Remote - UX Researcher / Designer

Job Title :UX Researcher / Designer Location :Chicago, ILDuration :6 MonthsJob Description :Company :Grant Thornton is a major Audit, Tax, and Advisory Services company offering a broad range of services in strategy and consulting, operations, technology and more across various industries.In the U.S., Grant Thornton delivers professional services through two specialized entities :Grant Thornton LLP, a licensed, certified public accounting (CPA) firm that provides audit and assurance services ? and Grant Thornton Advisors LLC (not a licensed CPA firm), which exclusively provides non-attest offerings, including tax and advisory services.In 2025, Grant Thornton formed a multinational, multidisciplinary platform with Grant Thornton Ireland.The platform offers a premier Trans-Atlantic advisory and tax practice, as well as independent American and Irish audit practices.With $2.7 billion in revenues and more than 50 offices spanning the U.S., Ireland and other territories, the platform delivers a singular client experience that includes enhanced solutions and capabilities, backed by powerful technologies and a roster of 12,000 quality-driven professionals.Open Positions :2 Location :100% Remote Duration :Contract - 6 months with potential to extend Overview :Grant Thornton is hiring a contract UX Researcher to assist with the Discovery phase for our internal web apps.Their job :figure out what users need and turn that into clear direction for product, design, and engineering.They'll work under a Lead US Designer and with Product Managers, Engineers and Business Stakeholders on this initiative.Responsibilities :Lead discovery :Plan and run user research to understand jobs, pain points, and workflows.Facilitate sessions :Run interviews, workshops, and stakeholder discussions--ask the obvious questions that surface assumptions.Summarize what they learn :Turn notes into clear findings, what this means, and recommend next steps.Map the experience - Create :o Role snapshots (personas) :brief summaries of user types and needs.o Step-by-step journeys :how users currently work, where it breaks, and the better future state.o Simple screen sketches (wireframes) & flow diagrams :quick visuals that show how a task should work.o Keep everyone aligned :Present short, clear readouts; document decisions; maintain a simple research archive.What You Will Deliver :Tools you know :Figma, Mural, Office A practical UX plan and interview results.A short deck communicating findings ? what it means ? recommended actions.Lean personas for key roles.Current-state and future-state journeys with pain points and simple success measures.Task / flow diagrams and low-fi wireframes for critical paths.A prioritized UX backlog.Mockups as neccesary.WHAT WE NEED FROM EVERY CANDIDATE :Resume with hourly rate, location, time-zone overlap.2-3 samples (journey map, personas, insights readout, low-fi wires Redactions OK.Best discovery project (goal, what you did, outcome Examples from enterprise or B2B applications Start date and weekly capacity MUST HAVES :4-7years doing user research on product teams (enterprise or B2B preferred Tools you know :Figma, Mural, Office Comfortable planning and running interviews, observing real work, testing early ideas, and doing quick usability checks.Strong at turning raw notes into clear insights and prioritized recommendations.Can independently produce personas, journeys, task flows, and low-fidelity wireframes in Figma, Mural, or similar.Confident facilitator; good at guiding groups, handling pushback, and driving to clarity.Excellent written and verbal communication--exec-friendly and concise.Nice to Haves :Design experience and portfolio of enterprise-related work, or similar.Experience in complex or regulated spaces (tax, audit, finance, healthcare, public sector Basic survey skills to complement interviews.Service design exposure (e.g., mapping processes Light Research Ops (consent, recruiting, templates User testing and feedback gathering Design experience with high-fidelity mockup and / or clickable prototypes.Interview Process :30 minute technical interview with Director 30 minute interview with Teammate. Experience: 3 years required