Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Usability Instructor

🎯 Role Definition

The Usability Instructor is responsible for designing, delivering, and continuously improving hands-on usability and user research education for learners ranging from university students to professional product teams. This role blends pedagogical best practices with applied UX methods—teaching usability testing (moderated and unmoderated), heuristic evaluation, accessibility testing, participant recruitment and consent, qualitative data analysis, and translating usability findings into actionable product recommendations. The instructor will create assessments, manage usability lab and remote testing tools, mentor learners, and collaborate with stakeholders to align training with organizational UX goals.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

UX Researcher with teaching or mentorship experience
Usability Specialist / Usability Analyst
Instructional Designer with UX or HCI background

Advancement To:

Lead Usability Instructor / Curriculum Lead
UX Learning Manager or Director of UX Training
Head of User Research / Senior UX Research Manager

Lateral Moves:

Product Designer
UX Researcher
Customer Experience or Accessibility Specialist

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Design, develop, and maintain comprehensive usability and user research curricula that cover moderated and unmoderated usability testing, heuristic evaluation, cognitive walkthroughs, survey design, and quantitative/qualitative analysis to ensure learners acquire practical, job-ready skills.
Plan and deliver live classroom and remote workshops, lectures, and studio sessions on usability testing methodologies, including demonstration of best-practice test plans, moderator scripts, consent procedures, and note-taking strategies.
Create realistic, project-based assignments and capstone experiences that require students to conduct participant recruitment, execute usability sessions, synthesize findings, and produce actionable UX recommendations and reports.
Lead and moderate usability test sessions (in-person and remote) as a model for learners, demonstrating effective probing, neutral moderation, think-aloud encouragement, and management of technical and ethical testing issues.
Teach learners how to recruit, screen, and compensate participants ethically and legally, including building screener surveys, maintaining participant databases, and ensuring informed consent and data privacy practices.
Instruct students on accessibility testing and inclusive design practices (WCAG 2.x standards), integrating accessibility evaluation into usability workflows and grading assignments with accessibility criteria.
Develop and score rubrics, learning assessments, and competency matrices to measure learner mastery of usability techniques, research synthesis, reporting quality, and professional communication.
Coach and mentor students and early-career professionals in presenting usability findings, crafting narrative-driven reports, building prioritized UX recommendations, and effectively influencing product and design stakeholders.
Teach learners to analyze both qualitative and quantitative usability data — affinity mapping, thematic coding, task success metrics, time-on-task, error rates, and basic statistical interpretation — and to visualize results for diverse audiences.
Curate and maintain a library of real-world case studies, templates (test plans, consent forms, moderation guides), recordings, and exemplar reports to support experiential learning and accelerate learner competency.
Maintain and operate usability lab equipment and remote testing tools (e.g., Morae, Lookback, UserTesting, Zoom, Optimal Workshop), ensure test environments are functional, and train learners in tool use and troubleshooting.
Collaborate with product and design teams to align course projects with real product challenges, enabling students to work on authentic usability problems and deliver findings that can inform product roadmaps.
Provide individualized feedback on student work, deliver structured office hours, and create remediation plans for learners who need targeted skill development in research methods or facilitation.
Evaluate and iterate on course content using learner feedback, assessment outcomes, and industry trends to keep curricula up to date with evolving UX practices, remote testing modalities, and accessibility requirements.
Design and run instructor-led and self-paced modules that cover prototyping tools and workflows relevant to usability testing (Figma, Sketch, InVision, Axure) and teach how to prepare testable prototypes at varying fidelities.
Supervise and train teaching assistants and lab technicians on best practices for usability testing moderation, data handling, equipment set-up, and grading consistency.
Build partnerships with industry stakeholders to source real projects, guest lectures, internship placements, and hiring pathways for graduates, ensuring the program remains employer-relevant and SEO-visible.
Create and publish clear, SEO-optimized course descriptions, learning outcomes, and promotional materials that attract prospective learners and articulate the practical benefits of usability training for careers in UX and product teams.
Monitor and enforce ethical research standards in class projects, including participant safety, confidentiality, anonymization of data, and compliance with institutional review boards (IRBs) or equivalent processes when necessary.
Capture and present program impact metrics (student satisfaction, placement rates, employer feedback, learning outcome improvements) to academic leadership or L&D stakeholders to demonstrate ROI and secure ongoing support and resources.
Facilitate cross-cohort hackathons, usability sprints, and design critiques that foster peer learning, rapid experimentation, and portfolio development for students seeking UX roles.
Troubleshoot complex classroom logistics, including scheduling lab time, managing participant calendars, and coordinating multiple concurrent usability sessions to maximize hands-on practice opportunities.
Keep an active professional profile (publications, conference talks, workshops) to maintain credibility and bring fresh, industry-leading practices into the classroom and training materials.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc usability research requests from internal teams, helping to scope quick tests, provide templates, and consult on recruitment and analysis in compressed timelines.
Maintain and update the usability lab inventory, software licenses, and remote-testing subscriptions; manage vendor relationships and budget forecasting for tools and participant incentives.
Contribute to program marketing by writing SEO-friendly course pages, blog posts, and social media content about usability testing, accessibility, and user research best practices.
Assist with accreditation or quality assurance processes by documenting syllabi, learning objectives, assessment rubrics, and evidence of continuous improvement.
Participate in cross-functional planning meetings to integrate usability education into product onboarding, design system training, or company-wide UX upskilling initiatives.
Provide expert input on hiring and interviewing for junior UX research and usability positions, helping to define competency requirements and evaluation exercises.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Usability testing (moderated in-person, moderated remote, and unmoderated) — design, moderation, and analysis.
User research methods: heuristic evaluation, cognitive walkthroughs, contextual inquiry, diary studies, surveys, and card sorting.
Accessibility testing and inclusive design (WCAG 2.x) — evaluation techniques and remediation guidance.
Prototyping and design tools: Figma, Sketch, InVision, Axure (practical ability to create testable prototypes).
Remote research and usability platforms: Lookback, UserTesting, UserZoom, Optimal Workshop, Zoom and screen-sharing tools.
Qualitative analysis techniques: affinity mapping, thematic coding, synthesis workshops, and persona generation.
Quantitative basics: task success metrics, SUS, time-on-task, basic descriptive statistics, and visualization for stakeholder reporting.
Research documentation and reporting: creating actionable recommendations, executive summaries, and prioritized bug lists.
Learning design and curriculum development: creating lesson plans, rubrics, assessment design, and outcomes-based instruction.
Lab and equipment management: recording hardware, screen capture software, participant consent and data storage processes, and troubleshooting.

