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11 popular UX job roles and titles explained

On the lookout for a new job? There is a vast array of UX job roles advertised on job sites but what do they mean? We run through 11 of the leading UX job roles, listing the skills required and the job responsibilities that come with each one.

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If you’re searching for your first UX job , you’ll soon discover that there is a vast array of UX job roles advertised on job sites.  With all of these different UX job roles and titles, the tasks and skills required can vary widely for each one.  On top of that, even jobs with the same titles can have different responsibilities. Part of the reason for this is that UX is a fairly new field, and even though many companies know they should include UX professionals on their design team, they don’t always know what to call them.

Another reason is that job requirements can change based on the size of the company. While you might specialise in one part of the UX design process at a company with a large UX team, you could be responsible for every part of the process at a small startup.

Nonetheless, there are some established differences between UX job roles. Here we’ll cover 11 of them, including the skills required and the job responsibilities that come with each. This information will help you understand approximately what to expect from each UX job role and which one might be most appealing to you.

Keep reading to learn about the skills and responsibilities of a :

UX Designer

Ui designer, ux/ui designer, ux researcher, information architect or ux architect, ux strategist, product designer, product manager, product owner.

[GET CERTIFIED IN UX]

UX job roles to know

This is the most well-known job title in the UX industry and the one that tends to come with the widest set of responsibilities. UX designers are generalists who champion and design for users throughout a project. This means they know how to research user needs at the beginning of the project, outline the scope of a project’s features and content, define the navigation and information hierarchy, create wireframes and prototypes and –  finally –  test their designs to see how well they perform.

Yet, while UX designers should be able to jump in at any stage of the design process, at large companies where UX specialists, such as UX researchers , are on staff, they may not be solely responsible for certain phases of the design process.

Job responsibilities include:

• Conduct user research , such as user interviews , prototype testing, card sorting and more
• Conduct competitive analysis
• Use research data to determine what users want and where their pain points lie
• Create personas and journey maps
• Create site maps and other information architecture deliverables
• Create wireframes and prototypes
• Collaborate with a cross-functional team

Skills required include:

• Empathy for users
• Communication and collaboration with other team members
• Organisation and prioritisation of project tasks and responsibilities
• Ability to think critically about user needs
• Ability to perform user research and analyse results
• Wireframing and prototyping skills
• Capable of using industry standard software including OmniGraffle , InDesign, Invision or other tools

UI designers design all the screens that make up a digital user interface, as well as the individual elements featured on those screens. As such, they consider both the overall layout of each individual screen and how all the separate screens fit together.  They are responsible for creating high fidelity prototypes that are indicators of how a user interface looks, and as a result their work happens late in the UX process. Because their focus is the visual aspects of a product, UI designers need to be able to ensure their designs fall in line with brand guidelines.

• Conducting user research and analysis of existing designs in order to understand user needs and product goals, either in collaboration with UX designers or independently
• Conducting competitor analysis to understand how users might expect the product to look and behave based on their experience with similar products
• Hands-on design work: Making decisions about typography and colour palettes, designing logos and individual UI elements such as buttons, icons and forms
• Interactive design: Designing the interactive properties of different UI elements. For example: creating animations and establishing what happens when a user clicks a certain button
• Creating wireframes and prototypes to communicate the look and feel of the UI before it’s developed
• Handing designs off to developers
• Developing and maintaining a UI style guide to ensure design consistency
• Knowledge of fundamental visual design principles , such as typography and colour theory
• Knowledge and understanding of interaction design principles
• Knowledge and understanding of user experience (UX) design principles and processes
• The ability to create wireframes and prototypes
• Knowledge of industry tools (refer to our UX and UI design tools guide for more detail)
• Knowledge and understanding of information architecture
• Knowledge and understanding of responsive design
• Knowledge and understanding of how to design for inclusivity and accessibility

[GET CERTIFIED IN UI DESIGN]

A UX/UI designer handles the responsibilities of both a UX designer and a UI designer. While it’s often desirable to have different people handle these different responsibilities, at small companies or companies who only have tiny UX teams, one person may be tasked with both.

A UX manager, as the title suggests, is the person in charge of the UX team . They’re responsible for assigning team members to projects, representing the team’s expertise across the company and ensuring the team continues to develop professionally. UX managers also usually lead and oversee large projects.

• All the skills of a UX designer
• Coordinating and overseeing the UX team
• Ensuring UX teams stay up to date on best practices and new approaches
• Managing people
• Excellent communication and organisational skills
• Staying up-to-date on all the latest developments in the UX industry

UX researchers specialise in researching a product’s users. This means they should be comfortable collecting both qualitative and quantitative data through a variety of techniques including user interviews, user surveys, and A/B tests. UX researchers also analyse data and present their insights and recommendations to the UX team.

• Conduct user research , using both qualitative and quantitative techniques
• Consult with the UX team to decide what research would be most helpful to a project
• Analyse collected data
• Create user personas, journey maps, user stories and presentations that provide insight into research findings
• Make recommendations for the project based on research findings
• Knowledge of psychology or cognitive science
• Strong understanding of UX design
• Collaboration and communication skills
• Experience with quantitative and qualitative research techniques
• Ability to analyse quantitative and qualitative research data
• Ability to use analytical and presentation tools like SPSS, NVivo , Powerpoint and Keynote

UX writer is one of the newer job titles in the industry. UX writing is the creation of all the copy you see, hear or encounter when using a digital product and UX writers specialise in crafting copy that will help the user understand and navigate through the product. This means writing things like microcopy, calls to action and error messages based on user needs instead of marketing goals.

