UX Researcher II (Only W2 and local to Manhattan, NY

A UX Researcher II role at an unspecified company in Manhattan, NY, focusing on AI platforms and internal tools, with a 6-month contract and possible extension.

Responsibilities

• Define AI Product Strategy Through UX Research: Lead end-to-end user research to directly inform the product roadmap for agents and LLM-based applications.
• Identify critical pain points in scientific workflows and uncover new opportunities for AI to drive efficiency and discovery.
• Design and Execute Rigorous Usability Studies for AI Products: Develop and implement specialized user testing methodologies to evaluate the effectiveness and intuitiveness of LLM-driven interfaces and agentic workflows.
• Operationalize User Feedback for AI Systems: Build and manage a systematic process for gathering, analyzing, and tracking qualitative feedback on models and agents, enabling data-informed improvements to the core AI infrastructure.
• Uncover Actionable Insights for Agentic Frameworks: Analyze qualitative data from user sessions to understand how scientists interact with and trust AI outputs. Synthesize findings to reveal what drives user adoption and engagement with complex AI tools.
• Build a User-Testing Infrastructure for Internal AI Tools: Create and maintain reusable testing protocols and recruitment pipelines tailored for internal, expert users, elevating the quality and efficiency of user research across the organization.
• Collaborate Deeply with AI/ML Engineers & Scientists: Work closely with technical teams to translate complex user needs from drug discovery units into clear, actionable product requirements for AI models and agentic systems.
• Communicate with Clarity and Impact: Synthesize diverse data to provide compelling insights and recommendations. Effectively advocate for the user to both technical and non-technical stakeholders, influencing product features and the strategic roadmap.

Requirements

• 3-5+ years of experience conducting UX research and usability testing, preferably with complex, expert-facing systems or internal tools.
• 3-5+ years of experience in qualitative and quantitative research methods, including generative and usability studies, data analysis, and A/B testing.
• Demonstrated experience with AI products, specifically Large Language Models (LLMs) and AI agents.
• Experience with UserTesting, Contentsquare, or similar usability testing platforms.
• Experience building and scaling a user research practice, including establishing processes for recruitment, testing, and knowledge management.
• Ability to connect deep user insights to product strategy, roadmap decisions, and business impact.
• Strong analytical skills and comfort with synthesizing complex, often ambiguous, qualitative data into clear, actionable themes.
• Enjoy tackling ambiguous, high-stakes problems and have a genuine curiosity for understanding complex domains like drug discovery.
• Clear communication, empathy, and strategic focus.

Key Skills

• UX research
• usability testing
• qualitative and quantitative research methods
• AI products
• Large Language Models (LLMs)
• AI agents
• UserTesting
• Contentsquare
• user research practice
• data analysis
• A/B testing
• user insights
• product strategy
• roadmap decisions
• business impact
• analytical skills
• qualitative data synthesis
• problem-solving
• communication
• empathy
• strategic focus