Staff UX Researcher, XR Betas and Post Launch at Google in San Jose, CA, USA

Job description

• 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.
• As a Staff UXR Lead for XR Betas and Post-Launch Programs, you will support critical work defining scaled user evaluation. You will act as a lead who can lay the groundwork for a successful long-term approach to external NDA testing, public previews, and live market deployments across the Android XR ecosystem.
• You will play an instrumental role in orchestrating longitudinal testing at scale, gathering extended real-world feedback, and synthesizing contextual usage. This includes conducting strategic in-market research to inform launch readiness, and closing the loop by establishing continuous sentiment tracking with external users.
• You will have a unique opportunity to design comprehensive beta research programs for critical upcoming products and build the insights engine that sets the direction for Google's emerging XR devices.
• For decades, the computing revolution has reshaped our world driven by breakthroughs in compute, connectivity, mobile, and now, AI. 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.

Responsibilities

• Design comprehensive beta research programs for critical upcoming products and establishing a robust insights engine to drive tangible product improvements, quality measurement, and ongoing post-launch performance tracking.
• Establish core research questions, defining longitudinal UX metrics, and moderating qualitative field protocols that track the user experience from pre-release testing into long-term commercial ownership.
• Lead deep-dive longitudinal studies and in-market explorations.
• Partner closely with key cross-functional partners (marketing, data science, etc.) to coordinate complex research initiatives.
• Serve as the accountable lead for triangulating multi-channel research data (including surveys, qualitative studies, and telemetry) into final executive readouts for XR leadership, ensuring pre-launch learnings and post-launch insights are continuously fed back into the product development cycle.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Human-Computer Interaction, Psychology, Cognitive Science, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 8 years of experience in an applied research setting, or similar.
• 8 years of experience in User Experience Research, Product Strategy, or a related field within consumer-facing technology.
• Experience in qualitative and quantitative research methods.
• Master's degree or PhD in Human-Computer Interaction, Cognitive Science, Statistics, Psychology, Anthropology, or related field.
• 7 years of experience working with executive leadership (e.g., Director level and above).
• 5 years of experience managing projects, and working in a large, matrixed organization.
• Experience owning and delivering complex research programs, foundational or validation-related and driving results.
• Experience influencing executive stakeholders and managing product changes through evidence-based narratives.
• Comfortable working in a horizontal role.

Skills

Required

• Qualitative research methods
• Quantitative research methods
• User Experience Research
• Product Strategy

Preferred

• Experience with executive leadership
• Delivering complex research programs
• Influencing executive stakeholders
• Evidence-based narratives
• Comfortable in horizontal roles

Benefits

• In accordance with Washington state law, we are highlighting our comprehensive benefits package, which is available to all eligible US based employees. Benefits for this role include:
• Health, dental, vision, life, disability insurance
• Retirement Benefits: 401(k) with company match
• Paid Time Off: 20 days of vacation per year, accruing at a rate of 6.15 hours per pay period for the first five years of employment
• Sick Time: 40 hours/year (increased to 69 hours/year for Seattle) including 5 discretionary sick days per instance
• Maternity Leave (Short-Term Disability + Baby Bonding): 28-30 weeks
• Baby Bonding Leave: 18 weeks
• Holidays: 13 paid days per year
• Note: By applying to this position you will have an opportunity to share your preferred working location from the following: San Jose, CA, USA; Seattle, WA, USA; San Francisco, CA, USA.
• In accordance with Washington state law, we are highlighting our comprehensive benefits package, which is available to all eligible US based employees.
• Benefits for this role include: Health, dental, vision, life, disability insurance Retirement Benefits: 401(k) with company match Paid Time Off: 20 days of vacation per year, accruing at a rate of 6.15 hours per pay period for the first five years of employment Sick Time: 40 hours/year (increased to 69 hours/year for Seattle) including 5 discretionary sick days per instance Maternity Leave (Short-Term Disability + Baby Bonding): 28-30 weeks Baby Bonding Leave: 18 weeks Holidays: 13 paid days per year Note: By applying to this position you will have an opportunity to share your preferred working location from the following: San Jose, CA, USA; Seattle, WA, USA; San Francisco, CA, USA.
• Individual pay is determined by factors including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.
• US: $188000 - $274000 (USD) + 20% bonus target + equity + benefits
• Learn more about benefits at Google.