, prioritize opportunities, and drive business decision
• Experience conducting usability tests and tree tests using Optimal Workshop or similar tools
• Experience supporting service design and enterprise experience initiatives
• Experience working across enterprise software and/or complex business environments
  
  Experience conducting research in agile delivery environments
• Prior experience building or scaling a UX Research team

Preferred:

• 10 years of UX research experience preferred

Applicable only to applicants applying to a position in any location with pay disclosure requirements under state or local law:

The compensation range described below is the range of possible base pay compensation that the Company believes in good faith it will pay for this role at the time of this posting based on the job grade for this position. Individual compensation paid within this range will depend on many factors including geographic location, and we may ultimately pay…