• Conduct or assist with UX research
• Write copy that is user-friendly and helpful
• Write in the brand’s voice while keeping user needs in mind
• Ensuring that the copy fits with and facilitates the user experience
• Create a strategy to ensure copy is consistent across a product
• Exceptional writing abilities
• Ability to adapt writing tone and style

Like UX writers and UX researchers, information architects (who may also be called UX architects) are specialists. They’re concerned with organising and structuring the information and content throughout a product’s design stages. They determine the navigation across the product, the hierarchy of the product’s pages and the way pages are structured, all with the goal of ensuring the user’s journey is smooth and logical.

• Perform user research to understand how users move through a product
• Create site maps, use cases and user flows to communicate a site’s navigation and structure
• Label navigation elements in a logical, understandable way
• Knowledge of how to conduct user research, especially things like card sorts and eye-tracking tests
• Ability to organise a large amount of information
• Ability to use industry standard software

A UX strategist is a UX designer who also understands how to utilise and implement business strategies. They’re often responsible for defining business goals in conjunction with clients and stakeholders and deciding on a strategy for the content available in a product that balances user needs with business requirements.

• Conduct user research and analysing data for insights into what users want from a business
• Perform competitive analysis
• Create journey maps and storyboards
• Use research insights to arrive at business goals
• Create and present a UX strategy
• Training in business strategy, including marketing
• Thorough understanding of UX design
• Excellent communication skills

The job title product designer is often confused with that of UX designer and there’s a good reason for that. At some companies, product designers perform the job of UX designers. However, while the two roles share many responsibilities and tasks, typically a product designer should have the added responsibility of focusing their attention on the goals of the product they’re designing.

This means along with completing UX designer tasks, they also take on the responsibilities of a project manager, such as steering the project development process from beginning to end. They also an eye on business goals for the product along with user needs , plotting the direction of the product even after it launches. They oversee every phase of the design process , including the final stages as developers code and launch the final product.

• Conduct user research, such as user interviews, prototype testing, card sorting, and more
• Create product roadmaps
• Oversee the entire product team
• Communicate with development team
• Capable of using industry standard software including Omnigraffle, InDesign, Invision or other tools
• Ability to manage a cross-functional team

Product managers often work with product designers but, while product designers focus on user needs and specific product goals, product managers focus on broader business goals. They often conduct market and competitor analysis and define the product strategy and its position in the marketplace.

Product owners and product managers have similar responsibilities but product owners are more concerned with tactics than strategy. They take the strategy envisioned by the product manager and break it down into a set of requirements and tasks that the product team can execute on.

The difference between junior and senior level UX job roles

Just like many other industries, there is a hierarchy to UX roles, especially if you work in larger companies. The differences between junior, mid-level, senior and manager UX roles is mostly the scope of one’s responsibilities.

At the junior level you’ll usually be asked to complete work on small parts of a larger project. This could mean wireframing a part of an app or website after the senior designer decides on a direction for the site. Or creating personas based on research and collaborating on ideas for innovative interactions for a new device. Junior designers might even be tasked with designing the entire user experience if a project is small.

As you climb the ladder from junior to mid-level, the amount of responsibility and autonomy you’re given will increase until, at the senior level, you’ll be tasked with acting as the lead on larger projects. This could mean managing other team members assigned to the project and mentoring those in junior roles along with overseeing the UX design process and planning the team’s approach.

As mentioned in the job description above, by the time people become UX managers, they’re usually managing an entire UX team, which includes leading large projects and assigning team members to different project teams. Fortunately, because many companies now have UX teams, you will likely have a lot of on-the-job support throughout the early stages of your career. So by the time you’re promoted or hired to a senior role, you’ll be thoroughly prepared.

Many job titles, subtle differences

Although this information should help clarify what different UX titles mean, remember that UX job roles aren’t always clear cut. So while you could be called a UX designer at one company, you might be called a product designer at another company and an interaction designer at a third company, with only a slight change in your job responsibilities.

As a result, no matter what role you’re hoping to be hired for, the flexibility of UX roles means that the best thing you can do to make sure the job you’re applying for is the correct fit is read the job advertisement carefully and ask questions during job interviews about the tasks you’ll be responsible for: Will you work on a team or by yourself? Will you be responsible for a project from beginning to end or only part of it? Will you mostly be wireframing and prototyping?

Above all, remember that UX is a fantastic industry to be in with lots of opportunity . If you have the skills, you’re sure to find the right job title and role for you.

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4 June 2024

What is a UX Researcher? The Ultimate Guide for 2024

The role of the user experience (UX) researcher is becoming more prominent, more specialized, and more in demand.

Uncovering user behaviors, needs, and motivations in order to design products and services that provide value is the crux of user experience research. When performed correctly, these methods have a huge impact on business.

So what is a UX researcher?

In this guide, we’ll take a look at what a UX researcher does and the UX research career path.

Although there is no singular path, there are four main steps to move a UX researcher forward: expanding knowledge of the user research field ; obtaining foundational skills ; crafting a portfolio; and building a network of industry peers.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

• What is a user experience researcher?
• What does a user experience researcher do?
• What skills are required for a career in UX research?
• How to expand your knowledge of the UX research industry
• How to obtain the necessary foundational skills
• How to craft a convincing portfolio
• How to build a solid network of industry peers
• Final thoughts

1. What is a user experience researcher?

A user experience researcher has their hand on the pulse of user needs and goals. They are the empathetic, organized, critical thinker whose day-to-day is about the first stage of the design thinking process : empathize .

This isn’t to say that UX researchers’ work is totally separate from the rest of the process, but their work has arguably the most humanizing effect on the process. Here’s why— UX researchers know how to:

• Understand the problem or challenge at hand
• Apply a variety of methods and approaches to finding out how their users tick in the context of this problem or challenge
• Listen, observe, and ask the right kinds of questions to gather insights that can be turned into actionable ideas
• Synthesize their findings and communicate them to the rest of the team and to key stakeholders in clear, actionable, and even engaging ways

2. What does a user experience researcher do?

The purpose of the UX researcher (also referred to as “user researcher” or “design researcher”) is to unearth human insights in order to guide the application of design.

