Senior Design Researcher

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Design Researcher Company: Philips Location: Eindhoven, North Brabant, Netherlands (Hybrid) Job Type: Part-time Category: Design Research & Service Experience Date Posted: 2025-12-22 Experience Level: Mid-Senior (5-10 years) Remote Status: Hybrid (3 days in office)

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead in-depth user research and usability testing to uncover and disseminate critical customer and employee insights, directly influencing service innovation.
• Drive the development of user-centered service experiences by initiating and executing comprehensive analysis and research activities across user journeys, personas, and service systems.
• Apply creative expertise at a program level, specializing in health services and embedding scalable knowledge and practices within complex service ecosystems.
• Foster co-creation and cross-functional collaboration among design, business stakeholders, and service teams to enhance collective understanding and drive innovative, implementable solutions.
• Navigate complex project constraints, including budget and time limitations, while upholding high-quality standards for user research and usability testing.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned within the Service Experience Design team at Philips, a health technology company. The focus is on shaping end-to-end customer lifecycles within healthcare, emphasizing a deep understanding of both front-line and back-office user needs. The role requires a blend of strategic research leadership and hands-on execution within a multi-disciplinary design environment.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Initiate and conduct comprehensive user research (e.g., interviews, surveys, contextual inquiry) to identify unmet needs and opportunities within healthcare service ecosystems.
• Plan and execute rigorous usability testing on digital and physical service touchpoints and end-to-end journeys to validate design solutions and enhance user satisfaction.
• Develop and present compelling user insights, personas, journey maps, and service blueprints to cross-functional teams and stakeholders, fostering a shared understanding of user needs.
• Collaborate closely with UX designers, service designers, product managers, and business stakeholders to translate research findings into actionable design recommendations and innovative service concepts.
• Contribute specialized expertise in health services research, understanding regulatory considerations, clinical workflows, and the unique needs of healthcare professionals and patients.
• Champion a 'customer-first' mindset and methodology across the organization, influencing stakeholders and driving alignment on user-centered priorities.
• Manage research projects from initiation to completion, including defining research objectives, selecting appropriate methodologies, managing budgets, and adhering to timelines.
• Continuously seek to improve design quality and user experience by providing constructive feedback and advocating for best practices in design research and usability.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a strong emphasis on end-to-end service design and research within the complex healthcare domain. The role requires influencing stakeholders at scale and embedding a user-centric approach throughout the product and service development lifecycle.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education:

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Design Research, Psychology, Anthropology, Sociology, or a related field. Advanced degrees are often preferred for senior-level research positions.

Experience:

• 5-10 years of progressive experience in user research, service design research, or UX research, with a significant portion focused on complex service ecosystems and digital product development.
• Proven experience leading research initiatives from discovery through to validation, demonstrating a clear impact on program outcomes.
• Demonstrated ability to understand and map complex service ecosystems, including various touchpoints, platforms, and applications.

Required Skills:

• User Research Methodologies: Expertise in a wide range of qualitative and quantitative research methods, including in-depth interviews, contextual inquiry, ethnography, surveys, diary studies, and competitive analysis.
• Usability Testing: Proficient in planning, conducting, and analyzing usability tests for various prototypes and live products, identifying key issues and recommending solutions.
• Service Design: Strong understanding of service design principles, tools, and techniques, with the ability to map service blueprints and understand system interdependencies.
• Customer Insights & Persona Development: Ability to synthesize research data into actionable insights, user personas, journey maps, and other artifacts that inform design and business strategy.
• Cross-functional Collaboration: Excellent communication and interpersonal skills to effectively collaborate with diverse teams (design, engineering, product management, marketing, business) and influence stakeholders.
• Design Methodologies: Familiarity with various design thinking and agile methodologies, and the ability to integrate research seamlessly into these processes.
• Creative Problem-Solving: Ability to approach complex problems with creative thinking and develop innovative solutions based on user needs.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Proven ability to engage with and influence stakeholders at various levels, building consensus and driving user-centric decision-making.

