What you will accomplish in this roleWe're looking for a User Researcher to help us understand the people at the center of healthcare-their needs, experiences, workflows, and challenges-and turn that understanding into better products and experiences. You'll work with users ranging from clinicians and hospital staff to healthcare leaders, patients, and consumers.
You'll partner closely with Design, Product, Engineering, and other teams to identify the questions that matter, choose the right research approach, and translate complex findings into clear insights and recommendations that drive product, design, and strategic decisions. We're looking for someone who can own research end to end while creating clarity, alignment, and action across teams.
We also value researchers who make, prototype, and experiment. You'll have opportunities to use emerging AI-enabled design and development tools to quickly turn ideas into experiences we can learn from. You don't need to be an engineer, but you should be curious about technology, eager to learn new tools, and interested in getting closer to how products are designed and built.
You'll report to the Director of Design Research.
25% travel required
What You'll Do:- Own research end to end. Partner with cross-functional teams to understand business and product questions, define research objectives, develop research plans, conduct studies, synthesize findings, and communicate recommendations.
- Choose the right research for the question. Determine which methods and approaches will provide the strongest evidence rather than defaulting to a particular methodology.
- Understand complex healthcare experiences and workflows. Develop a deep understanding of how people work, make decisions, navigate systems, and experience healthcare across digital and real-world environments.
- Turn research into action. Translate complex research findings into clear insights and recommendations that help teams make product, design, and strategic decisions.
- Communicate research effectively. Tell compelling, evidence-based stories that make research understandable and useful to different audiences-from designers and product teams to clinical partners and organizational leadership.
- Create alignment through research. Facilitate workshops, research readouts, working sessions, and other collaborative activities that help teams make sense of what we've learned and determine what to do next.
- Partner throughout the product development process. Work alongside designers, product managers, engineers, analytics partners, clinical experts, and business stakeholders to identify where research can have the greatest impact.
- Prototype to learn with emerging tools. Create or contribute to prototypes that make ideas tangible and help us learn from users earlier-from simple concepts to functional experiences. Experiment with AI-enabled design and development tools, such as Lovable, to rapidly explore ideas, test hypotheses, and support research.
- Develop technical fluency. Build an understanding of how the products you research are designed, engineered, and delivered. Ask questions, learn from engineering partners, and use that understanding to make research more grounded and actionable.
- Performs other duties as assigned
- Practices and adheres to the "Code of Conduct" philosophy and "Mission and Value Statement."
What qualifications you will need:- 7+ years of experience in user research
- Bachelor's degree required or equivalent
- Experience independently planning and conducting user research across products or services from idea to deployed software.
- Strong grounding in qualitative research methods, with the ability to determine what methods are appropriate based on the needs.
- Experience conducting both generative and evaluative research, from exploring unmet needs and complex workflows to evaluating concepts, prototypes, and experiences.
- Ability to take ambiguous or complex questions and turn them into focused, actionable research plans.
- Strong synthesis and analytical skills, with the ability to identify patterns, distinguish signal from noise, and connect individual observations to broader insights.
- Ability to translate research into clear, actionable recommendations rather than stopping at findings.
- Strong communication and storytelling skills, including experience presenting research to cross-functional partners and stakeholders with different levels of familiarity with research.
- Experience facilitating workshops, research readouts, or collaborative working sessions that help teams understand findings and move toward decisions.
- Demonstrated ability to build strong partnerships with Design, Product, Engineering, and other cross-functional teams.
- Experience creating prototypes-or a demonstrated interest and willingness to learn how-to explore ideas, test hypotheses, and support research.
- Curiosity about how technology works and a willingness to develop greater technical fluency through hands-on experimentation and partnership with engineers.
- Comfort working independently while collaborating closely with other researchers and partners.
- Ability to manage multiple research efforts and priorities in a complex organization.
- A portfolio, case studies, or examples that demonstrate how your research influenced a product, experience, service, or strategic decision.
- Experience in user research or equivalent roles e.g., user experience design or product design
Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, Behaviors:- Service and Quality Excellence: Ability to demonstrate an uncompromising commitment to delivering exceptional care to create an unmatched value proposition for our patients required
- Honor our Mission and Values: Ability to build trust and act with authenticity to cultivate a culture of integrity, inclusion, and mutual respect required
- Effective Decision Making: Ability to make timely, informed decisions that are in the best interest of our patients, employees, providers, community and HCA required
- Attain and Leverage Strategic Relationships: Ability to develop and strengthen collaborative relationships with both internal and external stakeholders to advance the care of our patients and the growth of HCA required
- Lead and Develop Others: Ability to lead others to accomplish organizational goals and objectives; provide meaningful coaching and mentoring to increase the capabilities of individuals and teams and drive employee engagement required
- Communicate with Impact: Ability to deliver information in a clear, concise, and compelling manner to effectively engage others and achieve desired results required
- Achieve Success through Change: Ability to identify opportunities for improvement and innovation, remove barriers and resistance, and enable desired behaviors required
- Drive Execution and Financial Results: Ability to commit to the success and financial wellbeing of HCA by challenging others to excel and hold themselves and others accountable for achieving results required
Preferred Experience:- Experience conducting research in healthcare, health technology, clinical environments, or other complex and/or regulated industries.
- Experience researching complex workflows involving multiple roles, systems, processes, or organizational constraints.
- Experience conducting contextual or observational research in real-world environments.
- Experience conducting research with clinicians, healthcare professionals, operational staff, organizational leaders, patients, or consumers.
- Experience designing or prototyping digital experiences, particularly prototypes that go beyond static screens and allow users to meaningfully interact with an experience.
- Experience using AI-assisted design, coding, or prototyping tools e.g., Lovable or similar tools.
- Familiarity with software development concepts and the ability to collaborate effectively with engineers. Coding experience is welcomed but not required.
- Experience using mixed-method approaches and incorporating quantitative data, surveys, analytics, or other sources of evidence alongside qualitative research.
- Experience working within a mature design organization or alongside multidisciplinary product teams.
At HCA Healthcare, we are committed to fostering a culture of growth that allows you to build the career of a lifetime. We encourage you to apply for our Senior UX Researcher today. We review all applications promptly, and qualified candidates will be contacted to continue the process. Join us!