According to a recent job posting by IBM, as a design researcher, you will “help provide actionable and meaningful data-driven insights that represent the voice of multiple users. You will collaborate across development, design, and marketing teams to evaluate current and upcoming user research needs that help to improve product definition and drive business goals.”

Some typical tasks and responsibilities of the UX researcher include:

Research Planning and Recruitment

• Develop a well-crafted research plan with clear research objectives.
• Write usability research screeners and discussion guides.
• Recruit targeted end-users for specific research studies.

Data Collection

• Moderate one-on-one basic usability sessions.
• Help develop and implement quantitative surveys.
• Conduct stakeholder and client interviews .

Data Analysis

• Extract insights about user behaviors from web instrumentation tools.
• Translate user insights into actionable recommendations for the product team.

Presentation of Insights

• Craft personas and other “information radiators” (e.g. journey maps) to communicate insights across the design and development teams.
• Present design research findings to the larger team in a clear and organized fashion.
• Work closely with the product team to identify research objectives.
• Establish and implement an overall research strategy.

These are just a handful of tasks that belong to UX research. Ultimately, your job as a UX researcher is to build up a picture of your target users based on their needs, wants, motivations, and pain points. These insights enable the wider design team to create user-friendly products based on real user feedback—not just your assumptions.

As with most UX design roles, the UX researcher means different things to different companies.

To learn more about what might be expected of you as a UX researcher, browse various job sites and see how different companies advertise and describe the role. Here are some useful job portals to help you get started:

• UX Jobs Board
• Just UX Jobs
• User Experience Professionals Association
• AIGA Design Jobs

3. What skills are required for a career in UX research?

Now we’re familiar with some of the key tasks and responsibilities, let’s consider what skills are required for a career in UX research.

As such, being a UX researcher typically requires knowledge or experience in a relevant field that studies human behavior, such as cognitive science, behavioral economics, anthropology, sociology, or psychology. Ultimately, it’s important to be adept at reading people and empathizing with the user, and equally at home handling data and analytics.

Ideal candidates are typically “passionate, curious, and self-driven team players” who have experience working in fast-paced environments while applying both generative and evaluative research methods to build a larger understanding of users.

It’s also important to have a solid understanding of the design thinking process, as well as a passion and know-how for influencing design strategy.

Obtaining these skills can be done through identifying research opportunities with a current employer, volunteering for a design project with an external organization (e.g. VolunteerMatch), or completing research for a personal project of your own.

Overall, practice makes perfect, and refining these skills as often as you can prepare you for your future role. You can even get a design thinking certification by taking a course or program in the discipline, to show potential employers and clients that you truly know your stuff.

4. How to expand your user research knowledge

As already mentioned, there are four key steps to forging a career in UX research:

• Expand your user research knowledge.
• Obtain the foundational skills.
• Craft a portfolio of experience.
• Build a network of peers.

Let’s start with that first step: Expanding your knowledge of the UX research field. In addition to browsing job descriptions, there are plenty of things you can do to learn more about the industry — but where to begin?

Start with the basics and learn all about UX design in this comprehensive guide , and understand the critical role UX research plays in UX design in this article.

From there, learn about the difference between qualitative , quantitative , attitudinal, and behavioral research. Next, you can familiarize yourself with some common UX research methods, such as card sorting, usability testing, and user interviews.

You’ll find an introduction to some of the most important UX research methods on the CareerFoundry YouTube channel (and be sure to take a look at these free UX research tutorials ).

Be sure to watch the video below, in which CareerFoundry graduate and professional UX designer Maureen Herben explains the different techniques and tools used in qualitative user research:

As part of your own research into the UX research field, you’ll also want to consider things such as salary and career options. Sites like Glassdoor and Payscale provide up-to-date salary reports for a range of different locations.

If you can, reach out to people who are already donning the UX researcher job title. Do they tend to work remote or in-house? What kinds of companies employ UX researchers? Again, job sites can help you out here if you don’t have any contacts in the industry (yet!).

Before you commit to the UX researcher route, it’s important to learn as much as you can about the industry and what the role entails.

5. How to obtain the foundational skills necessary for a career as a UX researcher

If you’re keen to forge a career in UX research, you’ll need to start learning some of the key skills. As with any profession, it’s important to build a solid foundation of knowledge before jumping into real-world problem-solving.

Assuming that you already have some knowledge in a related area (cognitive science, sociology, psychology, etc.), there are plenty of ways to learn the fundamentals of user research. Let’s consider those now.

• Human-Computer Interaction: An Empirical Perspective : learn about the foundational topics about one of the precursors to UX design. As well as being a neat introduction to HCI , this book includes historical context, the human factor, interaction elements, and the fundamentals of science and research.
• User Research: A Practical Guide to Designing Better Products and Services : learn about all the key research methods including face-to-face user testing, card sorting, surveys, and A/B testing.

Online resources

Industry blogs are a great way to start learning the ins and outs of the field. Some useful (and trustworthy!) sources include:

• Nielsen Norman Group
• UX Collective
• Inside Design

Conferences and meetups

If possible, consider attending a UX research conference or a local meetup. You’ll find a list of the top UX research conferences to attend in 2019 here , and can search for local UX research groups on meetup.com .

In addition to the examples above, finding an apprenticeship or a more senior researcher who is willing to let you shadow their process is a great way to immerse yourself in the context of a UX researcher while learning “on the job.”

6. How to craft a convincing UX research portfolio

As with any design role, a compelling portfolio is key to proving you’ve got the right skills for the job. So how do you go about creating a convincing UX research portfolio ?

