Usability Specialist

Usability experience specialists are also known as user experience specialists, interface designers, usability practitioners, information architects, usability manager, and user-center design specialist.

These specialists have the responsibility to make sure that products are easy for consumers to use. They discover this by interviewing users to determine their preferences, analyze the user preferences, and develop ideas for improving a product's user friendliness. Usability specialists work with a variety of products from cell phones, websites, and voting machines.

Although usability specialists provide a valuable service, many companies do not hire usability specialists.

Salary Data

Median (8 years of experience): $98,800

25-75 percentile (8 years or more of experience): $82,900-120,000

Training

Usability experience specialists come from a variety of backgrounds with bachelors or master's degrees in human computer interaction, human factor psychology, computer science, anthropology, business, or technical communication cognitive psychology. They can also have experience in customer service, marketing, product development, or quality assurance.