UX Researcher

Sprout Social is looking for a UX Researcher to join our Brand Creative team. This person will be a key member of our growing UX Research practice on the Brand Creative team, whose direction brings Sprout’s brand identity and messaging to life. As a strategic partner to Marketing, this role will help inform and validate strategy for a team of designers, writers, videographers, and web developers throughout the creative process.

This role will lead thoughtfully curated qualitative and quantitative research in support of top initiatives set by Marketing, Brand Creative and the wider organization. This person will become a trusted, prominent voice for our users through all parts of the customer journey, advocating for solutions that resonate most. 

This person should bring experience working with cross-discipline teams to build understanding and alignment around research insights. They should be well versed in converting raw data into relatable storytelling with actionable insights for peers and leadership. They should be able to design and execute on research plans independently, able to move forward with few constraints across a wide variety of user types and stakeholder needs.

We’re looking for a deeply curious, strategic and collaborative team member to continue refining effective research processes and lead focus on user experience with us. If you’re looking for an opportunity to solve challenging problems and execute research that centers user-led brand experience, we’d love to talk to you!

Qualifications

These are the minimum qualifications that our hiring team is looking for in this role:

• 2-5+ years of research experience

Within 1 month, you will:

• Experience Sprout’s in-depth onboarding, covering everything from our company mission and values, hearing directly from executives and founders, to deep training on our products and the value that Sprout delivers to our customers
• Get to know everyone on the Brand Creative team and key influencers within Marketing.
• Meet with our Senior Web Marketing Analyst to get an overview of testing at Sprout (past and future).
• Meet with our Data Science team to get an overview of ongoing product tests
• Sit down with the Sr. UX Researcher to learn about ongoing research initiatives.
• Meet with UX designers at Sprout to take stock of current testing tools and procedures.
• Familiarize yourself with current brand patterns.
• Start to familiarize yourself with Sprout’s brand.
• Soak up knowledge from every team you interact with and ask a lot of questions! 

Within 3 months, you will:

• Build connections with members from other teams through active networking and community building
• Have a working understanding of the Sprout customer and their various goals when visiting the marketing site.
• Start to get a handle on Sprout’s brand positioning and how that relates to the story that we want to tell on our digital properties.
• Start designing research with a focus on getting to know users and strategizing engaging experiences for existing customers 
• Get to know, use and improve on existing research methodologies, tools and processes 
• Work closely with researchers, UX and web designers to collaborate on design solutions that best address marketing goals and user needs
• Have a good working rapport with marketing stakeholders and comfortably balance internal requests and external research considerations.
• Have a firm understanding of Sprout’s brand and start collaborating with the rest of the Brand Design team to ensure that our user experience aligns with our other brand efforts.

Within 6 months, you will:

• Have your first performance conversation with your manager, where you’ll discuss your accomplishments in your role and work together to build goals for your professional growth
• Have a deep understanding of ongoing testing practices at Sprout 
• Be confident designing research plans 
• Able to execute complex testing independently 
• Pull data insights with the necessary level of detail for a given project scope
• Have a strong ability to share findings with marketing and brand stakeholders in an engaging and actionable way 
• Consistently share research findings with the Brand Creative team
• Grow in understanding of who our users are and how they vary across segments, roles, industries, etc. 

Within 12 months, you will:

• Be a strong contributor to UX Research practice, including process and documentation 
• Fully understand various stakeholder goals and craft research initiatives that support those goals 
• Ask consistently thoughtful and detail oriented questions in planning meetings to drive user-centric way of thinking 
• Quickly surface best practices and learnings from research as a part of peer feedback 
• Share actionable, tailored research to inform strategy that enables designers to offer creative solutions 
• Be a stakeholder partner in cross-team initiatives that provide clarity around  user journeys and goals 
• Work closely alongside web analysts to stay up-to-date on ongoing testing initiatives 
• Surprise us! Use your unique ideas and abilities to change your team in beneficial ways that we haven’t even considered yet.

Of course what is outlined above is the ideal timeline, but things may shift based on business needs and other projects and tasks could be added at the discretion of your manager.

About Sprout Social
Sprout Social powers open communication between individuals, brands and communities through elegant, sophisticated software. We are relentless about solving hard problems for our customers and committed to both customer and team success. Our team’s shared belief in Sprout’s mission promotes a culture of openness, empowerment and fun. 

We’re proud to regularly be recognized for our team, product and culture. Our benefits program includes:

• Insurance and benefit options that are built for both individuals and families
• Progressive policies to support work/life balance, like our flexible paid time off and parental leave program 
• High-quality and well-maintained equipment—your computer will never prevent you from doing your best
• Wellness initiatives to ensure both health and mental well-being of our team
• Ongoing education and development opportunities via our Grow@Sprout program, employee-led diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and mentorship programs for aspiring leaders
• Growing corporate social responsibility program that is driven by the involvement and passion of our team members
• Beautiful, convenient and state-of-the-art offices in Chicago’s Loop and downtown Seattle, for those who prefer an office setting

Whenever possible, Sprout wants to provide our team with the flexibility to work in the location that makes the most sense for them. For those that prefer an office setting, this role may be based in our Chicago or Seattle locations. If you prefer to work from your home, we can accommodate that for many locations across the United States. We are not set up in all states, however, so please take a look at the drop down box in our application to see whether your state is listed.

Sprout Social is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer and an Affirmative Action Employer. We do not discriminate based on identity- race, color, religion, national origin or ancestry, sex (including sexual identity), age, physical or mental disability, pregnancy, veteran or military status, unfavorable discharge from military service, genetic information, sexual orientation, marital status, order of protection status, citizenship status, arrest record or expunged or sealed convictions, or any other legally recognized protected basis under federal, state, or local law. Learn more about our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in our 2020 DEI Report.

If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please contact us by email at accommodations@sproutsocial.com and let us know the nature of your request and your contact information. We'll do all we can to ensure you're set up for success during our interview process while upholding your privacy, including requests for accommodation. Please note that only inquiries concerning a request for reasonable accommodation will be responded to from this email address.

For more information about our commitment to equal employment opportunity, please click here (1) Equal Opportunity Employment Poster  (2) Sprout Social's Affirmative Action Statement (3) Pay Transparency Statement. 

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