As you practice refining your skills, keep a record of your work to present to future employers. Crafting an online portfolio is a great supplement to a resume or CV when highlighting case studies that show hiring managers what you can do. According to Senior UX Recruiter Tom Cotterill:

“Your portfolio should show cultural suitability for the company where you are applying. Don’t be afraid to add a touch of character or your own style to your portfolio. It’s your chance to wow the hiring manager and demonstrate that you stand out from the crowd. A good portfolio indicates, in short, that this person has taken time to represent themselves in the best possible light, and they’re clued up enough to showcase their most relevant work in an aesthetic and logical way.”

Ultimately, your portfolio should include the following sections:

• The problem or design challenge your research aimed to solve.
• The team you collaborated with.
• The research process (how did you go about solving the problem?).
• The tools you used to recruit, collect and analyze data, and present insights.
• The final outcome and the handoff of the design for development .

For more insight on how to refine a great UX research portfolio, check out How to Wow Me With Your UX Research Portfolio and How to Create a Powerful Case Study for Your UX Portfolio . Another great resource for inspiration is  Bestfolios , the largest curation of best UX research and designer portfolios, resumes, case studies , and design resources.

7. How to build a network within the UX research industry

You’re in the process of mastering the right skills and crafting your portfolio. Now it’s time to network! Networking is one of the best ways to meet people in the UX field and potentially land a new job.

Let’s consider some of the best opportunities for making industry connections.

Current Co-Workers

If you are currently employed, look to see if there are any user experience researchers in your organization, and ask them what it’s like! Also request to shadow them during a research session and take notes.

Future Employers

Informational interviews are also a great way to get candid feedback with people working at great companies, such as IBM, Google, or Amazon. Using LinkedIn or Twitter to find and invite UX researchers for coffee is a solid way to get an idea of what it may be like to work for your company of interest, and also how to get in the door.

Online UX Communities

Actively participate in online UX communities (e.g. Facebook groups) relevant to your professional interests and learning goals. Here are a few to start with:

• Useful Usability
• The UX School

UX Research Organizations

Lastly, join 1-2 user experience research organizations, such as the User Experience Research Professionals Association or the Design Research Society to see if there are any upcoming events you can attend.

8. Final thoughts

UX is a growing field, and the role of the user experience researcher is becoming more and more pivotal. Equipping yourself with the necessary skills and knowledge, and learning to conduct UX research like a professional , while surrounding yourself with peers in the field who you can learn from are essential to becoming a UX researcher yourself.

Overall, the value of understanding the needs of the customer cannot be ignored, and user experience researchers will have an increasingly valuable role to play in the future of design.

If you’d like to learn more about UX research, check out the following guides:

• What is the UX research salary?
• A 5-Point Roadmap For Any UX Research Project
• How to conduct a UX audit
• Top 5 Mistakes to Avoid in Your UX Research Portfolio
• Interview Toolkit: Top 5 UX Research Questions to Prepare For

UX Beginner

How to Navigate the Ocean of UX Job Titles

One real (but kinda silly) barrier to entering the UX job market is the sheer number of confusing UX Job titles. Today, I’m going to help you navigate, understand, and evaluate the many UX job titles and descriptions you are bound to come across.

Why The Problem Exists 

User Experience is a very broad term, which is one of the root causes of confusion that permeates not only to UX job titles, but to the entire profession itself. The user experience of a product or service encompasses several considerations, which is best illustrated with a diagram:

So when companies write UX job descriptions, some of them throw the kitchen sink of responsibilities into one job, because:

a)   They’re still figuring out what UX means to them Companies (usually less experienced with UX) may not want to leave out any part of the user experience design process. It’s hard to prioritize what’s most important to them, especially when they’re still figuring out exactly what they need from UX professionals.

b) UX is our savior!  UX design professionals may be viewed as the cost-effective solution that can do it all. If “user experience” is all these elements as depicted in the above diagram and more, then we can save money by hiring someone who takes care of the entire user experience!

That’s why you see job descriptions that ask for everything from research -> design -> prototype -> code -> testing and beyond.  There are some extremely talented people who can do it all. We call them unicorns, and we’ll talk about them in a bit.

How to Evaluate UX Job Titles

As Aaron Weyenberg hilariously illustrated in his UX Job Title Generator Page ,  you  will  run into a ridiculous # of variations on UX job titles.

But the common thread between all these titles is that they make use of 5 major skill sets: UX Design, Visual Design , Code, Content Strategy , and Research/ Usability .

1. UX Design

The most generalized (and confusing) term out of the bunch, user experience design is often concerned with architecting the  blueprint of a system, which may include research, translating business requirements into design, information architecture, wireframing and testing.

This slideshare, especially slide 4, is a popular way to think of UX Design (in their example the interaction designer ) in relation to the other UX sub-disciplines.

Sample UX job titles focused on UX Design:

• UX Designer
• Experience Designer
• Interaction Designer
• Information Architect

Job titles that typically imply more seniority, closer to business strategy:

• UX Strategist
• UX Architect
• UX Product Manager

2. Visual Design

Visual design emphasizes the use of graphic design principles such as color, typography, layout and illustration to breathe life, personality and branding into a system.

Sample UX job titles focused on Visual Design:

• Visual Designer
• UI Designer
• Digital Designer

Basically any jobs that emphasize key terms like art, artist, visual, user interface, “2d,” and print fall into this category.

3. Code 

Emphasizes the ability to create workable prototypes, typically in HTML + CSS (and often Javascript).

Sample UX job titles focused on coding:

• UX/UI Engineer
• UX/UI Developer
• Product Designer (this term will soon match “UX Designer” in broadness and confusion)

This is the unicorn I was referring to at the beginning of the post. Many employers are looking for the mythical triple-threat of designers who can architect a system (UX Design), make it look pretty (Visual Design), and bring that to life (Code). However, from anecdotes of UX developers, it may be difficult to differentiate their job between that of a Front-End Developer. (If you can code, it’s not unusual to spend 80% of your time coding, and less on the entire UX design process.) Watch out for a dedicated post on this in the future.

