UX Research & Insights Manager

Summary

Job Summary

The Office of Information Technology encourages applications for our UX Research & Insights Manager ! This is a strategic role that leads the UX research and assessment area of OIT’s User Experience team , creating processes and practices for OIT services and portfolio projects to ensure they are grounded in user insights and aligned with OIT’s operating principle, “User Experience Matters”. This role bridges research and organizational impact by leading OIT’s efforts to track and use data to advise decision-making for OIT services and projects by defining and tracking success metrics, customer feedback, and Key Performance Indicators that drive continuous improvement, service excellence, and student success.

This position supervises 3 student employees, a Temporary UX Researcher, and reports to the Assistant Director of User Experience & Information Design.

CU is an Equal Opportunity Employer and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment. We are committed to creating a workplace where all individuals are treated with respect and dignity, and we encourage individuals from all backgrounds to apply, including protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.

Vision

Who We Are

• OIT will be valued by campus as a strategic, inclusive and innovative partner in advancing learning and discovery in order to enable CU Boulder to be an outstanding public university.
  
  

Mission

• OIT enables campus priorities by providing high-value IT services and solutions.
  
  

Values

• Trust, as a foundation for how we engage with one another and with campus partners, along with
• Curiosity in how to better support the campus and our partner’s while
• Encouraging empowerment and authentic engagement among ourselves and
• Celebrating a culture that promotes a sense of belonging while acknowledging that each person is unique and valued.
  
  

Strategy

• OIT will advance learning and discovery by delivering high-value reliable IT services and solutions that:
• Provide a fluid and adaptable academic and student experience
• Enable research competitiveness and
• Deliver core infrastructure and enterprise IT services for business efficiency.
  
  

Responsibilities

What Your Key Responsibilities Will Be

Lead UX Research & Assessment for OIT Services & PMO Projects

• Partner with OIT service managers, the Program Manager for IT Service Management and OIT leadership to establish, track, and refine Key Performance Indicators, Objectives and Key Results, and other metrics so that OIT has the information needed to continuously improve its delivery of high-quality services and experiences to campus.
• Lead UX Research for OIT Portfolio Management Office projects. Create and improve upon UX team practices around project intake, resourcing, scoping, communication, and collaboration. When applicable, establish success metrics to track project progress, user satisfaction, and impact.
• Create and iterate as needed on processes to capture, analyze, and report on UX or other service data (such as customer feedback) to identify and resolve service, process, and communication gaps, and to understand customer demand and needs.
• Contribute to the Organizational Change Management (OCM) initiatives for user-impacting services and projects by partnering with OIT OCM staff, User Engagement, Business Analysis and Project Management specialists to optimize the end user experience.
• Be a strategic OIT partner and contributor to student success and other key academic initiatives by strategizing and leading the UX research engagement. When applicable, create processes and resources to empower and train campus partners to conduct their own UX research studies.
  
  

Oversee UX Research & Assessment for OIT’s UX Team

• Establish a flexible and collaborative framework and set of processes grounded in research standards for OIT’s UX team.
• Lead the team’s UX Research arm to actively collect, analyze and share information and data about user needs and requirements with technical staff, administrators, and campus leadership by:
• Gathering end user preferences using UX research methods including surveys, focus groups, diary studies, design walkthroughs or design feedback sessions.
• Planning and facilitating research and design activities with partners and project teams to develop design solutions (wireframes, recommendations) that meet the needs of business offices and our students, staff and faculty.
• Summarizing and abstracting principles of design and requirements of design that meet users’ needs.
• Collaborating with OIT teams, especially UX designers and developers, to translate user findings into designs and usable interfaces or processes.
• Supervise the UX team’s research data and artifacts by:
• Creating and maintaining a research repository of past research, findings, and key insights.
• Establishing processes for data storage and data cleanup or deletion.
• Using CU and OIT enterprise technologies for UX research when possible, while identifying gaps in tools and recommending other solutions to the Assistant Director of UX when necessary.
• Consult the Assistant Director of UX on student hourly and temp budget.
• Lead the UX team’s efforts to create and track UX service metrics, then be responsible for the research arm’s metrics.
• Support the UX team to engage with student groups in our research, design, and organizational change activities to further their understanding of these approaches and connect with this key user group.
• In collaboration with the Assistant Director of UX, support the professional development of the UX team by helping identify areas for growth and improvement and recommending or creating opportunities for learning and mentorship.
• Be an advocate for improved digital accessibility of campus tools and experiences by staying up to date on accessibility standards and partnering with CU’s Digital Accessibility team to research and define new standards when needed.
• Advocate for and promote a user-centered culture at CU Boulder.
  