Preferred Skills:

• Health Services Domain Expertise: Specific experience in healthcare research, understanding clinical workflows, patient journeys, and the regulatory environment.
• Advanced Analytics: Proficiency in analyzing survey data, usage metrics, and other quantitative data to complement qualitative findings.
• Prototyping & Design Tools: Familiarity with prototyping tools (e.g., Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD) and design software to better understand and communicate design concepts.
• Storytelling & Presentation Skills: Exceptional ability to craft compelling narratives around research findings and present them effectively to diverse audiences.
• Co-creation Facilitation: Experience facilitating co-creation workshops and design sprints with internal and external participants.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "fuzzy front-end" research and the need to influence at scale suggests a senior role requiring strategic thinking and strong advocacy for the user. Experience in healthcare is a significant advantage, given Philips' industry.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Showcase at least 2-3 comprehensive case studies demonstrating end-to-end user research and design validation impact on service experiences.
• Clearly articulate the research problem, methodologies employed, key insights generated, and how these insights directly influenced design decisions and business outcomes.
• Highlight experience with complex service ecosystems, illustrating how you mapped and understood interdependencies between digital and physical touchpoints.
• Include examples of user personas, journey maps, service blueprints, and usability testing reports that demonstrate your analytical and synthesis capabilities.
• Showcase instances where you successfully influenced cross-functional teams and stakeholders with research findings, driving a customer-first mindset.

Process Documentation:

• Document the process of identifying user needs at the 'fuzzy front-end' of a program, detailing how you moved from ambiguity to well-defined user requirements.
• Demonstrate your approach to integrating user research and usability testing throughout the design and development lifecycle, from concept to prototype validation.
• Provide examples of how you translated qualitative and quantitative research data into actionable design recommendations and strategic input for service innovation.
• Illustrate your methods for ensuring high-quality research standards are maintained, even within complex project constraints (budget, time).

📝 Enhancement Note: A strong portfolio is crucial for this role, as it serves as tangible proof of the candidate's ability to lead research, generate impactful insights, and influence design and business strategy within complex environments like healthcare services.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range:

• Estimated Range: €65,000 - €95,000 per year (gross) for a Senior Design Researcher in Eindhoven/Amsterdam, Netherlands, based on current market data for comparable roles and experience levels. This is a part-time role, so the actual salary would be prorated accordingly.

Benefits:

• Health Insurance: Comprehensive health insurance coverage provided by Philips.
• Pension Plan: Generous pension scheme contributions.
• Paid Time Off: Generous annual leave entitlement, plus public holidays.
• Professional Development: Opportunities for training, workshops, conferences, and certifications to enhance design research skills.
• Employee Assistance Program: Access to confidential counseling and support services.
• Discount Programs: Potential for discounts on Philips products and services.
• Flexible Working: While the role is hybrid, Philips typically offers flexibility in working hours where operational needs allow.

Working Hours:

• This is a part-time position. The exact number of hours per week will be specified in the offer, but it is expected to be less than the standard 40 hours. Philips generally operates on a standard 40-hour work week for full-time employees, with flexibility often available.

📝 Enhancement Note: Salary is estimated based on industry benchmarks for similar Senior Design Researcher roles in the Netherlands, considering the hybrid work arrangement and part-time nature of the role. Benefits are typical for a large multinational corporation like Philips.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Health Technology. Philips is a global leader in health technology, focusing on improving people's lives through meaningful innovation. Their work spans diagnostic imaging, connected care, personal health, and other areas, aiming to make healthcare more accessible and effective. Company Size: Large Enterprise (over 10,000 employees globally). This means established processes, a global presence, and opportunities for diverse career paths, but also potentially more hierarchical structures. Founded: 1891. Philips has a long and rich history of innovation, evolving from a lighting company to a major health technology player. This history instills a culture of long-term vision and continuous adaptation.

Team Structure:

• The Service Experience Design team is part of the broader Philips Design community, known for its award-winning work.
• This team is multi-disciplinary, comprising UX designers, service designers, user researchers, and usability experts.
• The Senior Design Researcher will work within this team, likely reporting to a Design Lead or Manager, and collaborating closely with other designers and cross-functional partners (e.g., product management, engineering, business units).
• The team operates with a "customer-first" mindset, aiming to understand the entire customer lifecycle for healthcare partners.

