Experience Design and User Research at Wayfair

Experience Design at Wayfair (Content Strategy, Product Design and User Research) is accountable for the cohesive vision for exceptional end-user experiences with a comprehensive view of a given end-user’s end-to-end journey across all touchpoints. 

User research is one of our best kept secrets. We are a world class and rapidly growing team that drives strategic business, design, and product impact at scale. We define and solve big ambiguous problems. Driving through discipline excellence, our function has a voice and is respected throughout the company.  

Our open role(s) offer you an opportunity to turbocharge your research career in a high performing research environment. 

At Wayfair the research team is structured in a global operational model, which means that in joining us you have regular access to learning, feedback, and input from researchers leading tracks of work across a range of end users (agents, corporate employees, customers B2B + B2C, field workers and suppliers), geographies, and digital storefronts. 

User researchers at Wayfair are leaders, storytellers, and courageous trail blazers who leverage the full range of methods and techniques to deliver a nuanced understanding of the end-user and their needs. Self-starters in nature, they thrive in fast paced, fluid environments that allow team members to leverage their strengths and passions to influence what we do and how we do it.  

Whether you prefer to lead research projects, individuals, and/or teams, at Wayfair we have a professional growth path and career track that allows you to plan for and pursue your aspirations.  

About this role

The Enterprise Solutions team needs a User Research Lead to help drive key employee experience initiatives.  

Wayfair employs thousands of people and we are growing every day!  Wayfarians work across different geographies in our corporate offices, our warehouse and fulfillment centres, and our call centres.  

The Enterprise Solutions team is on a mission to:

• Improve the employee experience: We strive to make the experience of every Wayfairian as easy as possible with technology & solutions that address common Wayfairian needs.
• Drive fast business value: We identify, deliver, manage and evolve tech solutions that can be used across departments so those teams meet their goals faster than if they had to buy/build/maintain it themselves.
• Optimize technology spend: We work to leverage single technology solutions across the business where appropriate so we don’t incur confusion or unnecessary spend from redundant tools.

In this role, you will be able to study Wayfair employees, how they work, and what challenges they face.  With a better understanding of our employees, our team will be able to better shape, design and develop solutions that make our employees' lives easier.  You will also lead or guide others to conduct research to test our solutions from initial concept / prototype to rollout to ensure they meet the needs of our employees.   

As the User Research Lead you’ll support 2-3 product managers and 3-4 initiatives concurrently. You will develop and execute a research roadmap aligned to the highest strategic priorities. You’ll define, scope, and execute the full path to achieve objectives and determine the appropriate strategy and project plans in the medium term (~<6 months). You’ll influence cross functional leaders and more senior partners through strategic thought partnership and insights.

Skills: 

• Work with business, product, and design teams on web and mobile products
• Influence a diverse set of stakeholders through excellent relationship building, and providing insight and domain expertise in research practices and product strategy and development
• Lead with a voice and informed perspective. Embodies a research specialist and thought partner 
• Participate in research initiatives across multiple workgroups, coordinating efforts to achieve unified strategy and solutions for touchpoints across the end user’s journey
• Apply knowledge and craft expertise in conducting foundational, formative, and evaluative research
• Lead generative research to define problem spaces and identify opportunity areas
• Lead evaluative research to optimize planned and existing technology solutions
• Use a range of qualitative and quantitative methods such as: contextual interviews, field research, surveys, diary studies, focus groups, or concept, remote and usability testing.
• Using artifacts, prototypes, and other stimuli to gather feedback from, and learn about, users
• Communicate research findings and prioritized recommendations to internal stakeholders in a clear and compelling way
• Contribute to and build internal body of end user knowledge
• Leverage and contribute to research best practices

This role will require some travel within the United States and possibly to other geographies where Wayfair operates.