Management & Supervision – UX Student Employees & UX Research Temp

• Supervision includes selecting, training, managing, empowering, developing and mentoring staff and student employees; setting and holding staff accountable to objectives and key results, and evaluating performance against these metrics; and performing day-to-day supervisory activities (leave approval, work prioritization, etc.).
  
  

Professional Development And Additional Responsibilities

• Stay up to date on standard processes, approaches, tools and technologies for UX research, data collection, analysis, and visualization.
• Maintain proficiency, deepen, and acquire new knowledge in user experience research, human-centered design, and digital accessibility.
  
  

In addition to the responsibilities outlined above, this position may assume additional responsibilities and perform special projects as needed or directed by the Assistant Director of User Experience & Information Design.

What You Should Know

• This position is in a hybrid work situation, requiring an on-site presence occasionally. This role requires you to be within driving distance.
• Visa sponsorship is not available.
  
  

What We Can Offer

• The annual salary range is $95,000 - $104,480.
  
  

Benefits

At the University of Colorado Boulder , we are committed to supporting the holistic health and well-being of our employees. Our comprehensive benefits package includes medical, dental, and retirement plans; generous paid time off; tuition assistance for you and your dependents; and an ECO Pass for local transit. As one of Boulder County’s largest employers, CU Boulder offers an inspiring academic community and access to world-class outdoor recreation. Explore additional perks and programs through the CU Advantage program.

Be Statements

Be collaborative. Be positive. Be Boulder.

What We Require

• A bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience from an accredited institution.
• 3 years in user experience research or user-centered research: designing various types of research studies, analyzing research data (quantitative and qualitative) to understand a user experience with technology, visualizing research data to communicate user needs and goals, and using those findings to make recommendations and improvements to the user experience.
• Includes experience supervising a student employee, temp employee or someone in a similar kind of role.
• Experience working in a team environment.
  
  

What You Will Need

• Superb communication, collaboration, time management, and presentation skills.
• Deep understanding of standard processes in human-computer interaction and user-centered research, data gathering, data privacy, and data analysis.
• A passion for advocating for the user.
• Capable of navigating an academic environment or equivalently complex organization, especially in developing and managing relationships with key partners (e.g. faculty, administrators, students, and staff).
• Experience working on a highly collaborative team.
  
  

What We Would Like You To Have

• 5 years working as a UX researcher with UX/UI designers and developers.
• Experience working with students or another comparable user group.
• Experience working in higher education.
• Experience with the advanced features of Qualtrics, including survey logic, distribution through contact lists, and the reporting tool.
• Experience working with Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager to support data collection in single-page web applications.
• Proficiency working with advanced data visualization tools, such as Tableau.
• Experience working on agile software development teams.
• Experience with Jira.
• A passion for interpreting and understanding qualitative data.
• Background in psychology, learning theory, ethnographic research, or other comparable fields.
• A Master's Degree or PhD from an accredited institution.
  
  

Special Instructions

To Apply, Please Submit The Following Materials

• A current resume.
• A cover letter that specifically tells us how your background and experience align with the requirements, qualifications, and responsibilities of the position.
  
  

We may request references at a later time.

Please apply by June 14, 2026, for consideration.

Note: Application materials will not be accepted via email. For consideration, please apply through CU Boulder Jobs.

In compliance with the Colorado Job Application Fairness Act, in any materials you submit, you may redact or remove age-identifying information such as age, date of birth, or dates of school attendance or graduation. You will not be penalized for redacting or removing this information.