UX Researcher / Human Factors Engineer (Hybrid – Sunnyvale, CA)

***Please note that our customer is currently not considering applicants from the following locations: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Tennessee.***

Our Customer is a corporation that develops, manufactures, and markets robotic products designed to improve clinical outcomes of patients through minimally invasive surgery. Founded in 1995, their goal was to create innovative, robotic-assisted systems that help empower doctors and hospitals to make surgery less invasive than an open approach. Working with the top medical professionals, they continue to develop new, minimally invasive surgical platforms and future diagnostic tools to help solve complex healthcare challenges around the world.

We are seeking a User Experience Researcher on a contract basis to support our Customer's business needs. This role is hybrid (3 days on-site and 2 days remote/week) in Sunnyvale, CA.

As part of the User Experience (UX) ecosystem supporting the organization’s internal Learning Management System (LMS), this role partners closely with Product Management, Interaction Design, Visual Design, and Engineering to ensure learning experiences are safe, effective, and highly usable.

This role conducts user research, analyzes workflows, evaluates usability risks, and synthesizes insights into actionable requirements. The position primarily focuses on human factors and usability engineering, while also supporting interaction and visual design initiatives as needed to ensure cohesive, on-brand user experiences.

Responsibilities:

• Plan, execute, and synthesize user research, including interviews, observations, simulations, task analyses, surveys, and persona development to understand digital learning workflows
• Conduct usability evaluations across development stages, from early prototypes through validation-ready experiences
• Document research findings and provide clear, actionable usability recommendations
• Analyze and translate research results into concise reports for product teams and leadership
• Provide usability-driven recommendations to improve workflows, reduce user error, and minimize cognitive load
• Contribute to UI requirements documentation and written specifications describing design intent
• Support interaction and visual designers to ensure alignment with design system standards, information hierarchy, typography, layout, iconography, and motion principles
• Collaborate with product and technical stakeholders to define requirements, scope, priorities, timelines, and deliverables
• Provide schedules and status updates for human factors and usability deliverables
• Advocate for user-centered best practices while balancing safety, effectiveness, and business constraints
• Track usability issues, prioritize improvements, and escalate critical risks as appropriate

Skills and Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in Human Factors Engineering, Cognitive Psychology, Human-Computer Interaction, Human-Centered Design, Computer Science with HCI emphasis, or related field
• 5 years of experience in UX research, interaction design, or related UX domains
• Demonstrated experience conducting structured user research and usability evaluations
• Experience supporting or contributing to design systems and evolving UI patterns
• Proficiency with design and prototyping tools such as Figma or similar platforms
• Experience iterating on digital products within cross-functional teams
• Exposure to learning platforms, content authoring workflows, or accessibility best practices
• Ability to synthesize findings into clear, actionable insights that inform shipped digital experiences
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to articulate user needs and design rationale
• Experience producing research plans, protocols, reports, workflow analyses, and usability documentation
• Ability to collaborate effectively with product management, engineering, and design teams
• Familiarity with digital collaboration and research tools, such as survey platforms and virtual whiteboarding tools

We offer a competitive salary range for this position. Most candidates who join our team are hired at the median of this range, ensuring fair and equitable compensation based on experience and qualifications.

Contractor benefits are available through our 3rd Party Employer of Record (Available upon completion of waiting period for eligible engagements) Benefits include: Medical, Dental, Vision, 401k.

An Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.