User Researcher

Location: Bangalore
Experience: 2-5 years of hands-on experience in user research and usability
Designation: To be defined / Based on experience
Employment Type: Full time
Date of Joining: Immediate

At Vahan, we’re helping 300M+ low-skilled workers in India find jobs using WhatsApp.

We are a Y Combinator company that is backed by marquee investors such as Khosla Ventures and Founders Fund.
Several executives from Google and Flipkart are also investors in the company. 

 

We believe that user research should play a foundational and ongoing role in product development. With the Vahan product evolving rapidly, a continuous and ongoing engagement with our end users is critical.
 

The mandate of the researcher will be to:

• Own user research and all research related activities at Vahan.
• Represent the end user perspective - Ensure that design and development at Vahan is tied in to real user needs.
• Be a community manager who is the ‘champion of Vahan end users’ - Maintain a continuous engagement and build a relationship of trust with the Vahan end user community.

 

Key responsibilities will include:

• Helping the Vahan team gain deep empathy about their end users, through user research studies conducted on a regular basis. (Foundational Research, Design Research)
• Building an understanding about the lives and needs of Vahan end users over a period of time. (Longitudinal Research)
• Conducting regular product and prototype testing of the Vahan app. (Evaluative Research, UX Research, Usability)
• Defining the scope of research projects, planning research, conducting fieldwork and synthesizing research data into actionable insights.
• Communicating and discussing research insights & opportunity areas with Vahan stakeholders - To ensure that user needs are translated effectively into product development and design.
• Always being the ‘voice of the user’ in the team.
  Reminding and motivating Vahan stakeholders to participate in research and keep user needs at the center of design and development.
• Building a research repository:
  • To make research insights researcher independent / more easily accessible to the broader team.
  • To create a macro-view of research insights from different sources and methods.
  • To make research insights built over time easily retrievable.
• Working closely with Vahan’s ‘*Gelathi’ team:
  • For research participant recruiting.
  • For operational based insights, based on the ‘Gelathis’ extensive experience interacting with Vahan end users.
    * Vahan’s Supply and Operations team form the ‘Gelathi’ program.
    The Gelathi program is an on-the ground referral workforce whose mandate is to find and connect with Job Seekers who may potentially use Vahan.
• Empathizing and building a strong and ongoing relationship with Vahan end users - To the point they become comfortable reaching out proactively.
   

Over time, the researcher hired for this role at Vahan will have the potential to:

• Build the design/research practice at Vahan:
  • Define the design/research team structure and roadmap.
  • Hire in-house design/research resources or identify and work with design / research vendors.
• Evangelize research with the broader organization and externally; Become a thought leader in ‘design for the next billion users’:
  • Share research learnings with the design and tech community.
  • Present research learning’s to the Vahan board.

Must-Haves:

• Bachelors / Masters in Design or Research.
• Relevant experience working as a User Researcher / UX Researcher / Product Researcher or equivalent.
• Hands on experience with all aspects of the user research life cycle. (Planning - Presentation of insights)
• Experience and working knowledge about the strengths and shortcomings of different research methods, including when and how to apply them.
• Willingness and capability to switch between and work with both agile and strategic research methods, as required.
• Strong interest or experience doing research in the social impact space - Specifically the problem space and end user profile that Vahan focuses on.
• Ability to work in an agile work environment, which requires close alignment and collaboration with design, development, and business stakeholders.
• Ability to connect research requirements and insights to the overall product vision and strategy.
• Good planning and time management skills for effective task management.
• Capability to meet deadlines and deliver high-quality work on schedule.
• Ability to work independently and be self-motivated, while keeping relevant stakeholders in the loop.
• Openness to upskilling to compliment core research skill sets.
  For example:
  • Gaining working knowledge of quantitative research methods
  • Learning / Developing design skills that support research
    (E.g. Using research findings to create quick concepts / develop basic prototypes for testing; Skills to create journey maps, service blueprints or storyboards; Video editing skills to create short ‘research highlights’ videos etc.)
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.

Nice-to-Haves:

• Passion and potential to nurture and grow a research function, evangelize research, become a thought leader.
• Ability to communicate fluently and conduct research in regional Indian languages. (Particularly Kannada / Hindi / Tamil)
• Prior experience working in a fast paced startup or tech environment.
• Quantitative research capability or working knowledge.
• Basic design skills.

Working at Vahan:

• Vahan offers a work culture that is parallel to the best startups in India or the US - Inspired by the past experience of the founder and several investors who have worked or are currently working in the US tech industry.
• Vahan is a user centered and product focused organization, and invests significantly in good user experience.
• The Vahan team is close knit, passionate and highly motivated.
• There are no silos at Vahan. The hands on and collaborative work culture will help you develop rapidly and holistically as a researcher.
• Vahan offers an open environment where everyone has a seat at the table in defining and guiding product strategy and direction.
• Lastly, you’ll love where you work - our office space is located in the heart of Indiranagar, Bangalore’s most happening neighborhood!