Conducts qualitative and quantitative UX research across KFC’s digital guest channels and restaurant operations tools. Plans and executes usability tests, field studies, interviews, ethnographic research, heuristic evaluations, and concept testing. Synthesizes findings into actionable insights, journey maps, opportunity areas, and recommendations for product, design, engineering, marketing, and restaurant operations teams. Contributes to research operations, documentation, accessibility practices, participant recruiting, and the development of organizational research standards.
The Senior Usability Researcher will support KFC US’s end‑to‑end experience transformation by planning and executing user research across guest digital channels (app, web, kiosks, delivery marketplaces) and team‑member tools (POS, KDS, restaurant operations platforms). This role generates the insights that help product, design, and engineering teams build intuitive, high‑quality, and operationally efficient experiences.
Scope & Impact
- Conducts usability testing, field studies, and foundational research to understand guest and team‑member needs.
- Generates insights that directly shape design decisions, product requirements, and operational workflows.
- Partners across UX, Product, Engineering, Marketing, and Restaurant Operations to ensure research findings drive action.
- Helps advance research standards, templates, and processes as part of the growing UX organization.
Research Execution
Conduct moderated and unmoderated usability tests for app, web, kiosk, and POS/KDS experiences.
Run field research in restaurants to observe workflows, speed‑of‑service challenges, and crew pain points.
Perform heuristic evaluations, concept tests, prototype reviews, and comparative studies.
Analyze qualitative data and transform it into clear insights, themes, and recommendations.
Ensure ethical research practices, accurate documentation, and high‑quality study outputs.
Synthesis & Insight Delivery
- Create clear, concise research deliverables including journey insights, opportunity maps, and behavior summaries.
- Communicate findings to cross‑functional teams in a way that clarifies tradeoffs, supports prioritization, and informs roadmaps.
- Partner with analysts to triangulate user feedback with product data and business metrics when needed.
Cross‑Functional Collaboration
- Work directly with Product Owners and Designers to refine research questions and evaluate solutions.
- Collaborate with Engineering to understand constraints and validate feasibility during testing.
- Partner with Restaurant Operations to coordinate in‑restaurant sessions and validate operational fit.
- Contribute to usability criteria for the KFC product design system.
Research Operations & Process Improvement
- Contribute to participant recruiting, screeners, scripts, templates, and research documentation.
- Help maintain the insight repository to improve organizational memory and reduce redundant research.
- Support the Senior Researcher and Director of UX in maturing research practices and rituals.
- 4–6+ years of experience in UX research, human factors, or related applied research roles.
- Strong understanding of qualitative methods including usability testing, interviews, ethnography, and task analysis.
- Experience with digital product research (mobile apps, responsive web, kiosks) and interest in operational tools (POS/KDS).
- Ability to synthesize qualitative data into clear, actionable insights for cross‑functional partners.
- Familiarity with accessibility evaluation and inclusive‑research practices.
- Strong verbal and written communication skills with the ability to present findings to mixed audiences.
- Comfort working in fast‑paced, cross‑functional environments with shifting priorities.
- Experience with research tools (e.g., UserTesting, UserZoom, Figma for prototypes) is a plus
Salary Range: 121,600 - 142,900 + eligible bonus + comprehensive benefits
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