Audio UX Researcher

PTR Global; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 100,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

PTR Global is seeking a contract UX Researcher III for an onsite role in Redmond, WA. The fast-paced project focuses on speech communication and spatial audio for AI glasses, embedding in a prototyping team to deliver quick, qualitative insights.

Ideal candidates have a strong background in qualitative methods, rapid-cycle research, and cross-functional collaboration, with specialization in auditory perception and spatial hearing.

Qualifications

• MA/MS in Speech and Hearing Sciences, Psychoacoustics, Audiology, Cognitive Psychology, Linguistics, HCI, Human Factors, Neuroscience, or related UX field.
• 2+ years of applied qualitative research on consumer products (interviews, contextual inquiry, observation, rapid thematic analysis).
• Proficiency in qualitative interviews (conversational & semi-structured).
• Experience with rapid-cycle research in fast-moving development environments (days, not months).
• Strong interpretive judgment from small numbers of observations.

Responsibilities

• Embed in prototyping team and conduct rapid qualitative research to guide AI glasses user experiences.
• Attend demos and design reviews; observe and capture structured notes on user reactions and signals.
• Design and conduct short evaluative sessions with small participant numbers and heuristic walkthroughs.
• Synthesize feedback into concise, actionable insights and deliver same-week.
• Evaluate audio and communication features by understanding user perception and interaction with device-based experiences.
• Investigate spatially rendered audio localization and how sound is perceived in space.

Skills

Qualitative research

Structured observation

Conversational interviewing

Rapid thematic analysis

Spatial audio understanding

Cross-functional collaboration

Narrative framing

Education

MA/MS in Speech & Hearing Sciences / related UX field

PhD in related UX field (preferred)

Tools

R

Python

Surveys / Descriptive statistics

Job description

The client's team brings together a world-class team of researchers, developers, and engineers to create the future of virtual and augmented reality, which together will become as universal and essential as smartphones and personal computers are today. Just as personal computers have done over the past 45 years, AR will ultimately change everything about how we work, play, and connect. We are developing all the technologies needed to enable breakthrough AR glasses, including optics and displays, computer vision, audio, graphics, brain-computer interfaces, haptic interaction, eye/hand/face/body tracking, perception science, and true telepresence.

In particular, the RLR Audio team is focused on two goals: creating virtual sounds that are perceptually indistinguishable from reality, and redefining human hearing. These two initiatives will allow us to connect people by allowing them to feel together despite being physically apart, and allow them to converse in even the most difficult listening environments.

We are seeking a contract UX Researcher III to support an ambitious new project; advancing client's Superhuman Communication & Connection initiative. This role is embedded in a fast-moving prototyping effort where the system itself changes week to week. We need someone who can sit in on demos and working sessions, absorb scattered feedback (what's clicking, what's confusing, what feels off), and synthesize it into concise, actionable insights on a timescale that keeps pace with development.

The core of this role is lightweight qualitative evaluation. We need someone whose primary strength is qualitative research, structured observation, conversational interviewing, rapid thematic synthesis, and the interpretive judgment to surface what matters from informal feedback.

Quantitative methods supplement the work occasionally, but the initial day-to-day demand is for a researcher who thinks in narratives, patterns, and human reactions rather than sample sizes and statistical significance.

Because many of the core questions revolve around where and how received audio is rendered in space, this role calls for a researcher who can reason fluently about spatial audio and auditory perception, not just general UX method. The qualitative work here is fundamentally about how people perceive and locate sound.

This is not a role for elaborately planned, months-out user studies. What we need is rapid, lightweight qualitative assessment: structured listening, quick-turn synthesis, and the judgment to know which signals matter so the team can course-correct in real time. Think short evaluative sessions with a handful of participants, heuristic walkthroughs of new interaction patterns, and same-week write-ups that land while the design questions are still live.

The ideal candidate treats the prototype as a living thing and their research as a conversation with it; not an audit of it. They are comfortable forming a qualitative read on an experience after a small number of well-chosen observations, and they know how to frame findings in ways that move a team forward without waiting for statistical confidence. An ideal candidate would have familiarity with some or all of the following areas:

• Speech communication and human-AI interaction
• Audio signal processing or hearing sciences
• Wearable technology (AI glasses, headphones, smart watches)
• Rapid iterative design and prototyping environments
• Qualitative research in applied product or research settings

Responsibilities

• Embed in the prototyping team and conduct rapid, lightweight qualitative research to guide the development of novel AI glasses user experiences focused on speech communication and effortless conversation
• Attend demos, working sessions, and design reviews; observe and capture structured notes on user reactions, usability signals, and team feedback
• Design and conduct short evaluative sessions with small numbers of participants, heuristic walkthroughs, and conversational interviews on a quick-turn cadence (days, not months)
• Synthesize scattered qualitative feedback into concise, actionable insights; delivered same-week while design questions are still live
• Evaluate and iterate on audio and communication features for AI wearables by understanding how users perceive, interact with, and benefit from device-based experiences
• Evaluate how users perceive spatially rendered audio, including localization, externalization, and the placement of received or virtual sound sources, and translate those perceptual reactions into design guidance
• Translate research insights into interpretable findings and actionable recommendations for cross-functional partners and stakeholders
• Work closely with engineers, designers, and research scientists to influence development direction in real time
• Supplement qualitative work with quantitative methods (surveys, descriptive statistics) as needed to strengthen or validate findings

Minimum Qualifications

• MA/MS in Speech and Hearing Sciences, Psychoacoustics, Audiology, Cognitive Psychology, Linguistics, Human Computer Interaction, Human Factors, Neuroscience, or a related UX field, with preference for candidates whose training or research focused on auditory perception, speech intelligibility or spatial hearing
• 2+ years experience conducting applied qualitative research on consumer products, with an emphasis on methods such as interviews, contextual inquiry, observational studies, and rapid thematic analysis
• Proficiency conducting qualitative interviews; including conversational and semi-structured formats with demonstrated ability to elicit rich, actionable user insights
• Experience with rapid-cycle research in fast-moving development environments where deliverables are measured in days, not months
• Strong interpretive judgment: ability to form a qualitative read from a small number of well-chosen observations and frame findings that move a team forward
• Demonstrated working knowledge of spatial audio (for example sound localization, binaural or rendered audio, and how sound is perceived in space). This is central to the role, not supplementary
• 1+ years of working in cross-functional teams

Preferred Qualifications

• PhD in Cognitive Psychology, Linguistics, Human Computer Interaction, Human Factors, Speech and Hearing Sciences, Communication Ecology, Experimental Psychology, Neuroscience, or a related UX field
• Experience embedding in rapid prototyping or agile research teams where the product changes weekly
• 2+ years of experience conducting attitudinal or behavioral research with wearable technology (AI glasses, headphones, smart watches, etc.)
• 2+ years experience with quantitative research methods (e.g., surveys, descriptive statistics, experimental design) as a supplementary skill
• Experience with heuristic evaluation and expert review methods
• Background in psychoacoustics, hearing science, or audiology, or equivalent applied experience evaluating audio perception
• An audiology background is a welcome and accepted profile for this role
• Familiarity with speech communication, human-AI interaction, or audio user experiences
• Proficiency in descriptive and inferential statistics, and data visualization (e.g., R, Python)
• Strong oral and written communication skills with experience tailoring messages to various stakeholders and delivering findings in accessible, narrative formats

Location & Terms

This position is onsite in Redmond, WA (Contract, 1 year). Some travel in the Greater Seattle Area is expected.