Introduction
Thomas J. Watson said it best: Good design is good business. Visualization is critical to discovering data-driven insights and effectively communicating that knowledge to others. Designers at IBM work to create experiences that work together, work the same, and work for our clients. Does the thought of creating the platform at the heart of solutions like Watson, Blockchain, IoT, and Security excite you? If so, read on!

Your Role and Responsibilities

• Strategic Responsibilities
• Demonstrate deep domain knowledge and understanding of key users and the market.
• Demonstrate fluency in your portfolios business strategy and the value proposition of the product(s) within your scope.
• Help align the design work of your team with product strategies and user experience insights/requirements.
• Influence decisions tied to the business strategy and processes of your products.
• Establish and own research goals for your Product (aligned with business strategy) and measure progress towards those goals.
• Participate in portfolio Commitment pitches, MMT, OMT, Lean Governance, etc. meetings.
• Be an SME that acts as the voice of the customers.

• Cross-Functional Responsibilities
• Lead research efforts for a product(s) / project(s).
• Help drive the execution of an experience roadmap based on awareness of user and business needs.
• Advocate for end user experience, steer design and development in a different direction when needed.
• Closely partner with Product management and development to cultivate, manage, and administer sponsor user relationships.
• Work with Agile product team leaders to measure progress and review design outcomes against user insights (via playbacks).
• Be an active member of Product squad(s) by attending and presenting playbacks, coaching designers, providing input in the prioritization of Product backlog.
• When applicable, participate in planning and other product delivery processes.
• Champion research as a driving force for innovation.
• Participate in cross-disciplinary collaboration to facilitate innovation.

• Functional Responsibilities
• Acquire skills in specialized research techniques.
• Determine types of research needed on individual initiatives and develop research goals and plans.
• Evaluate early ideas for products, workflows or features to determine viability.
• Execute product/project research deliverables in alignment with project timeline and roadmap milestones.
• Develop and engage network of sponsor users.
• Explore, document and socialize what matters most to customers.
• Run sponsor user efforts throughout the lifecycle (recruiting, sessions, synthesis playbacks).
• Build your eminence with our customer base and the external business industry you engage with.
• Identify cross-disciplinary partners who will champion research.
• Define user experience goals and design principles.
• Help align 3-in-a-box teams to research insights, utilize research insights to drive prioritization of product backlog and roadmap.
• Develop strong storytelling capabilities.
• Build your eminence in the design world outside of IBM and contribute to IBM and IBM Design to grow your presence internally.
• Support and guide individual designers through leadership, coaching, and mentoring.
• Engage with broader IBM Z Research community.
• Actively lead efforts benefiting the design community (e.g., innovation processes, community building, etc)
• Share expertise at studio-wide events.

Required Technical and Professional Expertise

• Expert-level design research skills
• Experience with IBM-preferred research tools, including Alchemer, UserInterviews and AirTable.
• Extensive experience in defining and executing UX Metrics assessments.
• Competency with standard presentation programs Powerpoint & Keynote.
• Strong portfolio showing a breadth of complex, technically-oriented projects.

• Minimum Requirements:
• A minimum of 3 years of experience in executing research deliverables on design projects.
• A minimum of 4 years of experience in product or service design.
• A minimum of 2 years of experience working with product managers and engineers.
• A minimum of 4 years of experience in a hands-on design research role.
• A minimum of 4 years of experience with design research tools, including analytics tools.
• Demonstrated experience conducting design research and familiarity with research practices.
• Exposure to Agile processes (e.g., SAFe), enterprise design thinking, managing allocation and prioritization discussions, and the IBM Universal Experiences.
• Portfolio of projects that demonstrate your skills as a design researcher.

Preferred Technical and Professional Expertise
None
About Business UnitIBM Software infuses core business operations with intelligence from machine learning to generative AI to help make organizations more responsive, productive, and resilient. IBM Software helps clients put AI into action now to create real value with trust, speed, and confidence across digital labor, IT automation, application modernization, security, and sustainability. Critical to this is the ability to make use of all data, because AI is only as good as the data that fuels it. In most organizations data is spread across multiple clouds, on premises, in private datacenters, and at the edge. IBMs AI and data platform scales and accelerates the impact of AI with trusted data, and provides leading capabilities to train, tune and deploy AI across business. IBMs hybrid cloud platform is one of the most comprehensive and consistent approach to development, security, and operations across hybrid environments a flexible foundation for leveraging data, wherever it resides, to extend AI deep into a business.
This job requires you to be fully COVID-19 vaccinated prior to your start date and proof of vaccination status will be required before your start date. During the Onboarding process you will be asked to confirm your vaccination status, in case you are unable to get vaccinated for any reason, you can let us know at that stage. Please let us know if you are unable to be vaccinated due to medical or religious reasons. IBM will consider such requests on a case by case basis subject to submission of required proof by the candidate before a stipulated date.
Your Life @ IBMIn a world where technology never stands still, we understand that, dedication to our clients success, innovation that matters, and trust and personal responsibility in all our relationships, lives in what we do as IBMers as we strive to be the catalyst that makes the world work better. Being an IBMer means youll be able to learn and develop yourself and your career, youll be encouraged to be courageous and experiment everyday, all whilst having continuous trust and support in an environment where everyone can thrive whatever their personal or professional background. Our IBMers are growth minded, always staying curious, open to feedback and learning new information and skills to constantly transform themselves and our company. They are trusted to provide on-going feedback to help other IBMers grow, as well as collaborate with colleagues keeping in mind a team focused approach to include different perspectives to drive exceptional outcomes for our customers. The courage our IBMers have to make critical decisions everyday is essential to IBM becoming the catalyst for progress, always embracing challenges with resources they have to hand, a can-do attitude and always striving for an outcome focused approach within everything that they do. Are you ready to be an IBMer?
About IBMIBMs greatest invention is the IBMer. We believe that through the application of intelligence, reason and science, we can improve business, society and the human condition, bringing the power of an open hybrid cloud and AI strategy to life for our clients and partners around the world.Restlessly reinventing since 1911, we are not only one of the largest corporate organizations in the world, were also one of the biggest technology and consulting employers, with many of the Fortune 50 companies relying on the IBM Cloud to run their business. At IBM, we pride ourselves on being an early adopter of artificial intelligence, quantum computing and blockchain. Now its time for you to join us on our journey to being a responsible technology innovator and a force for good in the world.

Location StatementWhen applying to jobs of your interest, we recommend that you do so for those that match your experience and expertise. Our recruiters advise that you apply to not more than 3 roles in a year for the best candidate experience.

For additional information about location requirements, please discuss with the recruiter following submission of your application.

Being You @ IBMIBM is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal-opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, caste, genetics, pregnancy, disability, neurodivergence, age, veteran status, or other characteristics. IBM is also committed to compliance with all fair employment practices regarding citizenship and immigration status.