Senior Design Researcher I

McKinsey & Company; Atlanta (GA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

McKinsey & Company in Atlanta seeks a Senior User Researcher to shape product strategy through deep observational and ethnographic studies. You will collaborate with product managers, designers, and engineers across North America and beyond to uncover colleague needs and translate those insights into innovative, data-informed experiences.

Leverage AI-assisted tools responsibly, plan field studies, and travel as required to engage with colleagues at client offices and sites.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of user research or related research experience.
• Observational and ethnographic research methods expertise including contextual inquiry and field studies.
• Ability to translate findings into actionable insights that inform product strategy and design decisions.
• Willingness to travel on short notice for in-person research.

Responsibilities

• Plan and conduct observational field studies and contextual inquiries.
• Conduct interviews, surveys, and quantitative analysis to inform product strategy.
• Synthesize data into clear insights and recommendations for design decisions and engineering trade-offs.
• Collaborate with designers, engineers, and product managers across teams to scale research impact.
• Apply AI-assisted research tools responsibly to surface patterns and insights.

Skills

User research

Observational methods

Ethnography

Mixed-methods

Qualitative analysis

Quantitative analysis

Figma

Miro

Dovetail

Qualtrics

Jira

Agile

Lean

AI awareness

Tools

Figma

Miro

Dovetail

Qualtrics

Jira

Job description

Who You'll Work With

You are someone who thrives in a high-performance environment, bringing a growth mindset and entrepreneurial spirit to tackle meaningful challenges that have a real impact.

In return for your drive, determination, and curiosity, we’ll provide the resources, mentorship, and opportunities to help you quickly broaden your expertise, grow into a well-rounded professional, and contribute to work that truly makes a difference.

When you join us, you will have:

• Continuous learning: Our learning and apprenticeship culture, backed by structured programs, is all about helping you grow while creating an environment where feedback is clear, actionable, and focused on your development. The real magic happens when you take the input from others to heart and embrace the fast-paced learning experience, owning your journey.
• A voice that matters: From day one, we value your ideas and contributions. You’ll make a tangible impact by offering innovative ideas and practical solutions, all while upholding our unwavering commitment to ethics and integrity. We not only encourage diverse perspectives, but they are critical in driving us toward the best possible outcomes.
• Global community: With colleagues across 65+ countries and over 100 different nationalities, our firm’s diversity fuels creativity and helps us come up with the best solutions. Plus, you’ll have the opportunity to learn from exceptional colleagues with diverse backgrounds and experiences.
• Exceptional benefits: On top of a competitive salary (based on your location, experience, and skills), we provide a comprehensive benefits package to enable holistic well‑being for you and your family.

Your Impact

You will work with teams of product managers, designers, and engineers, conducting observational and mixed‑methods research to shape and inform impactful solutions while being at the forefront of our firm's larger internal‑technology initiatives.

Your work will involve planning and conducting observational field studies and contextual inquiry alongside interviews, surveys, and quantitative analysis, translating what you learn into clear insights and recommendations that shape product strategy and design decisions. Increasingly, that also means using AI‑assisted research tools to synthesize qualitative data at scale and surface patterns faster, while applying rigorous research judgment to validate and contextualize what AI surfaces.

Your expertise will play a key role in grounding our internal tools and platforms in real colleague behavior and need, not assumption. You'll stay current with emerging research methods and technology trends and apply them to uncover insights that lead to intuitive, forward‑looking experiences for your colleagues across the firm.

You will be based in Atlanta as part of BCX (Better Colleague Experience), our internal design team within the McKinsey Tech Ecosystem, the function responsible for developing and delivering all technology solutions for the firm's internal use. You'll join a high‑impact team spanning multiple global locations across North America, Europe, and Latin America, working closely with designers, engineers, and product managers to build and scale next‑generation digital tools used across the firm, and to deliver innovative, secure, and intelligent platforms that empower our colleagues, streamline operations, and enable smarter decision‑making across the organization. Because observational research means meeting colleagues where they work, your work requires the flexibility to travel to engagement sites on short notice.

Your Qualifications and Skills

• 7+ years of relevant user research, human factors, or related research experience, with a strong foundation in observational/ethnographic methods.
• Deep expertise in observational and ethnographic research methods (contextual inquiry, field studies, diary studies), complemented by strong mixed‑methods skills spanning qualitative and quantitative research across the product development lifecycle.
• Ability to shape research strategy, then translate findings into clear, actionable insights that inform product strategy, design decisions, and engineering trade‑offs.
• Adaptability to new tools, systems, and ways of working required to meet program and initiative needs.
• Proficiency with modern research, design, and collaboration tools such as Figma, Miro, research repositories (e.g., Dovetail), survey platforms like Qualtrics, Jira, and related tools.
• Strong command of research methods and deliverables, including study design, discussion guides, field observation protocols, survey design, foundational statistical analysis, synthesis frameworks (affinity mapping, thematic analysis), personas, journey maps, and research reporting and presentation.
• Familiarity with Agile and Lean ways of working, and enough working knowledge of AI and machine learning to design and evaluate research involving AI‑assisted or AI‑powered features responsibly.
• Willingness and ability to travel, often on short notice, to conduct in‑person observational research at client and office engagement sites; team schedules and travel needs may vary