User Experience Contractor Jobs in Edison, NJ (NOW HIRING)

About AnswerLab

AnswerLab helps pioneering leaders Own the Unknown - transforming uncharted territory into clarity, direction, and competitive advantage. We build strategic insight through deep human understanding and validate future possibilities with real people in real contexts. For more than 20 years, we've worked alongside some of the world's most forward-looking organizations, helping them deliver breakthrough moments when no playbook exists.

Quantitative researchers are central to that mission. Our quant researchers bring the methodological rigor, analytical depth, and strategic fluency to help clients make high-conviction decisions in fast-moving, high-stakes environments.

Role Summary

As a Quantitative UX Researcher at AnswerLab, you will design and execute quantitative research that illuminates user behavior, attitudes, and needs - and translates those findings into strategic direction for some of the world's most ambitious product and experience teams. You will work within a client-aligned portfolio, embedded alongside qualitative researchers, experience strategists, and Customer Success partners, contributing to integrated research programs that go beyond findings to drive experience strategy.

This role is structured to span experience levels. Expectations around methodological depth, client leadership, strategic contribution, and mentorship scale with seniority - but the core orientation is consistent across levels: rigorous craft, strategic thinking, and a commitment to insight that moves organizations forward.

What You'll Do

Research Design & Execution

• Design and execute quantitative research studies that address complex user experience questions, applying the right methodology to the right problem with a clear rationale
• Lead or contribute to a wide range of quantitative methods and analyses, including: custom surveys, concept and prototype testing, tracking/benchmarking studies, unmoderated task-based studies, quantitative card sorting, tree testing, segmentation research, MaxDiff, Conjoint, and JTBD - with depth of ownership scaling with experience level
  • Senior researchers are expected to lead independently across the full study lifecycle, including scoping, design, analysis, and client delivery with minimal oversight
• Demonstrate genuine methodological fluency: the ability to design studies with precision, anticipate analytical challenges, and make defensible decisions under constraints
• Coordinate with panel and recruitment vendor partners on sample design, feasibility assessment, and fielding logistics - ensuring data quality and participant criteria are met across studies
• Program and QA surveys using a programming platform (e.g., Qualtrics, Alchemer)
• Apply descriptive, inferential, and multivariate statistical techniques appropriately, including t-tests, ANOVA, regression, factor analysis, and cluster analysis, among others
• Utilize statistical analysis or data visualization tools (e.g., Q Research, DisplayR, SPSS, R, Python)

Strategic Insight & Storytelling

• Move beyond reporting what the data shows to interpreting what it means and what it implies for product and experience strategy
• Frame findings in terms of client decisions: what should be built, changed, prioritized, or abandoned, and why
• Communicate insights clearly and compellingly to a range of audiences, from UX practitioners to senior product executives, adapting depth and framing accordingly
• Produce strong data visualizations and well-structured deliverables that follow best practices in clarity, hierarchy, and visual communication, ensuring findings are not just accurate but immediately actionable for stakeholders
• Contribute to AnswerLab's thought leadership by sharing perspectives on emerging trends in quant research, user behavior, and the evolving role of data in experience strategy

Mixed-Methods & Integrated Research

• Partner closely with qualitative researchers to design and deliver integrated, mixed-methods research programs that combine behavioral depth with attitudinal breadth
• Serve as a fluent translator between quant and qual: helping teams understand what each approach can and cannot answer, and how findings from both can be synthesized into a coherent strategic narrative
• Contribute to integrated deliverables that draw on multiple data sources to build a complete picture of user experience

Data Science & Emerging Approaches

• Stay current on the evolving landscape of quantitative and data science methods relevant to UX, including large-scale behavioral data analysis, digital twin modeling, and AI-augmented research approaches
• Evaluate and apply emerging tools and methodologies where they add genuine value, bringing a critical, evidence-based perspective to adoption decisions
• Contribute to AnswerLab's ongoing development of its quantitative and data science capabilities, helping shape how the practice evolves

Client Partnership

• Build trusted relationships with client stakeholders, understanding their business context and research goals, and contributing to ongoing account growth
• Collaborate with Research Managers and Customer Success partners on study scoping, proposal development, and research design
• Represent AnswerLab's quantitative capabilities credibly in client conversations, with the ability to explain methodological choices and tradeoffs clearly to non-research audiences
• Adapt fluidly across diverse client contexts - including varying industries, organizational cultures, stakeholder personalities, and research methodologies - bringing the same rigor and responsiveness regardless of the engagement type

Team & Practice Development

• Mentor colleagues at more junior levels, sharing methodological knowledge and helping build AnswerLab's collective quant capability
• Take a proactive, visible role in building AnswerLab's quant practice, including developing frameworks, leading knowledge-sharing sessions, and helping shape best practices
• Contribute to AnswerLab's knowledge library, documenting approaches, tools, and lessons learned for the benefit of the broader team
• Participate in cross-portfolio knowledge sharing and contribute to the ongoing refinement of quantitative research best practices

Knowledge, Skills & Experience

We know outstanding candidates come from a range of backgrounds. We are looking for people with the personal characteristics to thrive in a growing, client-focused, purpose-driven business. Expectations scale with level - the criteria below represent the full range across the Researcher to Senior Researcher track.

Education

• Bachelor's degree in a human behavior-related field (HCI, Psychology, Sociology, Economics, Market Research, Statistics, Computer Science, or related) with 4+ years of relevant experience; or
• Master's or PhD in a related field with 2+ years of relevant experience
• Senior-level candidates typically bring 7+ years of quantitative research experience, preferably in a consulting or agency environment

Quantitative Research Craft

• Demonstrated, substantive expertise in quantitative UX research methods - not surface-level familiarity, but the ability to design studies, make methodological decisions, and defend those choices under scrutiny
• Experience working with large-scale datasets and multi-method studies
• Proficiency with a survey programming platform (e.g., Qualtrics, Alchemer)
• Ability to apply descriptive, inferential, and multivariate statistical techniques appropriately, including t-tests, ANOVA, regression, factor analysis, and cluster analysis, among others
• Fluency in at least one statistical analysis or data visualization tool (e.g., Q Research, DisplayR, SPSS, R, Python)

Strategic & Communication Skills

• Demonstrated ability to translate quantitative findings into strategic narratives - not just data summaries
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with experience presenting to diverse audiences, including senior client stakeholders
• Ability to connect research insights to business and experience strategy decisions

Collaboration & Mindset

• Experience working effectively in cross-functional, client-facing environments
• Genuine curiosity about emerging methods, tools, and technologies, including AI's evolving role in research
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment across multiple projects simultaneously
• Committed to mentorship and to making the team around them better

AnswerLab's Core Values

Find the Edge

We push into uncharted territory because breakthroughs don't happen in the safe zone

Run the Play

We treat every idea as an experiment worth trying and every outcome as data worth sharing

Push the Ask

We challenge consensus to go beyond surface answers, because real innovation requires tough questions

Own the Outcome

We take full ownership of our work and its downstream impact

Additional Information

At AnswerLab, our mission is to create experiences that deliver meaningful impact, and that begins with building a company where people feel respected, supported, and empowered to do their best work. We are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where every employee has a sense of belonging and equal opportunity to grow and succeed. This commitment is embedded in how we hire, develop, and support our people, and in the expectations we hold for our leaders and teams.

We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants. Employment decisions are based on qualifications, merit, and business needs. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, sex, gender (including gender identity and expression), sexual orientation, age, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, marital status, medical condition, genetic information, physical or mental disability, military or veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. We also provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and for sincerely held religious beliefs, in accordance with applicable law.

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