4. Content Strategy

Emphasizes the ability to  interpret research findings; create sustainable plans for different content types, create taxonomies and metadata frameworks. 

Sample job titles focused on content strategy:

• Content Strategist
• UX Copywriter

Any job description that emphasizes words like “copy, Taxonomy The practice of classifying things and concepts. ” >taxonomy , messaging, and content” typically fall under content strategy.

5. Research & Usability

Emphasizes the ability to plan, conduct, and draw actionable conclusions from usability tests. People with this skill are expected to develop & own research projects, and be able to analyze & use data to move the business forward.

I’ve noticed that almost all UX job titles with “research” or “usability” in them almost always read the same, are quite interchangeable. I’m not saying that’s the way it should be; it’s just what I’ve observed.

Sample job titles focused on research/usability:

• UX Researcher
• Usability Researcher / Specialist / Analyst / Engineer

The Reality

Even at this point there’s still room for confusion: UX Designer at one company may have a completely different set of responsibilities at another company.

This is mainly driven by  context : what is the size of the company and what is the type of work they do?

Bigger companies (think Microsoft, Google) tend to have more division of labor, meaning dedicated roles. For example, IBM’s user experience program specifically hires for those in UX Design, Visual Design, or Front-end Dev. Big companies usually also have more seniority levels, from junior UX designer all the way up to VP of User Experience.

S maller companies – especially startups – often require their UX professionals to wear many different hats. In an fast environment with less resources, scrappy startups look for unicorns who can do it all.

Agencies can be anywhere in the middle – they hire based on client needs. If a client demonstrates need for a content strategist, a agency would hire a content strategist. Or a user researcher, and so on.

Regardless of the type of company, you can expect most UX Design jobs to be asking for some combination of 1) UX Design 2) Visual Design and 3) Code.

Example: A job might look like 80% UX, 20% Visual, 0% Code.

You just have to carefully comb through job descriptions and talk to recruiters to figure out that those percentages will roughly be.

So, which UX Jobs should I go for?

The safe route is to tell you “it depends.” But for most User Experience Beginners, what I’ve seen by and large is that the most suitable roles ask for skills in  UX Design and/or Visual Design , with job titles like:

• Interaction/Interactive Designer
• User Interface Designer

Content strategy and  user research/usability  jobs  are more defined, and dedicated effort to either task usually don’t fall under the purview of generalist UX Design.

These are more specialized jobs that typically require more schooling and years of experience. Also – there is less demand and less openings in these jobs. Unless you’re passionate about content strategy or user research, I wouldn’t sweat too much on these jobs.

Yeah, I admit it –  there’s a good amount of generalizations made in this article but it is written for maximum effectiveness for most UXBs.

Obviously what job you end up going for depends on your individual background – you know your skill-set best .  But it’s my hope that confused UXBs can now make better sense of the plethora of UX job titles out there, avoid jobs that are a bad match, and ultimately find the most suitable job.

Agree, disagree, or just feel strongly about your UX job title? Let’s have a discussion in the comments below.

• Term: User Experience (UX)
• Term: Interaction Design (IxD)
• Term: Prototype
• Term: Graphic Design
• Term: Content Strategy
• Term: Usability
• Term: Interaction Designer
• Term: Information Architect
• Term: Business Analyst (BA)
• Term: Graphic Designer
• Term: User Interface
• Term: Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)
• Term: Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
• Term: Full Stack Designer
• Term: Content Strategist
• Term: Taxonomy

9 responses to “How to Navigate the Ocean of UX Job Titles”

Some great insights here, write more :)

What do you think of the title “product designer?” My problem is that I’m a UX unicorn, and there isn’t a title I can use from my understanding for the general public.

Any advice?

That’s a great problem to have, Marcos! It all depends on what and where you want to be. If you enjoy a mix of UX, visual design and code, you’ll have no problem calling yourself a Product Designer in San Francisco. I think the term Product Designer is becoming common amongst startups in general.

On the other hand, if you want to focus on strategy and user experience, just call yourself a UX Designer. Job titles can be tailored to the direction you want to go and what you want to do :)

Thanks oz for the article!

As a UX researcher, I was searching what other UX titles are there and landed on your article. Coming from an engineering background (so I can code) with a passion also for visual design. I struggled quite some time to find a combination of those two seemingly unrelated fields, before finally stepping into the UX world. I have called myself UX engineer, UX designer, and then UX architect. But throughout the years working with real users, I discovered usability and user research is what I truly passionate about, so I took on to that path.

Because my path overlaps with many roles you mentioned here, I really enjoyed reading your article. Thank you for explaining these confusing fields very clearly. And I liked when you call people with the ability to do it all “unicorn” ;).

I’m late to the party here but i too have struggled to find where i sit in the chain. The problem is, working at a small agency, even though i do the UI design work, i also have to do the solution and sketching from the research. That in itself is UX. So in my role i am responsible for the solution as well as the creative. Can you be in this space? its quite confusing at times.

i want to start ux designing, what other things should i know before starting to learn ux desinging and after that what all topics should i cover in ux design to get a job. Thanks

I enjoyed reading your article thank you,I want to start UX design and need to be more focused on concepts,these topics are helpful.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this article !

You left out UX Architect and UX Engineer…

And not one time when I was performing Information Architecture was it deemed not aligned to business, but in fact it HAS to be. Try reconstructing the taxonomy of a Navigation Schema (main navigation) without approval from upper management for their huge website or portal. Its probably the only job where its mandatory to do this. I thought I’d send my students here, but its underwhelming without real insights in these jobs with first-hand knowledge.

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What are UX Roles?

