Principal Experience Researcher - 90354684 -

Your success is a train ride away!

As we move America’s workforce toward the future, Amtrak connects businesses and communities across the country. We employ more than 20,000 diverse, energetic professionals in a variety of career fields throughout the United States. The safety of our passengers, our employees, the public and our operating environment is our priority, and the success of our railroad is due to our employees.

Are you ready to join our team?

Our values of ‘Do the Right Thing, Excel Together and Put Customers First’ are at the heart of what matters most to us, and our Core Capabilities, ‘Building Trust, Accountability, Effective Communication, Customer Focus, and Proactive Safety & Security’ are what every employee needs to know and do to be most impactful at Amtrak. By living the Amtrak values, focusing on our capabilities, and actively embracing and fostering diverse ideas, backgrounds, and perspectives, together we will honor our past and make Amtrak a company of the future.

SUMMARY OF DUTIES:
As a Design Researcher, you will contribute to the understanding of our customers and the users of our products.  You understand and champion the importance of research to the design process and act as an active member of the user experience team. As a UX Researcher you will execute on multiple small to medium sized projects as an individual contributor with a focus on user research.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:
• Create specific design principles that capture the vision and critical concerns for a project. 
• Propose design or product solutions based on research and synthesis outcomes. 
• Select and use appropriate design research methods to address design opportunities. 
• Plan and conduct interview sessions with users and stakeholders, including executives. 
• Builds consensus among individuals and groups. 
• Identify and summarize meaningful insights derived from design research  
• Lead multiple projects of various sizes in a cross-functional environment 
• Advocate for user research and help champion buy in from stakeholders and businesses  
• Produce and guide effective documentation of research and testing including notes, photos, video and resulting analysis 
• Lead evaluation of current and emerging design, technology, industry, and market trends. 
• Demonstrate a mastery of Agile / Lean UX methodologies
• Understands the competitive landscape, regulatory marketing, etc. Articulates clearly the main industry dynamics. 
• Creates basic project plans for UX projects or the UX portion of a larger development project. Continuously measures deliverables of self and team against scheduled commitments. Effectively balances different, competing objectives. 
• Expresses UX and design concepts to collaborators on cross functional teams. Goes beyond merely presenting designs, explains the story of the rationale and benefit of design ideas. 
• Facilitates group understanding of research data; leverages data to derive actionable insights. 
• Identifies appropriate synthesis techniques to meet the needs of specific business and design situations

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:
• Bachelor’s Degree in related technical/business areas with 7+ years relevant experience or 11+ years of equivalent work experience.

PREFERRED EXPERIENCE & WORK ENVIRONMENT:
• Work is performed in an office environment
• May require travel up to 20% of the time 

COMMUNICATIONS AND INTERPERSONAL SKILLS:
• Must have excellent oral and written communication skills
 

The salary/hourly range is $135,410 - $175,500 Principal Experience Researcher. Pay is based on several factors including but not limited to education, work experience, certifications, internal equity, etc. Depending on an employee’s assigned worksite or location, Amtrak may consider a geo-pay differential to be applied to the employee’s base salary. Amtrak may offer additional incentive and pay programs to recognize and reward our employees, including a short-term incentive bonus based upon factors such as individual and company performance that is commensurate with the level of the position and/or long-term incentive plan compensation. In addition to your salary, Amtrak offers a comprehensive benefit package that includes health, dental, and vision plans; health savings accounts; wellness programs; flexible spending accounts; 401K retirement plan with employer match; life insurance; short and long term disability insurance; paid time off; back-up care; adoption assistance; surrogacy assistance; reimbursement of education expenses; Public Service Loan Forgiveness eligibility; Railroad Retirement sickness and retirement benefits; and rail pass privileges. Learn more about our benefits offerings here.​

Requisition ID:157757
Posting Location(s):N/A
Job Family/Function:Information Technology 
Relocation Offered:No 
Travel Requirements:Up to 25% 

Amtrak employees power our progress through their performance.
 

We want your work at Amtrak to be more than a job – we want it to be a fulfilling experience where you find challenging and rewarding opportunities, respect among colleagues, competitive pay, benefits that protect you and your family and a high performance culture that recognizes and values your contributions and helps you reach your career goals.

All positions require pre-employment background check verification, a pre-employment drug screen and proof of full vaccination against COVID -19. Amtrak is committed to a safe workplace free of drugs and alcohol and performs pre-employment substance abuse testing. Marijuana, notwithstanding any statute, ordinance, regulation, or other law that legalizes or decriminalizes the use or possession of marijuana, whether for medical, recreational, or other use.  Candidates who engage in the usage of marijuana will not be qualified for hire.   Successful applicants for employment with Amtrak must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by the date of hire as a condition of employment, subject to requests for accommodation.  Fully vaccinated means 14 days have elapsed since receiving the second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or 14 days since receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

In accordance with DOT regulations (49 CFR § 40.25), Amtrak is required to obtain prior drug and alcohol testing records for applicants/employees intending to perform safety-sensitive duties for covered Department of Transportation positions. If an applicant/employee refuses to provide written consent for Amtrak to obtain these records, the individual will not be permitted to perform safety-sensitive functions.

In accordance with federal law governing security checks of covered individuals for public transportation ( Title 6 U.S.C. § 1143), Amtrak is required to screen applicants for any permanent or interim disqualifying criminal offenses.

Note that any education requirement listed above may be deemed satisfied if you have an equivalent combination of education, training and experience.

Amtrak is an EOE/Affirmative Action Minority/Female employer, and we welcome all to apply. We consider candidates regardless of race/color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth and related conditions), national origin/ethnicity, age, disability (intellectual, mental and physical), veteran status, marital status, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression, genetic information, citizenship or any other personal characteristics protected by law.

POSTING NOTES: Information Technology || Information Technology