Resume
JENNIFER GAINES
Bothell, WA | 360-921-6439 | zazu42@gmail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/jegaines/
SENIOR UX RESEARCHER
Accomplished and innovative Senior UX Researcher with extensive expertise in user-centric methodologies and tools such qualitative and quantitative research, study plan creation, benchmark testing, and project management. Proven history in leading generative and evaluative research efforts, supporting multiple product teams, and delivering actionable insights to drive product strategy. Skilled in UX research methods such as statistical analysis, concept testing, A/B testing, surveys, card sorting, and usability testing. Adept at fostering collaboration, supervising and mentoring team members, and establishing social media networks to speed participant sourcing and onboarding. Excel in uncovering user behaviors and advocating findings to stakeholders and customers. Unique blend of theoretical knowledge and practical experience to enhance user experiences and drive strategic and operational business success.
Core and Technical Competencies
Qualitative & Quantitative Research, Research Analysis, Benchmark Testing, Project Management, Team Leadership, Business Strategy & Design, Cross-functional Collaboration, Writing, Data Quality, Data Collection & Analysis, Risk Assessment, Field Research, Interviewing
Research Methods and Tools
Descriptive & Inferential Statistics, Moderated/Unmoderated Testing, Concept Testing, Paper Prototyping, A/B Testing, Surveys, Card Sorting, Diary/Desirability Studies, Usability Testing, Contextual Inquiry, Competitive Analysis Persona Creation, Axure, Sketch, InVision, Figma, Optimal Sort, Maze, Survey Monkey, Dovetail, Handrail, Python, MySQL, JavaScript, PHP, MS Office 365
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
ZONAR SYSTEMS | Seattle, WA
Senior UX Researcher 11/2017 – 11/2023
Prioritized and led generative and evaluative research efforts and supported 6 different internal product teams. Cofounded and led ResearchOps division that directly addressed pain points to internal research, such as sourcing, technical challenges, research implementation, testing, and communication issues. Supervised and mentored team members in active research and best practices. (Promoted from Product Researcher & Designer May 2021).
• Conducted foundational work on implementing AI tools into UX research, including ethical concerns, industry standards, AI case studies, and authoring polices and principles with eye to operational implementation.
•Fostered accessibility design within research priorities including metrics on tracking success of accessibility integrations, steps on how to implement accessibility into DesignOps and UX Research practices, and audits to triangulate areas of focus.
• Highlighted opportunities for standardizing universal login by leading market/product research to uncover and identify foundational data related to driver behaviors, sentiment, and current method and learned usage around driver device login authentication.
• Advocated findings for evolution of new driver hardware device options by directing large-scale research initiative to investigate industry views and usage on driver ELD equipment increasing product diversity.
• Avoided premature go-to-market release and potential loss of new customers by managing cross-functional research group to evaluate Coach 2.0’s new updated system and advising pause to fix data issues based on findings.
• Revamped build system by minimizing timeline, mounting ISO, and extracting folders from mounted OS; recognized by onsite lead and other teams for improving process and increasing efficiency.
• Secured $15K in funding for the ResearchOps framework by garnering stakeholder support through measurable improvements, increasing organizational understanding of value of research and positive effect on profitability.
• Enabled companywide decision making by orchestrating research repository to centralize research insights, improve access to current and achieved research, create repeatable templates, coach peers through effective research and increase visibility of projects to affected departments.
• Established social media network for sourcing non-customer participants in industry studies to increase reach, build diverse participant groups, and fill study cohorts quickly.
• Standardized UX metrics program across 13 teams to track OKR progress and impact clarifying vision and business priorities and next steps.
• Revamped process to involve developers early in Agile process to prevent technical issues and streamline builds and timelines for completion.
VERTAFORE | Bothell, WA
Cross Platform User Experience Designer 09/2014 – 08/2016
Produced sketches, wireframes, and prototypes to storyboard workflows. Conducted user testing and research to uncover workable solutions or validate current progress.
• Improved and integrated existing features and products in cloud platform including iterative prototyping and user testing that enhanced user experience and increased engagement.
• Created content for UX style guide to help integrate and unify consistent interaction patterns across company product reducing administrative time of projects.
• Collaborated with product and development teams to develop user personas, scenarios, competitor research, and task flows that strengthened product design and boosted user satisfaction.
• Increased SUS score from 30 to 80 (out of 100-point system) by streamlining process for document import to dashboard, thus improving usability.
EDUCATION AND CREDENTIALS
CLARK COLLEGE | Vancouver, WA
Associate in Applied Technology; Web Design & Development
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON | Seattle, WA
Bachelor of Arts in Media, Film, & Culture
CERTIFICATIONS
Certificate in Data Science | IBM, expected 04/2024
Certificate in UX: Specialty in Research | NN/G, 2020