UX roles describe the various parts designers play in the design process. They range from generalist roles—e.g., UX designers and product designers—to specialist ones such as visual designers and UX researchers. UX roles might overlap in scope, and they keep evolving with our understanding of the ideal design process.

“Successful design projects require effective collaboration and healthy conflict.” —Dan M. Brown, Author, co-founder and principal of EightShapes

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© The Interaction Design Foundation, CC BY-SA-NC 3.0.

Watch a discussion about generalist versus specialist roles in the world of user experience (UX) design .

UX Roles Serve the Design Process

One major part of what a design team does is to follow a user centered design process and work through it to produce the best possible designs for the target users. Team-mates perform many tasks throughout projects—from user research [TTV3] , to prototyping , to conducting usability testing —to iterate towards optimal solutions. Design thinking showcases the key UX tasks corresponding to these roles. It also reflects how each role contributes slightly differently regarding tasks. Main roles are:

1. UX designers (akaInteraction/UI/Experience designers) – Generalists working on all design thinking phases.

Conduct UX research

Find users’ pain points

Generate ideas through, e.g., worst possible idea

Choose the best ideas

Offer/accept critique on possible solutions

Conduct usability testing

Release the most beneficial design

Typical Deliverables :

User personas

Customer journey maps

Problem statements

Paper prototypes

High-fidelity, pixel-perfect mock-ups

Reports: usability , user research, heuristic evaluation and user testing

Design pattern libraries, style guides or design systems

2. Product designers – Like UX designers, but focusing especially on product design and the UX. They help create product designs, goals and roadmaps (high-level summaries/6–12-month forecasts of product offerings and features).

(Same as UX designers’)

Inform and plan roadmaps

Collaborate closely with development and marketing teams to ensure designs can be implemented properly

Product roadmaps (probably co-developing these alongside other stakeholders)

3. Visual designers – Specialists with graphic design / visual design backgrounds focusing on making pixel-perfect prototypes later in the design process.

Convert UX goals into attractive design sets (e.g., app screens) with high usability and accessibility

Create and/or maintain libraries of product icons, colors and fonts

Apply branding guidelines

Utilize design concepts (e.g., Gestalt principles ) to make pleasing graphical user interfaces (GUIs)

Prototypes: pixel-perfect and interactive

Visual style guides

Icon libraries

Design specifications for frontend developers to produce needed live code

Branding materials or guidelines supplementing each product

4. User/UX researchers – Researchers interested in human psychology, focusing on understanding and advocating for users.

Understand users deeply through qualitative research

Develop realistic understandings of specific user traits through quantitative research

Analyze gathered user data to synthesize key findings and make design proposals

Advocate to other internal stakeholders for users’ needs and perspectives

Help inform product goals by presenting research findings to relevant internal stakeholders

Test and improve designs using evaluative research – e.g., usability testing

User stories

“How might we” statements

Reports: user research, usability, heuristic evaluation and user testing

5. Content strategists – Skilled in copywriting to create persuasive, clear, consistent copy (during prototyping) to appear directly on products.

Write copy so users can navigate, use and troubleshoot user-interface products easily

Create effective page titles and navigation menu item names so users can intuitively access desired pages/screens

Write simple, effective and blame-free error messages to assure users

Craft effective emails and newsletters to achieve product goals

Weave cohesive narratives throughout products to express a consistent tone of voice and direction for users

Define and maintain a vision for each product’s language for across-the-board application

Copy (incorporated into products)

Editorial/product language guidelines, setting each product’s tone and content style

6. UX unicorns (aka UX engineers) – A rare breed handling UX design and frontend development.

Develop live frontend prototypes for realistic usability testing

Implement frontend code

Frontend prototypes

Ready-for-launch frontend code

UX Roles at Work

Organizations’ definitions of UX roles vary. While these shouldn’t deviate drastically from those listed above, you should research a brand’s culture to understand its expectations. For instance, recruiters scanning UX portfolios may want a “UX designer” to handle all UX-related tasks. Applicants would then address that in their UX cover letters and UX resumes . Also, with the industry’s dynamic nature, expect to constantly find new job titles, job descriptions and UX tools . Nonetheless, your knowledge remains timeless – you just must adapt to whatever hat your company wants you to wear.

Learn More about UX Roles

Take our UX Portfolio course to understand which UX roles fit whom.

Skillcrush staff writer Scott Morris offers many insights on UX roles .

For fascinating observations , read senior industrial designer Per Magnus Skold’s approach to UX roles.

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Which role primarily aligns the product development team with business goals, and manages the product roadmap to guarantee the team meets customer and market needs?

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Literature on UX Roles

Here’s the entire UX literature on UX Roles by the Interaction Design Foundation, collated in one place:

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Take a deep dive into UX Roles with our course How to Create a UX Portfolio .

Did you know the average UX recruiter spends less than 5 minutes skimming through your UX portfolio? If you want to join the growing and well-paid field of UX design, not only do you need a UX portfolio— you’ll need a great UX portfolio that showcases relevant skills and knowledge . Your UX portfolio will help you get your first job interviews and freelance clients, and it will also force you to stay relevant in your UX career. In other words, no matter what point you’re at in your UX career, you’re going to need a UX portfolio that’s in tip-top condition.

So, how do you build an enticing UX portfolio, especially if you’ve got no prior experience in UX design? Well, that’s exactly what you’ll learn in this course! You’ll cover everything so you can start from zero and end up with an incredible UX portfolio . For example, you’ll walk through the various UX job roles, since you can’t begin to create your portfolio without first understanding which job role you want to apply for! You’ll also learn how to create your first case studies for your portfolio even if you have no prior UX design work experience. You’ll even learn how to navigate non-disclosure agreements and create visuals for your UX case studies.

