Director, Digital Services - User Experience

Location: Barcelona
Department: Digital Services – User Experience
Job Type: Full-Time
Reports To: Sr. Director, User Experience

About AstraZeneca

At AstraZeneca, we push the boundaries of science to deliver life-changing medicines. We are united by our shared passion for innovation and our unwavering focus on making a difference in the lives of patients worldwide. Join us in shaping the future of healthcare through ground breaking technology, design, and user experience.

Role Summary

AstraZeneca is seeking a Director of UX Research to help lead and shape the user experience research strategy across the company's digital platforms. In this leadership role, you will oversee research initiatives aimed at deeply understanding user behaviors, needs, and motivations through advanced qualitative and quantitative methods. Your responsibilities will include guiding the design and execution of user studies—such as interviews, usability tests, and surveys—to generate impactful insights that drive product innovation and inform strategic decisions. You will work closely with cross-functional teams, including designers, accessibility leads, product managers, and engineers, ensuring that user feedback is seamlessly integrated into the design process. Your efforts will be pivotal in steering the development of intuitive, user-centric solutions that support AstraZeneca's mission to enhance global health outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Lead and scale a high-performing UX Research team across multiple areas, ensuring alignment with design, product, and business strategies
• Define and implement a UX research strategy that supports product goals and long-term vision, focusing on measurable outcomes and user insights
• Build a research roadmap designed to disseminate insights that support AstraZeneca’s long-term business strategy
• Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams to ensure research drives design decisions and product innovations
• Advocate for a deep understanding of user needs and behaviors across the organization, ensuring customer insights inform all aspects of product development
• Establish UX research standard processes and frameworks to improve research quality, consistency, and insight dissemination
• Leverage qualitative and quantitative research methodologies to generate actionable insights that inform tactical decisions and critical initiatives
• Drive initiatives to measure UX success, including usability, and continuously refine research methods to improve outcomes
• Present research findings and recommendations to senior team members and executives, influencing product direction and prioritization
• Foster a culture of curiosity, learning, and collaboration, ensuring that research is a critical strategic pillar in driving product innovation
• Continue to clarify the role of UX Research within the wider organization

Qualifications

• Confirmed experience building and leading UX Research teams, with a track record of delivering impactful, user-centered research for large-scale enterprise products
• Strong expertise in qualitative and quantitative research methods and the ability to distill complex insights into clear, actionable recommendations
• Excellent leadership and mentoring skills, with the ability to inspire and guide a diverse team of researchers
• Strong communication and storytelling abilities, with experience presenting to executive-level partners
• Deep empathy for users and a strong aim to use research to improve the product experience
• Ability to balance critical thinking with hands-on execution, staying close to the work, and continuously evolving the research practice for a growing product organization
• A collaborative approach with a natural ability to work cross-functionally and across lines of business
• An ability to move quickly and critically to deliver results in a timely manner
• Experience with design thinking, service design, lean UX, and Agile methodologies
• Ability to prioritize research efforts across multiple products and teams while maintaining high-quality outputs
• Strong organization skills and oversight, with the ability to oversee multiple projects simultaneously and connect the work of various teams
• A proven aim to foster a culture of inclusivity and diversity within your team and in how you approach research
• Strong operational attitude, continually seeking ways to improve processes, methodologies, and outcomes
• Hands-on experience with various research tools and platforms for data collection, analysis, and dissemination

Essential requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree with 7+ years of relevant experience
• Relevant experience within user experience, applied research setting and/or product research and development
• Interest in and experience driving hands-on, primary research
• Experience conducting In-Depth Interviews or Focus Groups and Concept Testing or Usability Testing
• Experience translating research findings into strategic narratives

Desirable requirements

• Degrees in a human behavior related field