UX Researcher

This role may also be located in our Playa Vista, CA campus.

Applicants in the County of Los Angeles: Qualified applications with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act.

Applicants in San Francisco: Qualified applications with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act.

Note: By applying to this position you will have an opportunity to share your preferred working location from the following: San Jose, CA, USA; New York, NY, USA; Los Angeles, CA, USA; San Francisco, CA, USA.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.
• 4 years of experience in an applied research setting (e.g., product or academic), or similar.
• Experience with research methods (e.g., usability, studies, contextual inquiries, 1:1 interviews, unmoderated research studies).

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree or PhD in Human-Computer Interaction, Cognitive Science, Statistics, Psychology, Anthropology, or related field.
• 2 years of experience conducting UX research on products, managing projects, and working in a large, matrixed organization.
• 3 years of experience working with executive leadership (e.g., Director level and above).
• Experience conducting research with emerging technologies and devices (e.g., VR headsets, smartphones, wearables, etc.).
• Applied experience conducting research in AR/VR product environments, Android systems, system UI, or app scaling.
• Understanding of human physiology, human performance, visual processing, attentional demands, or ergonomics.

About The Job

At Google, we "Focus on the user and all else will follow." As a User Experience Researcher (UXR), you make this possible. You will join our multi-disciplinary UX team, collaborating with Engineering and Product Management, to gather insights and create industry-leading products.

You’ll play a critical role in helping your team understand user needs and will drive impact at all stages of product development, ensuring products are useful, usable, and helpful. You will explore user behaviors and motivations by conducting primary research, including field studies, interviews, diary studies, ethnography, surveys, usability testing, and logs analysis.

You will also grow within a supportive UXR community offering mentorship, regular meetups, and exclusive internal tools.

For decades, the computing revolution has reshaped our world driven by breakthroughs in compute, connectivity, mobile, and now, AI. Google's XR team is at the forefront of the next major leap – the convergence of AI and XR. This is more than just new devices – it's about reimagining how we interact with the world around us. We're building a future where lightweight XR devices like smart glasses and headsets pair with helpful AI to augment human intelligence, offering personalized, conversational, and contextually aware experiences.

Individual pay is determined by factors including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.

US: $132000 - $190000 (USD) + 15% bonus target + equity + benefits

Responsibilities

• Learn more about benefits at Google.
• Develop and maintain a prioritized research roadmap aligned with product strategy and business goals.
• Scope and lead research initiatives to understand use cases and journeys across multiple Augmented Reality (AR)/Virtual Reality (VR) products.
• Plan and execute various research methodologies, including usability testing, user interviews, surveys, field studies, and quantitative analysis.
• Partner with designers, product managers, and engineers across Google and external organizations to support consumer launches.
• Provide user-centered insights to inform product strategy and roadmap development.

Google is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements.

See also Google's EEO Policy and EEO is the Law. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know by completing our Accommodations for Applicants form.