By the end of this practical, how to oriented course, you’ll have the skills needed to create your personal online UX portfolio site and PDF UX portfolio. You’ll receive tips and insights from recruiters and global UX design leads from SAP, Oracle and Google to give you an edge over your fellow candidates. You’ll learn how to craft your UX case studies so they’re compelling and relevant, and you’ll also learn how to engage recruiters through the use of Freytag’s dramatic structure and 8 killer tips to write effectively. What’s more, you’ll get to download and keep more than 10 useful templates and samples that will guide you closely as you craft your UX portfolio. To sum it up, if you want to create a UX portfolio and land your first job in the industry, this is the course for you!

All open-source articles on UX Roles

The ultimate guide to understanding ux roles and which one you should go for.

Product Design and UX Design Roles: Unveiling the Differences

What Does a UX Strategist Do?

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UX Designer Job Titles

Explore the most popular job titles, career levels, and alternative careers for UX Designers

Getting Started as a UX Designer

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• How to Become
• Certifications
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• LinkedIn Guide
• Interview Questions
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• Professional Goals
• Resume Examples
• Cover Letter Examples

Types of UX Designer Jobs

Junior ux designer, ux designer, senior ux designer, director of ux.

• VP of User Experience

Chief Experience Officer (CXO)

Ux designer job title hierarchy, ux design intern.

• Associate UX Designer
• UX Design Assistant

Interaction Designer

• User Interface Designer
• User Experience Analyst
• Lead UX Designer
• UX/UI Designer
• User Researcher
• UX Design Team Lead
• Principal UX Designer
• UX Design Director
• Head of UX Design
• Chief Experience Officer

Top UX Designer Job Titles by Level

Entry level job titles, ui/ux designer, ux research assistant, product designer, mid level job titles, information architect, ux researcher, visual designer, senior level job titles, director level job titles, director of ux design, director of ux strategy, director of ux research, director of interaction design, director of ux operations, vp level job titles, vice president of user experience, vp of product design, vp of design and innovation, vp of user research, vp of ux operations, how to advance your current ux designer title, hone your research and analytics proficiency, master collaboration and communication, invest in continuous skill development, champion a user-centric approach, develop strategic thinking and leadership, similar ux designer careers & titles, ui designer, faqs about ux designer titles, how do ux designer job titles vary across industries, are there any emerging job titles for ux designers that are gaining popularity, which ux designer job title has the highest salary potential.

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World Leaders in Research-Based User Experience

What a ux career looks like today.

April 19, 2020 2020-04-19

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We recently published the 2nd edition of our User Experience Careers report, 7 years after the 1st edition was published. Our report is free and a gift to the UX community.

The 2nd edition is based on several research studies carried out in 2019 and is based on responses from over 700 UX professionals . They included an online survey completed by 693 people, 2 focus groups, and 17 remote, semi-structured interviews, all carried out with UX professionals around the world.

In This Article:

What hasn’t changed, what’s new, changing careers, advice for new ux practitioners, the full report.

UX practitioners are just as satisfied with their careers as they were in 2013; career satisfaction got an identical rating of 5.4 on a 1–7 scale (where 1 was completely dissatisfied, and 7 was completely satisfied). (The 95% confidence interval was from 5.27 to 5.46.) The comments around career satisfaction were grouped into these main reasons why people love their career in UX:

• Enjoying the process and the work
• Seeing the impact of their work
• Receiving recognition for their work
• Having opportunities to grow and excel

Job titles are almost as varied as they were in our original study, with our 2019 survey respondents reporting 134 unique job titles related to UX (slightly down from the 210 job titles reported in 2013, but we’re still far from any agreement on job titles). Likewise, the backgrounds of UX practitioners are still as diverse as they were in 2013, although one thing was common: the majority had a degree. This finding was also present in the 2013 study.

Industries hiring UX practitioners and the kinds of things UX practitioners work on are also much the same. For example, IT and software is still the largest hiring industry , followed by the finance and insurance industry, and consulting agencies. We did see some increase in the amount of work being done on mobile applications since 2013, and some UX practitioners are now working on AI products.

Finally, soft skills are still the most important skill set in gaining a job in the field and succeeding in it. While hard skills are desirable, hiring managers and UX practitioners alike see soft skills as a core requirement for a career in the field.

(For more information about our research with UX careers in 2013 , see the article we published then.)

Since our first edition was published in 2013, UX has emerged as a field in many more countries around the world. In our most recent study, we received responses from 65 different countries, compared to 38 countries in our original study. We also had a larger representation of non-English speaking countries , which could be an indicator of how the UX field has grown outside of the Western world over the 6-year period between studies.

Our new report also analyzes the difference between UX roles, particularly between researchers, designers, and generalists. Although specialization is not new to the field, we had not performed this analysis in 2013. Some highlights of the differences between researchers and designers are given below.

The Designer Role in a Snapshot

Those with a UX designer role often have a broad range of responsibilities : from designing prototypes to collaborating with subject-matter experts or carrying out qualitative usability tests . Designers tend to have a design-related education and have skills in using prototyping tools and performing visual design. Many have front-end–coding skills.

One of our survey respondents had this to say about working as UX designer:

“The role of UX designer is a dream job for creative people who love to invent and get products into people’s hands. In the best environments, it’s pure creativity and invention, which is mostly unattainable with any other role.”

The Researcher Role in a Snapshot

Those with a UX researcher role are likely to have fewer responsibilities than designers, focusing on UX research , as opposed to information architecture, content strategy, or any kind of design work. Researchers tend to have fairly strong communication skills , used for either writing or public speaking — much more so than designers. They’re less likely to have front-end coding skills in HTML and CSS.

A UX researcher had this to say about the role:

“I really love what I do as a UX researcher. I really love the process of understanding the problem space, learning about the different people we design products and services for, and synthesizing those findings to help guide designers and product managers.”

