UX Research Scientist, Reality Labs

Building a compelling Metaverse experience starts with enabling our billions of users to represent themselves the way they want to in the digital world. Avatars are the key to meaningful connections in the Metaverse and our research team is at the forefront of helping understand avatar user needs and building compelling and iconic avatars for the future of digital representation. Whether our users are interacting with friends and family on Facebook/Instagram or playing a game of poker with strangers in VR, we want them to feel comfortable, confident, excited and present through their avatar. The Avatars team also works on embodied AI-generated conversational agents deployed across the suite of Meta apps and on the Quest platform that can interact with our users in social contexts to enhance the social experience on the different Meta products.The Character Platform team within the Avatars & Identity product group is responsible for how our avatars and AI-driven agents look and how they move. The goal for our team is to build avatars and AI-driven agents that people love! The person in this role will help us figure out (through research) what will make our users fall in love with our avatars.

UX Research Scientist, Reality Labs Responsibilities:

• You will be conducting research for our Meta avatars, specifically around avatar visual fidelity and animations, aesthetics, style and enabling representation and excitement through the new avatars
• You will be leading research around our embodied AI-driven agents and NPCs in VR
• You will get to work with the technology of tomorrow, including Codec avatars, AR smart glasses and avatar tracking technology
• You will help define the future of digital representation for the Metaverse, both at Meta and consequently for the world
• You will get to work with avatars across a broad spectrum of use cases spanning first-party and third party partners and also across 2D surfaces (eg. smartphone applications) and immersive platforms (eg. Quest VR headsets & AR smart glasses)
• Collaborate and work with cross-functional product teams to identify user goals and envision needs, create research frameworks and develop new methodologies for investigating novel challenges
• Develop ergonomic, perceptual, or psychological research studies by utilizing appropriate methods, which may include experimental design, psychophysics and threshold detection, motion tracking and kinematics analysis, behavioral analytics, expert review and relevant safety & comfort research approaches
• Develop and track metrics for quality of performing fundamental AR/VR tasks such as spatial navigation, input & interaction, and beyond
• Investigate effects of human multisensory interactions, attention, and control dynamics on performance, safety, & comfort of doing such tasks
• Analyze rich and multidimensional data, develop descriptive and analytical models, and shape actionable insights from research findings
• Effectively communicate outcomes and insights from studies, support decision-making and help setting specifications for RL hardware and software products, drive measurable positive impact on the user experience
• Create close partnerships with a variety of leadership, research and product stakeholders to ensure a broad understanding of the product needs and priorities while driving UX goals

Minimum Qualifications:

• PhD in Cognitive/Experimental Psychology, Cognitive Science, Kinesiology, Biomedical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Human-Computer Interaction or a closely related scientific or engineering field
• Demonstrated scientific background in human multi-sensory perception, cognition, motor control and movement, the experience applying such knowledge in analyzing and interpreting relevant human behaviors associated with novel systems
• 5 years of experience in experimental design, psychophysics, behavioral analytics, and proficiency with inferential statistics
• Proven track record of rigorous scientific research, including development of metrics for psychophysical and empirical behavioral measurements
• Demonstrated communication skills as well as proven interpersonal skills.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, relevant technical field, or equivalent practical experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Training and experience in related techniques such as eye tracking, body motion tracking, postural stability measures, human motor control and kinematics analysis, EMG and other biometric sensing technology, and physiology measures
• Experience in research for emerging technologies, AR/VR/MR or wearable technology
• Experience in research across full product life-cycle.

About Meta:

Meta builds technologies that help people connect, find communities, and grow businesses. When Facebook launched in 2004, it changed the way people connect. Apps like Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp further empowered billions around the world. Now, Meta is moving beyond 2D screens toward immersive experiences like augmented and virtual reality to help build the next evolution in social technology. People who choose to build their careers by building with us at Meta help shape a future that will take us beyond what digital connection makes possible today—beyond the constraints of screens, the limits of distance, and even the rules of physics.