Methodology:

• Data-Driven Innovation: Research findings are central to driving innovation and shaping service experiences.
• Customer-Centricity: A strong emphasis on understanding and addressing the needs of both healthcare professionals and patients.
• Holistic Design: Considering the entire service ecosystem and its interdependencies, not just isolated touchpoints.
• Co-creation: Encouraging collaborative approaches between design, business, and service teams to foster shared understanding and drive solutions.
• Agile & Design Thinking Integration: Research is expected to be integrated into agile development processes and design thinking frameworks.

Company Website: https://www.philips.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: Philips' commitment to health technology and its long history suggest a culture that values innovation, quality, and long-term impact. The Service Experience Design team operates within this framework, focusing on user-centricity and cross-functional collaboration.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This is a Senior-level position within the Design Research function, focusing on service experience. It implies a significant level of autonomy, expertise, and the ability to lead research initiatives and influence strategy. It's a role that requires not just execution but also strategic input and mentorship.

Reporting Structure: The Senior Design Researcher will likely report to a Design Lead or Manager within the Service Experience Design team. They will collaborate extensively with other designers, product managers, engineers, and business stakeholders across various healthcare solution groups.

Operations Impact: The core impact of this role is to ensure that Philips' healthcare services are designed with a deep understanding of user needs, leading to more effective, efficient, and satisfying experiences for healthcare professionals and patients. This directly contributes to Philips' mission of improving lives through health technology and enhances customer loyalty and market competitiveness.

Growth Opportunities:

• Specialization: Deepen expertise in specific areas of health services research, such as diagnostic imaging user workflows, connected care patient monitoring, or personal health management.
• Leadership: Progress into a Lead Design Researcher role, managing a team of researchers, or a Design Manager position, overseeing broader design initiatives.
• Cross-functional Mobility: Transition into roles within Service Design, UX Design, Product Management, or even business strategy within Philips' healthcare divisions.
• Mentorship: Mentor junior researchers and designers, contributing to the growth of the design community within Philips.
• Global Impact: Contribute to projects with global reach, influencing the design of healthcare solutions used worldwide.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Senior" title and the emphasis on influencing at scale indicate a pathway for career advancement within Philips' design and innovation functions, particularly within the critical health technology sector.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Hybrid. Employees are expected to be in the office at least 3 days per week, with the remaining days offering flexibility for remote work. This promotes collaboration and team cohesion while allowing for personal work preferences.

Office Location(s): The role can be based in either the Amsterdam office or the high-tech campus in Eindhoven, Netherlands. Both locations are significant hubs for Philips' operations and innovation.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Environment: The hybrid model and emphasis on co-creation suggest an office designed for collaboration, with meeting rooms, breakout spaces, and shared work areas.
• Tools and Technology: Access to standard office technology, design software, research tools, and potentially specialized equipment relevant to health technology research.
• Team Interaction: Opportunities for regular face-to-face interaction with the Service Experience Design team and other cross-functional colleagues, fostering a strong team dynamic and knowledge sharing.

Work Schedule:

• The role is part-time, meaning fewer than 40 hours per week. The specific schedule will be negotiated, but the hybrid nature allows for some flexibility in managing work hours, balancing office attendance with personal commitments. The expectation is that office days will be used for collaborative activities.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid work model is a key aspect of the work environment, balancing in-person collaboration with remote flexibility. The choice between Eindhoven and Amsterdam offers geographical options within the Netherlands.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