Our research also explored the experience of people transitioning into a career in UX from different fields. Since the field is still growing , anyone who is interested in and suited to the field can get a job in UX. Some of our survey, focus-group, and interview participants had previous careers before transitioning to UX . Their experience and knowledge of other fields, they believed, were helpful in getting into the UX field and in being capable and effective in their roles, as well as excelling quickly.

In some cases, it’s possible to slowly start doing UX at your organization without having to leave and find a new job. Several of our participants had this type of transition, and it’s probably a wise strategy as there is less of a requirement to prove your experience for the role. A participant in our interviews — a product designer from Nigeria — explained that he learned UX while working as a freelance graphic designer.

“Actually, I even learnt on the job, so I was freelancing prior to joining [name of employer], and so I had to convince clients, let's do user research! Let's not dive straight into design! And when I was able to do that, I was able to learn on the job.”

He was then able to apply for a role at a different company as a product designer with evidence in his portfolio that he had done user-centered design.

We asked all of our participants if they had any advice for people new to the field. The top pieces of advice were:

• Keep learning and stay curious. Several participants mentioned continuous learning, which can be built up through reading, asking questions, and applying concepts to your own work.
• Respect others. There’s no room in UX for an overinflated ego and lack of respect. Being able to listen, collaborate, and appreciate others and their roles were listed as incredibly important traits of a successful UX practitioner.
• Be confident. Imposter syndrome and low confidence can get in the way of voicing your point of view, and may impact the ability to advocate best for users. But our participants advised to speak up and not to worry about asking silly questions, because these will pay off.
• Be in charge of your own career. Having a career in UX is not always perfectly defined. Our respondents advised UX practitioners to consider their strengths and weaknesses and be motivated to take their own career progression into their own hands.

The full report, User Experience Careers: What a Career in UX Looks Like Today , is free and available for download.

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UX Researcher Job Description Template

A good UX researcher must have the ability to find out what consumers need from a product. They must be able to conduct research in the following areas: primary, secondary, quantitative and qualitative, market, and ethnographic. UX researchers understand consumer motivation and behavior and work with cross-functional teams such as Product Design, Product Management, and Product Development.

Trusted by leading brands and startups

Watch the case study

UX researchers play a critical role in the design process. They are responsible for providing answers to challenging and often unexplored questions about a product’s design. To do this, the UX researcher will conduct several types of research, work with cross-functional teams, and play a significant role in assisting the entire user experience (UX) team in ensuring that the consumer has an experience with a product that is fun, intuitive, accessible, and joyful.

To identify a great UX researcher, it is necessary to employ an effective recruiting process that covers the different types of research available, tools used for UX research, research plans, presenting solutions, and how to continue to inform the design process after the launch of a product.

Because the field is still new and expanding and there are only a small number of educational programs specific to UX research, a lot of UX researchers will have relevant job experience without accompanying educational degrees or certificates.

UX Researcher Job Description and Ad Template

Copy this template, and modify it as your own:

Company Introduction

{{Write a short and catchy paragraph about your company. Make sure to provide information about the company’s culture, perks, and benefits. Include office hours, remote working possibilities, and anything else you think makes your company interesting.}}

Job Description

We are looking for an experienced UX researcher to join our team. You will be responsible for helping define and drive the future of our products. You will reveal what our users need from our products by conducting research, working with cross-functional teams, and performing usability studies. These responsibilities also include inspiring change, delivering oral and written presentations, evaluating qualitative and quantitative data, and helping the UX team better understand what would make a user’s experience more intuitive, accessible, and seamless. {{Add any specific experience here.}}

Responsibilities

• Conduct primary and secondary user research.
• Conduct and evaluate quantitative and qualitative research.
• Perform market and ethnographic research.
• Work closely with cross-functional teams to identify and evaluate research topics.
• Plan and implement user research strategies and methodologies.
• Advocate research findings to diverse audiences through written and oral presentations.
• Mentor and coach junior UX researchers on the team.
• Perform usability studies with consumers.
• Ask questions, gather data, and analyze data.
• Use a diverse set of UX research tools.
• {{Add other relevant responsibilities here}}

Requirements

• Five or more years of UX research experience
• Bachelor’s or MS in a human behavior related field (or equivalent and demonstrable work experience)
• Ability to quickly and effectively share research results
• Ability to perform all research-related tasks including research, planning, evaluating, and iteration
• Ability to formulate specific, answerable, and practical questions
• Ability to collaborate effectively with stakeholders and act as a strategic partner in product decisions
• Experience with remote testing tools
• A strong desire for creative problem-solving with a positive attitude
• Excellent time-management skills
• {{List education level or certification you require}}

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Find the right ux research interview questions.

Read a list of great community-driven UX Research interview questions. Read them, comment on them, or even contribute your own.

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Toptal is a marketplace for clients to find top user experience researchers from around the world. Each Toptal freelance UX research consultant is thoroughly vetted and trusted by top companies for their most critical UX research design projects.

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Lander is a UX design expert with over 15 years of experience helping companies conceptualize, design, and launch easy-to-use products and services through research and strategy. He works worldwide with corporations, governments, and startups helping them grow their products and services.

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Arthur helps transform clients' online presence with high-impact web designs that drive conversions. He creates refined, sophisticated, and premium designs, and his process-driven approach to web creation is meticulous, leveraging data and research at every stage. Arthur ensures that your brand is optimized for what really matters.

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Renowned for blending innovation with usability, Zel excels in digital product design, focusing primarily on health insurance and fintech sectors. With over a decade in the industry, Zel has collaborated with top-tier enterprises and YC-backed startups such as SafetyWing, Habitual, Sasol, Vitality, Discovery Limited, Accenture, and Goodpoint. Dedicated to crafting user-centered design, Zel continuously enhances the digital landscape, delivering joy and simplicity through each project.

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