Jess Nichols
Globally-focused UX Research Lead & Manager
Certified Scrum Product Owner (2015) | E3 Eligible | Download resume
work experience
Sydney, Australia
Senior UX Researcher
2022 - present
Google Maps - with a focus on Urban Mobility.
More to come
A Cloud Guru
A pluralsight company
Melbourne, Australia
Principal, Research & Insights
fmr. Manager, UX Research
2020 - 2022
2021 - 2022 | Principal, Research & Insights
Leading research to guide the experience strategy of A Cloud Guru’s acquisition to Pluralsight.
Led strategic research to support business objectives, align teams and prioritize focus on key opportunity areas in Cloud Skills. This included defining core 'Jobs to be Done' for Cloud customers and leading foundational research to kickstart strategic Cloud Skills initiatives.
2020 - 2021 | Manager, User Experience Research
Building a user experience research capability to teach the world to cloud.
Build and manage a user research team with one direct report to enable high impact of research projects to support individual career growth.
Led Strategic Research initiatives to build a foundational understanding of key audience groups to drive organizational-wide shared understanding impact; both through exploratory research and benchmarking surveys.
Created and implemented Research Operations processes including repositories, best practice guidelines, project tracking and incentives management to streamline efficiency and bring visibility to research across the broader ACG team.
Dovetail
Sydney, Australia
User Research Lead
2020
Researching researchers to help them look like superheroes to their stakeholders.
First full-time research hire for Dovetail responsible for mitigating business risk through research, community outreach and thought leadership.
Led extensive foundational research to define the research ecosystem, build a shared understanding and create user needs, personas and journeys to articulate the research process. Outcomes defined FY2021 Product Strategy.
Defined all research operations processes, including repository (including 300+ atomic insights), ‘Insights Community’ customer panel including 400+ users, defining onboarding processes to build stronger empathy for the research process, and primary community management and support of 1000+ customers in Slack community.
Contributed thought leadership through Webinar with Academy XI, guest lecture at the University of Sydney (DECO2200), and articles to Dovetail’s 'Method in Madness' publication.
San Francisco, CA
Senior User Researcher & User Research Manager
2018 - 2020
Manage user research for Twitter’s Revenue Experience & Core Advertiser products. Lead user research for strategic revenue initiatives. Led operationalization of Design Sprints at Twitter. Transitioned from Individual Contributor to Manager in 2019.
Managing user research team of five across core advertiser experience, ensuring continual prioritization, resource allocation & maintaining high impact of research projects to support individual career growth
Planning and development of career & performance management through identifying and enabling opportunities for research team members to learn hard skills and soft skills to be set up for success as a researcher
Build a research team culture through creating team norms, relationships both through formal and informal activities
Lead hiring for high performing researchers, growing the team from one to four researchers in three months.
Manage research prioritization, collaborating with & influencing cross-functional partners (engineering, product, design, sales) to align on broader strategic objectives and needs.
Design and implement research strategy and processes to improve efficiency and build strategic partnerships
Executed and managed research across strategic/foundational, qualitative research, and product focused research for advertisers & brands, leading to product and process improvements within Twitter’s advertiser experience
Led operationalization of Design Sprints methodology at Twitter through program management and vendor relationship management
Uber Freight
San Francisco, CA
User Researcher II
2017 - 2018
Led qualitative research activities across shippers, carriers, drivers & internal teams to understand current experiences, pain points, and opportunities. Focused on planning, executing and synthesizing exploratory and evaluative research.
First full-time UX Research hire – responsible for leading qualitative research across four product offerings for both exploratory and evaluative methodologies across the continental US.
Defined and executed UXR strategy including process development, team development strategies and recruitment management; including buy-in and support across multiple teams.
Operations team research identified opportunities that led to the development of new product teams and increased overall team efficiency by >5%.
Researching findings for Uber Freight app features supported extensive growth in key Uber Freight metrics, including increasing LPD (loads per day) through unlocking opportunities by identifying inefficiencies.
Deloitte Digital
Sydney, Australia & San Francisco, CA
Research Lead (Senior Consultant)
2010 - 2017
Delivered and managed customer experience strategies, research insights, personas, customer journeys & agile documentation. Responsible for leading/mentoring teams in executing research and user experience activities.
Digitally enabled thousands of Oil & Gas distributors to purchase billions of dollars of fuels and lubricants across the globe (including US/Canada, South East Asia and Europe).
Helped 3.2 million Australians a month find postal products through a redesign of the national Postal Service’s website.
Enabled 4 million Kentuckians to purchase ACA health insurance using their mobile.
Instigated the creation of Telco mobile app – used by millions of Telco customers daily (including launching a $1M partnership between client & Deloitte)
Ensured hundreds of beverage company’s global distributors and staff could find the right material to support their marketing and sales efforts.
Research Lead for Digital Vision, Strategy and Journey Map creation for a direct to consumer MLM organization’s global digital transformation e-commerce project to increase online adoption for 15k global distributors; including embedded research in the US and Thailand.
Usability tested implementation of department store tablet experience, including working with translators to capture insights from Mexico-based employees.
Education
B.InfoTech
With Distinction
University of Technology, Sydney
2007 - 2009
The Bachelor of Information Technology (BIT) Co-operative Scholarship Program attracts high-achieving IT students and is regarded as one of Australia’s leading IT programs. Participating in the program involves funding a scholarship for three years and providing practical workplace experience for two semesters.
US Equivalent: Bachelor of Science in Information Technology
philanthropy
Awesome Foundation Sydney
Founding Trustee
2011 - 2013
The Awesome Foundation provides $1000 monthly grants with no strings attached and claims no ownership over the projects it supports. It is a micro-genius grant for flashes of micro-brilliance.
I was one of the founding board members for the Sydney Chapter. I also presented at Ignite Sydney, Idea Bombing Sydney and Social Innovation Sydney about our awesomeness. Throughout my time with the Awesome Foundation, I personally donated $2200 to support 22 grants, ranging from 80s aerobics nights, public ping pong tables and pop-up music events.