Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Usability Research Technician

🎯 Role Definition

The Usability Research Technician is a hands-on member of the UX research team who ensures usability studies run smoothly, reliably, and to protocol. This role combines technical lab stewardship (A/V, eye-tracking, and remote testing platforms), participant management, standardized data capture, and initial data preparation so researchers and designers can focus on analysis and strategy. The Technician enables repeatable, high-quality usability testing—moderated and unmoderated, in-person and remote—while maintaining participant confidentiality, accessibility compliance, and operational excellence.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

UX Research Assistant / Lab Coordinator
Customer Support or QA Specialist with UX exposure
Recent graduate in Human-Computer Interaction, Psychology, or Human Factors

Advancement To:

Senior Usability Research Technician / Lab Manager
UX Researcher or Interaction Designer
Human Factors Engineer or Research Operations Lead

Lateral Moves:

UX Producer / UX Project Manager
Participant Recruitment Specialist
Accessibility Specialist

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Coordinate and execute moderated usability tests (in-person and remote) from setup through teardown, ensuring adherence to research protocols, scripts, and ethical guidelines to produce reliable, repeatable study conditions.
Run unmoderated usability studies using platforms like UserTesting, UserZoom, Optimal Workshop or similar, configuring study flows, embedding tasks, and validating capture of metrics and screen recordings.
Manage participant recruitment and scheduling, including screening against inclusion/exclusion criteria, consent processes, compensation tracking, and communications to maximize show rates and sample quality.
Set up, calibrate, and operate lab equipment and software (video/audio capture, multi-camera setups, microphones, recording decks, screen capture, OBS, Morae, Tobii eye trackers), and troubleshoot technical issues in real time during sessions.
Capture high-fidelity qualitative and quantitative data (screen recordings, voice, webcam, eye-tracking logs, keystroke logs, clickstreams) and ensure data integrity, correct time-stamping, and secure storage for later analysis.
Prepare study rooms, prototypes, devices, and environments (mobile phones, tablets, desktop browsers, assisted devices) so tests replicate intended real-world scenarios and platform configurations.
Administer accessibility and assistive-technology testing, ensuring compatibility testing with screen readers, keyboard navigation, and providing accommodations for participants with disabilities.
Conduct participant check-ins, orient participants to the session flow, manage consent and confidentiality forms, and create a comfortable environment to elicit authentic user behavior.
Follow research scripts and interviewer guides when necessary; when running sessions alone, adhere strictly to moderation best practices and escalate deviations to the lead researcher.
Monitor and log session events, notable behaviors, and researcher observations in real-time (session notes, time-coded tags, and bookmarks) to streamline subsequent qualitative coding and analysis.
Organize and perform initial data processing: concatenating video clips, creating highlights reels, extracting timestamps, and exporting raw logs into analysis-ready formats (CSV, JSON, MP4).
Transcribe audio and video or coordinate with transcription vendors, ensuring verbatim transcripts, correct speaker labeling, and application of redaction rules where required.
Produce deliverables that support analysis: session summaries, annotated clips, heatmaps, path-flow visualizations, and basic usability metrics (task success rate, time-on-task, error rates).
Maintain and inventory lab hardware, software licenses, and test devices; coordinate repairs, firmware updates, and equipment replacement to minimize downtime and ensure reproducible testing conditions.
Develop and maintain standard operating procedures (SOPs) for lab use, data handling, participant compensation, and compliance with IRB or internal research governance.
Provide live technical support during remote moderated sessions (managing breakout rooms, screen-sharing issues, bandwidth or permissions troubleshooting) to preserve data fidelity.
Implement data security practices: encrypting sensitive recordings, enforcing access controls, anonymizing participant identifiers, and complying with GDPR, CCPA, or company privacy policies.
Coordinate with product teams to prepare prototypes and builds for testing, ensuring correct versions, feature flags, and test accounts are available and stable.
Train new researchers and interns on lab processes, testing tools, tagging conventions, and equipment usage to scale research operations and maintain quality standards.
Schedule study resources and coordinate with external vendors (recruiters, transcription services, remote testing suppliers) to meet tight study timelines and budget constraints.
Collect and maintain metadata for each session (participant demographics, device/browser specs, network conditions, tasks attempted) to support robust quantitative and qualitative analyses.
Create searchable indexes of clips and transcripts tied to research questions and product feature areas, accelerating insight discovery and reuse across teams.
Assist in running quantitative usability analyses (basic statistical summaries for time-on-task, SUS scores, task completion) and prepare charts and tables for stakeholder presentations.
Continuously evaluate and recommend improvements to lab workflows and tooling (new platforms, script automation, tagging taxonomies) to increase throughput and research quality.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc product validation and guerrilla-testing initiatives in marketing or product discovery phases.
Contribute to documentation for recruitment screener templates, consent language, and participant incentives best practices.
Facilitate cross-functional knowledge transfer by helping package research artifacts for designers, PMs, and engineers (highlight reels, annotated quotes, quick findings briefs).
Assist with administrative tasks such as invoicing vendors, tracking budget spend for participant incentives, and maintaining recruiting pools.
Act as point of contact for building facilities regarding lab scheduling, access badges, and room maintenance.
Participate in process improvement projects to standardize tags, metadata schemas, and naming conventions for recordings and session artifacts.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Usability testing (moderated and unmoderated) — design, execution, and instrumentation of tasks and scenarios to measure task completion, time-on-task, and error rates.
Proficiency with remote and in-person testing platforms: UserTesting, Lookback, UserZoom, Optimal Workshop, Validately, or similar tools.
Audio/video capture and editing: OBS, Adobe Premiere Rush, Camtasia, QuickTime, or equivalent for clipping recordings and producing highlights.
Eye-tracking and biosignal experience (Tobii, EyeLink, or related systems) — calibration, data export, and heatmap generation.
Lab A/V and hardware setup — multi-camera systems, lavalier and condenser microphones, mixers, KVM switches, and device farms for iOS/Android.
Familiarity with usability metrics and basic analytics: SUS, NPS, task success, time-on-task, error taxonomy, and how to compute/interpret them.
Data handling and export: CSV/JSON preparation, timestamp synchronization, log merging, and basic data cleaning for both qualitative and quantitative outputs.
Transcription workflows and tools: Otter.ai, Rev, Descript, or vendor management for accurate verbatim transcripts and redaction.
Basic scripting or automation (Python, Bash, or macros) to automate repetitive file handling, batch exports, or metadata tagging.
Accessibility testing knowledge: ARIA, WCAG guidelines, screen reader testing and keyboard-only navigation checks.
Proficiency with collaboration and research repository tools: Confluence, SharePoint, Dovetail, Lookback libraries, or an internal insight repository.
Familiarity with participant recruitment platforms and CRMs: Respondent.io, UserInterviews, in-house databases, and consent management systems.
Basic statistical literacy and Excel/Google Sheets proficiency for summarizing study metrics and producing stakeholder-ready charts.

