CV-voorbeeld voor UX Researcher

Choose the right format for a UX Researcher resume

Use a reverse-chronological format unless you are pivoting into UX research from a different field, in which case a hybrid format lets you lead with a skills summary before your work history. Keep the resume to one page if you have under ten years of experience; two pages are acceptable for senior or principal-level roles with extensive publications or case study portfolios.

Margins should sit between 0.5 and 1 inch, font size 10–12pt, and section headers should be visually distinct so applicant tracking systems parse them cleanly. Always submit as a PDF unless the job posting explicitly requests a Word file. Include a live link to your portfolio — recruiters at companies like Google, Meta, and mid-size product studios will click it before they finish reading page one.

• Reverse-chronological for most candidates; hybrid for career changers
• One page under 10 years of experience, two pages for senior roles
• PDF format with a clickable portfolio URL near your name and contact info
• Consistent date formatting (Month YYYY) throughout

Write a professional summary that frames your research specialty

Your summary should name your research methods, the product domains you know, and the scale of teams or organizations you have worked within — all in three to four sentences. Avoid vague phrases like 'passionate about users.' Recruiters scan dozens of resumes; specificity is what stops them.

Example: "Mixed-methods UX researcher with 6 years of experience in e-commerce and fintech, specializing in usability testing, diary studies, and Jobs-to-Be-Done interviews. Comfortable owning the full research lifecycle from study design through stakeholder readout. Experienced embedding within agile product teams at companies ranging from 50-person startups to 10,000-employee enterprises. Nielsen Norman Group UX Certification holder."

Write work-experience bullets that show research impact

Each bullet should follow an action-verb + method or deliverable + measurable outcome structure. Avoid describing your job duties in abstract terms. Hiring managers want to know what you studied, how you studied it, and what changed as a result of your findings. If a design change shipped, say so. If your research influenced a product roadmap decision, quantify the scope.

Numbers do not always mean percentages — sample sizes, number of studies run per quarter, number of stakeholders trained in research methods, and time saved in decision cycles all count as concrete evidence of your contribution.

• Ran 24 moderated usability tests on a redesigned checkout flow using UserTesting and Lookback, surfacing 11 critical friction points that informed a redesign reducing cart abandonment by 18%.
• Designed and fielded a 600-participant survey via Qualtrics to validate three new product concepts, delivering a prioritized opportunity map that directly shaped the Q3 roadmap for a $40M revenue line.

Skills and certifications recruiters and ATS systems look for

List your research methods and tools explicitly — do not assume the reader will infer them from your job titles. Separate hard skills (tools, methods, statistical approaches) from soft or cross-functional skills (stakeholder management, workshop facilitation). Certifications from recognized bodies carry real weight in this field and should appear in both your skills section and your education or certifications section.

Prioritize skills that appear verbatim in the job description, since ATS systems score keyword matches before a human ever sees your resume.

• Research methods: usability testing, contextual inquiry, diary studies, card sorting, tree testing, A/B testing, Jobs-to-Be-Done, ethnographic field research
• Tools: Dovetail, Aurelius, Optimal Workshop, UserTesting, Lookback, Qualtrics, dscout, Maze, SPSS, Miro, Figma (for prototype testing)
• Certifications: Nielsen Norman Group UX Certification, UXPA membership, Google UX Design Certificate (entry-level), HFI Certified Usability Analyst (CUA)
• Cross-functional: research operations, stakeholder alignment, journey mapping, affinity diagramming, Agile/Scrum collaboration

Education, licenses, and extras that strengthen a UX Researcher resume

A bachelor's degree in psychology, human factors, cognitive science, information science, or HCI is the most common educational background hiring managers expect. Graduate degrees (MS or PhD in HCI, cognitive psychology, or a related field) are standard requirements at research-heavy companies like Google, Microsoft, and Apple, and should be listed prominently. If your degree is in an unrelated field, your certifications, bootcamp credentials, and portfolio do more heavy lifting.

Include any peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations (CHI, CSCW, UPA), or academic posters — these matter at research-forward organizations. A link to a published case study or a research repository like ResearchGate can substitute if you lack formal publications. List languages if you conduct research in markets where language proficiency affects study quality.

• Relevant degrees: BS/MS/PhD in HCI, Cognitive Psychology, Information Science, Human Factors Engineering
• List publications and conference presentations (CHI, CSCW) under a separate 'Publications' section for senior roles
• Include a portfolio link even in the education section if space allows — redundancy here helps

Mistakes to avoid

• ×Listing research methods only in a skills section without demonstrating them in context inside your work-experience bullets forces recruiters to take your word for competencies you never prove.
• ×Omitting your portfolio URL or linking to a password-protected site without including the password is one of the fastest ways to get skipped, since most UX research hiring decisions require reviewing actual work samples.
• ×Using generic outcome language like 'improved user experience' instead of citing specific metrics — task completion rates, error rates, NPS shifts, or decision outcomes — makes your impact impossible to evaluate.
• ×Conflating UX design and UX research responsibilities on a resume confuses hiring managers at companies that staff these as separate roles and can get your resume routed to the wrong team.

Frequently asked questions

Do UX Researcher resumes need a portfolio?

Yes, and the portfolio link should appear at the top of your resume near your contact information. Most hiring teams will not move a candidate to a phone screen without reviewing at least one research case study. Your case studies should show your process — research questions, methodology rationale, synthesis approach, and the decision or design change your findings influenced.

How do I write a UX Researcher resume with no professional experience?

Lead with any academic research projects, usability studies conducted during a bootcamp, or volunteer research work for nonprofit or open-source products. Frame these exactly as you would professional experience — include the method, sample size, tools used, and what the findings led to. A Nielsen Norman Group or Google UX Certificate helps signal foundational knowledge to entry-level hiring managers.

Should a UX Researcher resume include quantitative skills?

Yes, especially if you are applying to companies with large data teams or research operations functions. Comfort with survey statistics, regression basics, or tools like SPSS and R signals that you can collaborate with data science and not rely solely on qualitative methods. List specific statistical techniques — descriptive statistics, significance testing, regression — rather than just writing 'quantitative research.'