Director Voice of Student & UX Research

Office Of Student Affairs

Con II, Grade 3.3

Location: Stateside Remote

The University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC) is seeking a dynamic, data-driven, and empathetic Director Voice of Student & UX Research to lead our efforts in understanding and improving the experiences of our diverse student body. While focused on all students, this role is especially focused on the experiences of our underrepresented populations like low-income and underserved students. In this role, you will drive user research initiatives that inform strategic decisions, ensuring that the voices of our students are heard and integrated into our design and development processes.

Reporting to the AVP of Digital Student Experience, the director will be responsible for implementing the Voice of the Student strategy. This will require developing a mixed methods framework to collect data regarding student voice, leveraging research to recommend prioritization of collection and intervention, establish and monitor key performance metrics for the friction across the student experience, identifying themes from multiple data inputs, curating research findings, implementing and maintaining equitable data infrastructure, creating visualizations and narratives, while managing time, resources, and personnel effectively. This role will work closely with other leaders within the Voice of the Student initiative including the AVP of Academic Quality and the leader of Institutional Research.

The Director Voice of Student & UX Research role is funded through a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The grant lasts 4 years and funding for this role is tied to that grant. In addition, this role will be responsible for the cohesiveness and integration of the (VOS) grant project initiative and teams with one another and ensuring their integration and connectivity to the university’s other DEI and strategic projects.

Primary Duties:

• Lead and manage complex UX research projects to gather deep insights into the needs, behaviors, and pain points of our students. Based on the analysis, track and measure the impact of an intervention to see changes to the student experience.
• Analyze complex data sets to identify key trends, challenges, and opportunities for improvement.
• Develop and implement inclusive research methodologies that reflect the diversity of our student body. Collaboratively collecting and maintaining an equitable data infrastructure in support of our students and university, which includes the curation of data and artifacts.
• Present research findings and actionable recommendations to stakeholders in a clear and compelling manner. Advocate for students, through the development of narratives and visualizations, particularly for low-income and underserved student populations. Foster a culture of empathy within the team by sharing impactful user stories and insights. ​
• Lead and mentor the UX research department, providing guidance and support to UX researchers to ensure high-quality research outputs and professional growth. Including determining data tools required to support the data infrastructure and team.
• Prepare regular grant documentation and reports, and track metrics for grant reporting to ensure compliance and transparency.