Job Description
Facebook's mission is to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together. Through our family of apps and services, we're building a different kind of company that connects billions of people around the world, gives them ways to share what matters most to them, and helps bring people closer together. Whether we're creating new products or helping a small business expand its reach, people at Facebook are builders at heart. Our global teams are constantly iterating, solving problems, and working together to empower people around the world to build community and connect in meaningful ways. Together, we can help people build stronger communities - we're just getting started.At Facebook Reality Labs (FRL), we are inventing the future. We bring together a world-class team of researchers, developers, & engineers to build the future of connection within virtual and augmented reality.As a UX Research Scientist at FRL, you are expected to have breadth and depth of scientific background in one or more areas such as human perception, cognition, motor control and movement. You will be leveraging this background in service of defining, assessing and enhancing the form, function and dynamics of our hardware and software. You must be a data expert, and able to creatively develop metrics for investigating novel challenges in a variety of areas, including sensors, displays, wearable device form factors, etc. You will demonstrate your ability to break down ambiguous problems and master research methods, including but, not limited to, design of experiments, expert review, psychophysics & threshold detection, biomechanics & ergonomics, and relevant safety & comfort research approaches.The right candidate will be an effective communicator, passionate about understanding people, and curious about the evolving complex relationship between humans’ sensorimotor and cognitive systems and the novel hardware and software technologies in development at FRL.Although candidates should have hands-on experience conducting in-depth studies in an industry setting, we are looking for researchers that also have a passion for deeply understanding humans’ capabilities and limitations to directly influence product design. A successful candidate will prove highly effective at driving insights into actionable product engineering & development outcomes and metrics, and collaborate closely with cross functional partners to help shape critical product and technology decisions across the product design and development life-cycle. You will work across multi-disciplinary hardware and software teams to push the boundaries of FRL products while enhancing the value users get from these products. Ultimately, your expertise and ingenuity in research must do more than just contribute to knowledge and assessment – you must also be skilled at driving measurable positive impact on the user experience of our products.
Responsibilities
- Collaborate and work with cross-functional product teams and researchers to create research frameworks and develop new methodologies for investigating novel challenges.
- Develop ergonomic, perceptual, or psychological research studies by utilizing appropriate methods, which may include experimental design, psychophysics and threshold detection, motion tracking and kinematics analysis, behavioral analytics, expert review and relevant safety & comfort research approaches.
- Develop and track metrics for quality of performing fundamental AR/VR tasks such as spatial navigation, input & interaction, and beyond.
- Investigate effects of human multisensory interactions, attention, and control dynamics on performance, safety, & comfort of doing such tasks.
- Analyze rich and multidimensional data, develop descriptive and analytical models, and shape actionable insights from research findings.
- Effectively communicate outcomes and insights from studies, support decision-making and help setting specifications for FRL hardware and software products, drive measurable positive impact on the user experience.
- Create close partnerships with a variety of leadership, research and product stakeholders to ensure a broad understanding of the product needs and priorities while driving UX goals.
- PhD in Cognitive/Experimental Psychology, Cognitive Science, Kinesiology, Biomedical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Human-Computer Interaction or a closely related scientific or engineering field.
- Demonstrated scientific background in measurement of human characteristics, and large data set creation/management.
- 5+ years of experience in experimental design, behavioral analysis, and proficiency with inferential statistics.
- Proven track record of rigorous scientific research, including development of metrics and scientific research.
- Demonstrated communication skills as well as proven interpersonal skills.
- 2+ years of experience in conducting research for novel products headed to market.
- Experience in research for emerging technologies, AR/VR/MR or wearable technology.
- Experience in research across full product life-cycle.
- Training and experience in related techniques such as immersive audio, eye tracking, body motion tracking, postural stability measures, human motor control and kinematics analysis, EMG and other biometric sensing technology, and physiology measures.