1. Initial Screening: A recruiter or hiring manager will review your application and resume, assessing your overall fit and experience.
2. Hiring Manager Interview: A discussion focused on your background, experience, and understanding of user research and service design principles, particularly within complex domains like healthcare.
3. Portfolio Review & Presentation: You will be asked to present a selection of your best work. This is a critical step where you'll walk through 2-3 case studies, detailing your process, insights, and impact. Be prepared to discuss your methodologies, challenges, and how you collaborated.
4. Cross-functional/Team Interview: Interviews with potential colleagues (e.g., UX designers, service designers, product managers) to assess your collaboration style, communication skills, and ability to integrate into the team.
5. Final Interview: Potentially with a senior leader, focusing on strategic thinking, leadership potential, and alignment with Philips' culture and mission.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate Strategically: Select 3-4 projects that best showcase your end-to-end research process, from discovery to validation, and demonstrate impact on service experience. Prioritize projects relevant to healthcare or complex service ecosystems.
• Tell a Story: Structure each case study as a narrative: the problem/opportunity, your approach, the insights, the solutions influenced, and the outcomes. Quantify impact wherever possible.
• Highlight Methodologies: Clearly explain why you chose specific research methods and how they helped answer critical questions.
• Showcase Synthesis: Demonstrate your ability to translate raw data into clear, actionable insights and strategic recommendations.
• Emphasize Collaboration: Discuss how you worked with cross-functional teams and stakeholders, and how you influenced their decisions.
• Be Ready for Deep Dives: Expect questions about your decision-making process, challenges faced, and alternative approaches you considered.

Challenge Preparation:

• Be prepared for a potential design research or service design challenge, either as a take-home assignment or a live exercise.
• If a take-home challenge is given, understand the scope and timeline clearly. Focus on applying your core research skills to a relevant problem.
• If a live exercise is presented, focus on your thinking process, how you break down a problem, and how you would approach research and validation. Clearly articulate your assumptions and the steps you'd take.
• Practice presenting your work concisely and engagingly, anticipating questions about your process and impact.

📝 Enhancement Note: The portfolio review is paramount. Candidates should meticulously prepare presentations that showcase their strategic thinking, research rigor, and ability to drive tangible outcomes within complex service environments.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• User Research Platforms: Tools for remote interviews, surveys, and usability testing (e.g., UserTesting.com, Lookback, Maze, Qualtrics, SurveyMonkey).
• Prototyping & Design Tools: Familiarity with tools used by design teams to understand and iterate on designs (e.g., Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD, InVision).
• Collaboration Tools: Platforms for team communication and project management (e.g., Slack, Microsoft Teams, Jira, Confluence).
• Service Design Tools: Software for creating journey maps, service blueprints, and process flows (e.g., Miro, Mural, Lucidchart).

Analytics & Reporting:

• Analytics Platforms: Experience with web analytics (e.g., Google Analytics) or product analytics tools (e.g., Pendo, Mixpanel) to understand user behavior and complement qualitative findings.
• Data Visualization Tools: Ability to interpret and potentially create basic visualizations from data (e.g., Tableau, Power BI) to support insights.

CRM & Automation:

• While not a direct CRM/automation role, understanding how user data is managed within CRMs (like Salesforce) and how automation impacts user journeys can be beneficial for a holistic service perspective.

📝 Enhancement Note: The role requires proficiency in a range of research and design tools. While not expected to be an expert in all, familiarity with the tools used by design and product teams is essential for effective collaboration and insight synthesis.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Human-Centricity: A core value at Philips, meaning all design and research efforts are fundamentally focused on understanding and serving human needs.
• Integrity & Care: Operating with ethical principles and a deep sense of responsibility, especially within the healthcare sector.
• Innovation: Continuously seeking new ways to solve problems and improve lives through technology.
• Collaboration: Believing in the power of diverse teams working together to achieve greater outcomes.
• Excellence: Striving for high quality in all aspects of work, from research rigor to design execution.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-functional Integration: The team actively collaborates with product managers, engineers, business stakeholders, and other designers to ensure research is integrated into the product development lifecycle.
• Open Communication: Encouraging open dialogue, constructive feedback, and the sharing of ideas and perspectives.
• Co-creation Workshops: Utilizing workshops as a key method for bringing diverse teams together to brainstorm, ideate, and problem-solve collaboratively.
• Data-Informed Decision Making: Valuing evidence-based insights derived from user research to guide decisions and mitigate risks.

