Sr. UX Researcher

KFC; Plano (TX); On-site; USD 122,000 - 143,000; Full time

Job summary

KFC is seeking a Senior Usability Researcher to lead end‑to‑end user research across guest digital channels (app, web, kiosks, delivery marketplaces) and crew tools (POS, KDS, operations platforms). You’ll plan, run, and synthesize studies to inform product, design, and engineering decisions, partnering with teams to improve experience and operational efficiency.

Candidates should have 4–6+ years in UX research, strong qualitative skills, and experience with digital product research.

Qualifications

• 4–6+ years of experience in UX research 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).

Responsibilities

• Plan and execute usability tests, field studies, and foundational research across guest digital channels and team‑member tools.
• Generate insights that shape design decisions, product requirements, and operational workflows.
• Collaborate with product, design, engineering, marketing, and restaurant operations to drive action from research findings.
• Synthesize qualitative data into clear insights, themes, and recommendations.
• Contribute to research operations, templates, and documentation, and support maturing research practices.

Skills

UX research

Qualitative methods

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication

User testing

Accessibility

Field research

Prototype testing

Tools

UserTesting

UserZoom

Figma

Job description

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