Soft Skills

Classroom and workshop facilitation with strong presence, timing, and ability to engage adult learners and cross-functional professionals.
Clear, persuasive written and verbal communication tailored to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Coaching and mentorship skills with demonstrated ability to provide constructive feedback and professional development guidance.
Stakeholder management and collaboration: partnering with product, design, engineering, and HR to integrate learning into workflows.
Critical thinking and problem-solving to translate user findings into prioritized product recommendations.
Empathy and cultural awareness for teaching diverse cohorts and conducting inclusive usability research.
Time management and organization for coordinating multiple sessions, projects, and administrative tasks concurrently.
Adaptability to update curriculum rapidly in response to tool changes, remote modalities, and industry best practices.
Attention to ethical and legal considerations in research, including participant consent, privacy, and data anonymization.
Presentation skills, including storytelling with data and the ability to facilitate difficult conversations about usability trade-offs.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Human-Computer Interaction, Psychology, Interaction Design, Instructional Design, Communications, or a closely related field.

Preferred Education:

Master’s degree in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Human Factors, Instructional Design, Education Technology, Cognitive Psychology, or related disciplines.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)
Cognitive Psychology
Interaction / Product Design
Instructional Design / Education Technology
Human Factors / Ergonomics
Computer Science / Information Science

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

3–7 years of professional experience in usability testing, user research, or UX practice, with at least 1–2 years in a teaching, training, or mentorship capacity.

Preferred:

5+ years of combined usability research and instructional experience, proven experience designing and delivering curricula or corporate training, prior work with accessibility testing and compliance, and demonstrable outcomes such as student placement, published case studies, or internal program impact metrics.