📝 Enhancement Note: Philips' values emphasize a strong ethical foundation, a commitment to human well-being, and a collaborative approach to innovation, particularly relevant for a health technology company.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Navigating Complex Stakeholder Landscapes: Balancing the needs and priorities of diverse stakeholders (clinical staff, IT, patients, management) within healthcare organizations.
• Researching in Regulated Environments: Understanding and adhering to the specific constraints and ethical considerations inherent in healthcare research.
• Translating Ambiguity into Action: Effectively conducting research at the "fuzzy front-end" of innovation and translating vague needs into concrete design requirements.
• Driving Global Adoption: Ensuring research insights are relevant and impactful across different cultural contexts and healthcare systems globally.
• Integrating Research into Agile: Seamlessly embedding research activities within fast-paced agile development cycles without compromising rigor.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Specialized Training: Access to internal and external training on advanced research methodologies, service design techniques, and specific healthcare domain knowledge.
• Industry Conferences: Opportunities to attend leading design and healthcare technology conferences to stay abreast of the latest trends and network with peers.
• Mentorship Programs: Benefit from mentorship from senior design leaders within Philips, fostering career growth and skill development.
• Cross-Disciplinary Projects: Gain exposure to different areas of Philips' health technology portfolio, broadening your understanding of the industry.
• Leadership Development: Programs designed to enhance leadership, communication, and strategic influence skills for those aspiring to lead teams or initiatives.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges in this role are significant due to the nature of healthcare and large-scale innovation. These challenges, however, present substantial opportunities for professional growth and skill development.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you had to influence a senior stakeholder who was resistant to user research findings. How did you approach it, and what was the outcome?" (Prepare a STAR method answer focusing on communication, data presentation, and stakeholder management).
• "Walk me through your process for conducting upfront research for a completely new service offering. How do you move from ambiguity to actionable insights?" (Focus on your discovery techniques, ideation facilitation, and insight synthesis).
• "How do you balance the need for rigorous research with tight project deadlines and budget constraints, especially in a complex field like healthcare?" (Highlight your prioritization skills, methodology selection, and ability to deliver value incrementally).

Company & Culture Questions:

• "Why are you interested in working for Philips, specifically in health technology?" (Research Philips' mission, recent innovations, and connect it to your passion for user-centered design in healthcare).
• "How do you see your role contributing to Philips' mission of improving lives through technology?" (Connect your research skills to enabling better healthcare experiences and outcomes).
• "Describe a time you had to work with a challenging cross-functional team. How did you foster collaboration and ensure user needs were considered?" (Focus on your communication, empathy, and problem-solving skills in a team context).

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Select Impactful Projects: Choose 2-3 projects that best demonstrate your end-to-end research process, your ability to derive strategic insights, and your impact on service design and business outcomes. Prioritize projects with relevance to healthcare or complex service ecosystems.
• Structure Your Narrative: For each project, clearly outline the problem, your role and methodology, the key insights, how these insights influenced design decisions, and the measurable impact.
• Quantify Outcomes: Wherever possible, use data and metrics to demonstrate the success of your research and its contribution to product or service improvements.
• Be Ready for Deep Dives: Anticipate detailed questions about your methodology choices, how you handled unexpected findings, and your thought process behind key decisions.
• Showcase Collaboration: Explicitly mention how you collaborated with designers, product managers, and other stakeholders, and how you translated insights into actionable recommendations.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview preparation should focus on demonstrating strategic thinking, research rigor, stakeholder influence, and a deep understanding of user-centered design within the healthcare context. A well-prepared portfolio presentation is key.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Senior Design Researcher position:

• Submit your application: Navigate to the Philips careers website or the provided job link and submit your resume and any requested supplementary documents.
• Tailor your resume: Ensure your resume clearly highlights your experience in user research, usability testing, service design, and your impact on product/service development, using keywords from the job description.
• Prepare your portfolio: Curate your portfolio to showcase 2-3 strong case studies that demonstrate your end-to-end research process, ability to generate insights, and influence on design and business outcomes, especially if relevant to healthcare or complex service ecosystems.
• Research Philips: Familiarize yourself with Philips' mission, values, recent innovations in health technology, and their approach to design and customer experience.
• Practice your presentation: Rehearse your portfolio presentation and prepare concise, impactful answers to common interview questions, focusing on your experience, methodologies, and impact.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.

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