Audio UX Researcher III

Audio UX Researcher III Onsite

We are seeking a UX Researcher III to support an ambitious new project; advancing our initiative.

This role is embedded in a fast-moving prototyping effort where the system itself changes week to week. We need someone who can sit in on demos and working sessions, absorb scattered feedback (what's clicking, what's confusing, what feels off), and synthesize it into concise, actionable insights on a timescale that keeps pace with development. The core of this role is lightweight qualitative evaluation.

We need someone whose primary strength is qualitative research, structured observation, conversational interviewing, rapid thematic synthesis, and the interpretive judgment to surface what matters from informal feedback. Quantitative methods supplement the work occasionally, but the initial day-to-day demand is for a researcher who thinks in narratives, patterns, and human reactions rather than sample sizes and statistical significance. Because many of the core questions revolve around where and how received audio is rendered in space, this role calls for a researcher who can reason fluently about spatial audio and auditory perception, not just general UX method.

The qualitative work here is fundamentally about how people perceive and locate sound. This is not a role for elaborately planned, months-out user studies. What we need is rapid, lightweight qualitative assessment: structured listening, quick-turn synthesis, and the judgment to know which signals matter so the team can course-correct in real time. Think short evaluative sessions with a handful of participants, heuristic walkthroughs of new interaction patterns, and same-week write-ups that land while the design questions are still live.

The ideal candidate treats the prototype as a living thing and their research as a conversation with it; not an audit of it. They are comfortable forming a qualitative read on an experience after a small number of well-chosen observations, and they know how to frame findings in ways that move a team forward without waiting for statistical confidence.

An ideal candidate would have familiarity with some or all of the following areas:
Speech communication and human-AI interaction Audio signal processing or hearing sciences Wearable technology (AI glasses, headphones, smart watches) Rapid iterative design and prototyping environments Qualitative research in applied product or research settings.

• Embed in the prototyping team and conduct rapid, lightweight qualitative research to guide the development of novel AI glasses user experiences focused on speech communication and effortless conversation
• Attend demos, working sessions, and design reviews; observe and capture structured notes on user reactions, usability signals, and team feedback
• Design and conduct short evaluative sessions with small numbers of participants, heuristic walkthroughs, and conversational interviews on a quick-turn cadence (days, not months)
• Synthesize scattered qualitative feedback into concise, actionable insights; delivered same-week while design questions are still live
• Evaluate and iterate on audio and communication features for AI wearables by understanding how users perceive, interact with, and benefit from device-based experiences
• Evaluate how users perceive spatially rendered audio, including localization, externalization, and the placement of received or virtual sound sources, and translate those perceptual reactions into design guidance
• Translate research insights into interpretable findings and actionable recommendations for cross-functional partners and stakeholders
• Work closely with engineers, designers, and research scientists to influence development direction in real time
• Supplement qualitative work with quantitative methods (surveys, descriptive statistics) as needed to strengthen or validate findings

• MA/MS in Speech and Hearing Sciences, Psychoacoustics, Audiology, Cognitive Psychology, Linguistics, Human Computer Interaction, Human Factors, Neuroscience, or a related UX field, with preference for candidates whose training or research focused on auditory perception, speech intelligibility or spatial hearing
• 2+ years experience conducting applied qualitative research on consumer products, with an emphasis on methods such as interviews, contextual inquiry, observational studies, and rapid thematic analysis
• Proficiency conducting qualitative interviews; including conversational and…