Soft Skills

Exceptional attention to detail and a methodical approach to ensure data integrity and reproducible study setups.
Strong verbal and written communication—clear participant instructions, concise session notes, and polished deliverables for stakeholders.
Empathy and interpersonal skill to put participants at ease, elicit authentic behavior, and manage sensitive situations.
Problem-solving and troubleshooting aptitude to resolve technical issues quickly during live sessions.
Time management and organizational skills to coordinate multiple concurrent studies, device inventories, and participant schedules.
Collaborative mindset to work closely with researchers, designers, product managers, and engineers.
Discretion and professional ethics in handling PII and sensitive research data.
Adaptability and learning orientation—able to adopt new research methods, platforms, and hardware as tools evolve.
Customer-service orientation for participant-facing interactions and cross-team support.
Initiative to identify process improvements and propose scalable research operations enhancements.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Associate degree in a relevant field (e.g., Human-Computer Interaction, Psychology, Multimedia Production) or equivalent hands-on experience in usability labs and research operations.

Preferred Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Human Factors, Cognitive Psychology, Interaction Design, Computer Science with UX focus, or related discipline.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Human-Computer Interaction
Psychology / Cognitive Science
Human Factors / Ergonomics
Interaction Design / Industrial Design
Media Production / Audio-Visual Technology

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 1–4 years supporting usability testing, UX research operations, lab management, or related roles.

Preferred:

2+ years in a usability lab or UX research operations role with demonstrated experience running moderated and unmoderated studies, handling A/V equipment, and preparing research artifacts for cross-functional teams.