User Experience (UX) Researcher

About the role

Global Technology & Operations at Bank of America is seeking a User Experience Researcher to join the strategy team on a contract basis.

Responsibilities

• Plan, conduct, and moderate user interviews, focus groups, workshops, and research sessions.
• Facilitate collaborative working sessions with business, product, technology, and operations partners.
• Gather, analyze, and synthesize qualitative research data into clear insights, themes, and recommendations.
• Support development of personas, journey maps, service blueprints, and other user-centered artifacts.
• Translate user needs, pain points, behaviors, and process observations into actionable opportunities for improvement.
• Partner with senior stakeholders and business leaders to align research with strategic objectives.
• Prepare research plans, discussion guides, interview summaries, and executive-ready presentations.
• Help teams validate assumptions, uncover unmet needs, and make informed decisions based on user insights.
• Advocate for the voice of the user while balancing business goals, operational realities, risk, and technology constraints.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure findings are understood, prioritized, and tied to measurable outcomes.

Requirements

• 5-10+ years in UX research, human-centered design, service design, or a related field.
• Experience with qualitative methods: interviews, focus groups, contextual inquiry, workshops, and synthesis.
• Strong facilitation skills and ability to manage diverse stakeholder discussions.
• Ability to create or support personas, journey maps, service blueprints, and research summaries.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and storytelling skills for working teams and senior leaders.
• Ability to distill complex information into clear, actionable recommendations.
• Comfort engaging with audiences from front-line associates to executive leadership.
• Strong organizational skills with experience managing multiple workstreams and deadlines.
• Proficiency with PowerPoint, Microsoft Teams, Copilot, FigJam, Figma, and similar tools.

Preferred Skills

• Bachelor's degree in human-centered design, psychology, sociology, research, information sciences, business, or related field.
• Experience in financial services, banking, large enterprises, or highly regulated environments.
• Familiarity with service design, end-to-end experience mapping, and operational process analysis.
• Experience synthesizing research into executive-ready recommendations and strategic narratives.
• Ability to build trusted relationships across business, product, technology, design, and operations.