UX RESEARCH MANAGER

The Organization

The Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) delivers research-based solutions that harness agricultural biodiversity and sustainably transform food systems to improve people’s lives. Alliance solutions address the global crises of malnutrition, climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation.

With novel partnerships, the Alliance generates evidence and mainstreams innovations to transform food systems and landscapes so that they sustain the planet, drive prosperity, and nourish people.

The Alliance is part of CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future.

Background

Our mission is to become a real “strategic contributor” at CGIAR: the focus on bringing value to our clients (internal users and external users) will be a critical factor to our success. The role UX researcher Manager will be a key role.

“The user experience researcher’s role, above all, is to act as the voice of the user — advising the design, checking impact with data, and helping your users achieve their goals.–”

The UX Researcher Manager aligns their offering to the client’s goals, expectations, and requirements. The ultimate goal of a UX researcher is to deliver the most successful product at a minimal cost, but they also help to reduce the chance that developers, designers, and engineers incur costly implementation errors.

About the position

The UX Researcher Manager will be responsible in working to gather detailed information from users through both qualitative and quantitative means to provide strong insights about value and impact to the digital and data product teams of CGIAR. Interviews, observations, customer feedback analysis, customer journey mapping, diary studies, usability testing are some of the tools and practices a UX researcher uses to collect and develop a clear understanding of user needs, behaviors and preferences.

Key Responsibilities

• Meet internal and external stakeholders and users globally to gather concrete information about their needs and         difficulties in their daily job by using UX and lean methodologies.
• Analyse and consolidate this information in a visual manner (“obeya rooms–“) to create a collaborative and learning environment, where product and tech teams can manage digital and data projects efficiently.
• Build client and user models to capture their key preferences and analyse alternative solutions
• Get involved in sketching, prototyping, and user testing with the product and development team
• Applying qualitative research methods to client projects based on their needs and goals
• Analyse customer feedback to verify the value of projects and deepen our understanding of user preferences
• Engage and conduct user research to find the best opportunities to create value with digital and data solutions in support of the CGIAR 2030 Innovation and Research Strategy.
• Meet internal and external stakeholders and users globally to gather concrete information about their needs and difficulties in their daily job by using UX and lean methodologies.
• Be part of a multi-disciplinary project teams to represent the voice of clients and users.
• Analysis of user research in different formats including: customer journeys maps, fields observations, interview scripts, data analysis, etc.
• “Obeya Rooms–” virtual and/or physical to synthesize key information regarding users their needs, their pain points and preferences.
• Regular analysis of customer feedback to build a client/user models and verify the value of digital and data projects.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s/Master’s degree in relevant field
• Specialized experience in substantive work and program/project management with supervisory experience.
• Experience in social networking is required.
• User and UX research experience together with knowledge of UX and Lean methodologies is a plus, but not mandatory: a strong desire to learn these methodologies is however essential.
• Excellent English communication skills, both written and oral, for diverse audiences including technical specialists and decision/policymakers.
• Excellent analytical skills with attention to details is a must.
• Professional exposure to an international institutional/program setting, including multi-cultural and interdisciplinary working environment. Experience of CGIAR organization desirable
• Sound judgment and initiative; ability to work independently within the assigned area.
• Excellent interpersonal skills including the ability to work effectively with other national and cultural backgrounds.
• Demonstrate initiative and creativity in reaching and enthusing new and existing stakeholders and working in a multi-stakeholder environment.

Terms of employment

This is an internationally recruited position, and it will be based in any of the locations where the Alliance has a legal entity. The initial contract will be for up to two (2) years, subject to a probation period of six (6) months and is renewable depending on performance and availability of resources. This position is graded at level BG10 (in a scale of 14 levels, BG14 being the highest level).

The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT offers a multicultural, collegial research environment with competitive salary and excellent benefits. We are an equal opportunity employer, and strive for gender, diversity, and inclusion in our staff, without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, ethnicity, age, disability, marital status, or any other characteristic.

Applications

Applicants are invited to visit https://alliancebioversityciat.org/careers to get full details of the position and to submit their applications. Applications MUST include reference Ref: 102901 UX RESEARCH MANAGER as the position applied for. Application and CV should be saved as one document using the candidate’s last name, first name for ease of sorting.

Note: The Alliance does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process (application, interview meeting, processing or training). The Alliance also does not concern itself with information on applicants’ bank accounts.

Applications closing date: 6^th August 2023

Please note that email applications will not be considered.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

We invite you to learn more about us at:

http://alliancebioversityciat.org