🚗 Woven by Toyota: Senior UX Researcher
About Woven by Toyota
Woven by Toyota is the mobility technology subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation. Our mission is to deliver safe, intelligent, human-centered mobility for all. Through our Arene mobility software platform, safety-first automated driving technology, and Toyota Woven City — our test course for advanced mobility — we’re bringing greater freedom, safety, and happiness to people and society.
Our unique global culture weaves modern Silicon Valley innovation and time-tested Japanese quality craftsmanship. We leverage these complementary strengths to amplify the capabilities of drivers, foster happiness, and elevate well-being.
The Team
Woven by Toyota is building Arene, a world-class software development platform that supports Toyota's renewed focus on Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) development and empowers the evolution of the relationship between hardware and software. Arene is at the core of this foundational shift and will provide the pipeline and tools that engineers need to deliver innovative software to the vehicles — quickly and safely.
Join the Arene User Experience team and get to represent the voice of our users as we shape the future of the automotive industry!
Who We're Looking For
We are looking for an experienced user researcher who can create a detailed map of our users' problems and turn research into valuable insights to guide innovation and inform the development of the Arene suite of products. Someone who can understand user needs, requirements, and technical constraints. Someone who is also comfortable engaging developers in thoughtful conversation, who can understand their patterns and has experience collaborating with them, while partnering with designers and product managers, advocating for user-centered practices across the organization.
In the intricate realm of automotive technology, we need team members who can swiftly analyze challenges, understand complex processes, anticipate UX impacts on novel products, and enhance existing customer experiences. We're shaping the future of mobility software—for everyone. It's a big deal.
You will report to the Head of Arene Product Design, and this role is hybrid - you will work in the office 3+ days per week.
Responsibilities
- As a Senior UX Researcher, you will lead research in a technically complex domain for a UX team setting standards in vehicle software development. Your work will directly inform product decisions and roadmap direction.
- Specifically:
- Identify user research opportunities and collaborate with product managers, designers, and engineers to create a stream of valuable insights
- Define user-centered metrics that help to center the culture around user needs
- Lead user research projects that encompass complex products and services, from ideation through user adoption
- Support product designers in a user-centered design process, including evaluative research
- Serve as an advocate for user needs and user-centered design throughout the Woven by Toyota organization
Minimum Qualifications
- 5+ years of experience with qualitative research methods at all stages — study plan, recruiting, moderation, analysis, reporting
- A portfolio that shows examples of research projects with their measured impact
- Skills to communicate insights and research findings in a compelling way
- Spoken and written English and Japanese fluency
Nice to Haves
- Experience defining research standards and scaling research practices across an organization
- Experience with research for the automotive industry, enterprise software tools, and engineering and development tools
- Demonstrated quantitative research experience using scripting (Python), analytical packages (R, Matlab), and compiled languages (C++) – we encourage Quantitative Researchers with an interest in honing their qualitative research skills to apply
What We Offer
- Competitive Salary - Based on experience
- Work Hours - Flexible working time with NO core-hours
- Paid Holiday - 20 days per year (prorated)
- Sick Leave - 6 days per year (prorated)
- Holiday - Sat & Sun, Japanese National Holidays, and other days defined by our company
- Japanese Social Security - all applicable (Health Insurance, Pension, Workers’ Comp, and Unemployment Insurance, Long-term care insurance)
- In-house Training Program (software study/language study)
Our Commitment
- We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity.
- Any information we receive from you will be used only in the hiring and onboarding process. Please see our privacy notice for more details.