Senior UX Research and Design Specialist

Job Overview: We are seeking a highly skilled Senior UX Research & Design Specialist with a dual passion for user advocacy and tangible web design. In this role, you will lead end-to-end qualitative and quantitative research cycles within our K-12 educational data and assessment platforms. Beyond traditional data synthesis, you possess a strong sense of visual and layout design, allowing you to translate raw researcher findings directly into clean, interactive, and tangible UI prototypes. You will act as a critical bridge between educator insights and production-ready web design. Job Responsibilities: Advanced User Research & Methodology Execute End-to-End Research: Lead qualitative and quantitative research initiatives (focus groups, structured interviews, surveys, and usability testing) involving teachers, instructional coaches, and school administrators. Conduct Market & Competitive Analysis: Perform targeted market and competitive research to evaluate industry trends, benchmark rival EdTech solutions, and identify strategic positioning opportunities for our platform features. Drive Feedback Syntheses: Design and facilitate educator panels to capture nuanced workflows, translating feedback into clear product design opportunities. Iterate and Track Perceptions: Build systematic, iterative research loops to measure shifts in user perception and long-term platform adoption. Manage Diverse Recruitment: Orchestrate participant recruitment strategies across varied K-12 demographics (elementary, middle, and high school tenures). Tangible Web Design & Interactive Prototyping Translate Insights into Mockups: Convert user pain points and research metrics into high-fidelity web designs, intuitive screen flows, and interactive layouts. Bridge Design and Engineering: Collaborate directly with front-end web designers by delivering design specifications that map closely to web structure realities. Refine Interface Hierarchy: Evaluate and rapidly iterate on layout sequences, visual hierarchies, UI text labeling, and main navigation structures. K-12 Assessment & Data Literacy Demystify Student Data: Apply deep knowledge of K-12 grading architectures and standards-based reporting to build accessible teacher dashboards. Align with Classroom Realities: Design specifically for time-constrained educators who need immediate visual data displays for student remediation and administrative groupings. Data Visualization & Web Usability Apply Visualization Best Practices: Craft clean, visual progress bars, color-coded matrices, and grouping indicators tailored for non-technical users. Enforce Digital Accessibility: Ensure all generated data visualizations and interface layouts meet inclusive, accessible design guidelines. Job Requirements: Experience: 7+ years of dedicated professional experience in UX research, interface design, or digital analytics architectures. Preferred Degrees: Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Interaction Design, Human Factors, Cognitive Psychology, Computer Science, or a related behavioral/technology-focused discipline. Design Stack Literacy: Mastery of contemporary UI wireframing and prototyping ecosystems (e.g., Figma). Cross-Functional Communication: Proven ability to present research artifacts (personas, journey maps, insight decks) to technical development squads and leadership. Preferred & Technical Qualifications: Classroom & Instructional Experience: Prior experience as a K-12 classroom teacher, instructional coach, or school-level educator, providing firsthand empathy for school schedules, administrative burdens, and classroom data usage. Front-End Development Frameworks: Functional technical understanding of front-end development, specifically the ability to read, interpret, and write HTML5 and CSS3 code to facilitate seamless developer handoffs. AI Tooling Efficiency: Demonstrated proficiency leveraging AI productivity systems and predictive tools to generate user scripts, synthesize large datasets, and build rapid UI prototypes. EdTech Domain Experience: Direct familiarity with standards-based grading metrics, formative assessment patterns, and large-scale district or state educational technology rollouts. Compliance Standards: Working familiarity with compliance rules governing K-12 web ecosystems, including WCAG accessibility benchmarks and FERPA privacy guardrails. . To learn more about our organization and the exciting work we do, visit https://www.cambiumassessment.com/ Remote First Work Environment Our Remote First approach gives employees the flexibility and trust they need to effectively balance work with life. It creates a culture in which all employees are valued and where success is measured in results. It allows us to work collaboratively, inclusively and for greater positive impact, regardless of our individual locations. If you will be working remotely, either occasionally or on a permanent basis, you must have a reliable internet connection through a cable or fiber-optic broadband service with minimum speeds of 10 Mbps download and 5 Mbps upload. The successful candidate will be expected to actively participate in video-based interviews during the recruiting process and ongoing virtual meetings with their camera on, as part of their role. To maintain confidentiality and ensure a fair evaluation process, the use of note-taking tools, reference materials, or AI-powered tools (including generative AI, language models, or similar technologies) during interviews or other selection activities is prohibited unless prior written approval has been obtained from the People Experience team. If you require an exception for medical, accessibility, or other reasons, please contact your Talent Acquisition team member to discuss accommodations in advance. As part of our Remote-First benefits, Cambium offers reimbursement to help cover the cost of setting up your home or remote office. An Equal Opportunity Employer We are dedicated to fostering a culture that celebrates unique backgrounds, ideas, and experiences. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without discrimination on the basis of race, color, age, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender, gender identity/expression, or sexual orientation), national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or genetic information (including family medical history). We will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities. You may request an accommodation during the recruiting process with your Talent Acquisition team member. Cambium Learning® Group is the education essentials company. With an intentionally curated portfolio of respected global brands, Cambium serves as a leader in the education space, helping millions of educators and students feel more universally valued each and every day. In everything we do and across all our brands, we focus on the elements that are most essential to the success of education Our family of companies includes: Cambium Assessment Lexia® Learning Learning A-Z® Voyager Sopris Learning® ExploreLearning® Time4Learning® Kurzweil Education® To learn more about the Cambium organization and our other career opportunities, visit www.cambiumlearning.com/about-us/careers As a group, we value: Simplicity - Across all our teams and all areas of our business, we create simplicity, making things easier and more clear for all those we work with. Certainty - We continually strive to eliminate doubt, delivering solutions, services and communications that our customers know they can count on. Now - We understand the need to make a difference not only for the future, but for today, and our people are committed to making the most of each moment we spend serving our customers.