Usability Engineer - User Science

About the role

Canonical is a leading provider of open source software and operating systems to the global enterprise and technology markets. Our platform, Ubuntu, is very widely used in breakthrough enterprise initiatives such as public cloud, data science, AI, engineering innovation and IoT. Our customers include the world's leading public cloud and silicon providers, and industry leaders in many sectors. The company is a pioneer of global distributed collaboration, with 1200+ colleagues in 75+ countries and very few office based roles. Teams meet two to four times yearly in person, in interesting locations around the world, to align on strategy and execution.

The company is founder led, profitable and growing.

We are hiring a Usability Engineer for our Design Team.

User Science is an evolving design discipline at Canonical. While we have long incorporated diverse research on user needs into our products, the mission of the newly formed User Science team is to expand beyond traditional models of UX research, integrating user needs end-to-end in development processes and quality standards across the company.

This mission requires skillful advocacy as well as organizational learning and change. As process pioneers, we draw insights from others, foster collaborative user research cultures, and constantly innovate with frameworks and standards.

Location: This role will be based remotely in the EMEA region.

The role entails

- Collecting and synthesizing user data: Developing user insights in diverse formats, scientifically analyzing data from A/B tests, usability studies, and other methodologies to create compelling findings.

- Prototyping for impact: Building lightweight prototypes, data visualization dashboards, or automation scripts to enhance broader consumption of research.

- Responding to audience needs: Calibrating research presentations with sensitivity and precision in a highly technical environment, understanding what level of depth is right for each stakeholder.

- Promoting a data-informed culture: Working closely with process, product, and engineering teams to integrate user research into existing decision-making flows.

- Building research scalability and interoperability: Strengthening research ops infrastructure, making key methodologies more accessible, actionable, and repeatable.

- Fostering a learning culture: Contribute to the evolving definition of User Science through user-centered training, resource development, and outreach.

What we are looking for in you

- Exceptional academic track record from both high school and university

- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in a related field such as Design, Engineering, Data Science or similar, or a compelling narrative about your alternative chosen path.

- User research expertise: Proficiency in both qualitative and quantitative user research methodologies, including user interviews, usability testing, A/B testing, surveys, and data analysis.