Director, UX Research

Cisco Meraki is the industry leader in simple, secure, intelligent networking and IoT platforms. We empower organizations everywhere – from local libraries to global hotels – to focus on their mission and have technology that simply works.

Cisco has been named #1 Best Company to Work For in the U.S. by Fortune in 2021!

We’re looking for a UX Research Director to join our team in transforming and simplifying the experience for networking and IT products and professionals. In this role, you will:

1. Build world-class research team, operational practices, and culture.
2. Establish and execute a vision for the Research function (e.g. qualitative methods and abilities, balance of qual vs quant, analytics capabilities, preferred methods, etc.).
3. Collaborate with partners in Design, Data Science, Product Management, and Engineering to help our teams understand and empathize with users and the complexity of their work.
4. Deliver actionable insights that will drive product and user experience outcomes.

Our UX team is helping drive innovation throughout our portfolio. We balance discovery with delivery to establish north stars while delivering incremental value to our customers. There is a lot of demand for our work – we need to continually make choices about how to spend our time to have the greatest impact. We are growing – we need to consider how to grow and evolve the team as our organizational needs evolve.

• Cultivate an inclusive, people-first culture.
• Lead our Research team practice vision and mission that balances “finding the right problems” with “solving thing problems right.”
• Proactively work across the portfolio to identify and orchestrate research to have the greatest impact in the organization and socialize the team’s accomplishments..
• Plan a staffing and engagement model for maximum impact in the organization. Ensure the broad organization understands vision and engagement model.
• Orchestrate a team who use a wide range of qualitative tachniques that drive customer empathy and deliver against product teams’ learning objectives.
• Coach and grow research managers to broaden impact, achieve goals, and further contribute to the vision and operations of the research practice.
• Drive a data-centered approach: evolve engagement model with data science and PM, quantitative and analytical roles and/or skill sets, and recurring customer experience metrics.
• Work with product and data science partners to identify, implement, and measure UX metrics across the product portfolio.
• Actively attract, recruit, and retain top-tier talent.
• Provide direction to mature research operations activities including customer panels and recruiting, insights repositories and socialization, best-in-class tools, playbooks, and training.
• Lead and support the Research team through quarterly and release planning/OKRs.
• Build strong cross-functional relationships to influence, drive alignment, and help the team resolve conflict.
• Manage 3rd party research vendors and contractors across a variety of initiatives from tactical recruiting support to strategic services.

• PhD or relevant credentials that demonstrate knowledge and ability to design, conduct, and report mixed-method research activities that drive business outcomes.
• Minimum 12 years in the field, with solid history of research leadership, publication, and recognition.
• Deep expertise with UX strategy methods such as mental model/tasks analysis, behavioral personas, journey mappping, and jobs to be done.
• Expereince leading leaders.
• Experience leading hybrid teams (a mix of remote and onsite employees).
• A proven track record working with data science, statistical analysis, and experimentation.

Does this sound like you? We’d love to hear from you!

At Cisco Meraki, we’re challenging the status quo with the power of diversity, inclusion, and collaboration. When we connect different perspectives, we can imagine new possibilities, inspire innovation, and release the full potential of our people. We’re building an employee experience that includes appreciation, belonging, growth, and purpose for everyone.

Cisco is an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, genetic information, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected basis. Cisco will consider for employment, on a case by case basis, qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Compensation Range: 159,800 USD - 314,200 USD

Message to applicants applying to work in the U.S.: When available, the salary range posted for this position reflects the projected hiring range for new hire salaries in U.S. locations. For non-sales roles, the hiring ranges reflect base salary and do not include bonuses, equity, or benefits. Hiring ranges for sales positions include base and incentive target, and do not include equity or benefits. Individual pay is determined by the candidate's hiring location and additional factors, including but not limited to skillset, experience, and relevant education, certifications or training. Applicants may not be eligible for the full salary range based on their U.S. hiring location. The recruiter can share more details about compensation for the role in your location during the hiring process.