Experimental design and methods; Research operations, compliance, and oversight

Human Factors Engineer

What this job does:

Runs usability and human factors studies to design safer, more efficient, and intuitive systems, products, and environments. Documents findings for regulated design controls, and partners with engineering and design to implement and verify safer, more usable systems.

This job is similar to these lab/research tasks:

Write study protocols and pre-specify analyses; build and validate analysis pipelines; run sensitivity analyses like robustness checks; manage multi-source datasets like multi-assay projects; write manuscripts and present posters; coordinate with collaborators and data providers

Typical starting salary range

$146,785 to $226,588

Salary estimate represented as 25th to 75th percentile. Gathered from recent job postings, Glassdoor.com, and Salary.com

Daily task breakdown

- Plan and conduct human factors and usability studies (formative and validation) (30%)
- Analyze use errors, hazards, and human-system interaction; define risk mitigations (25%)
- Documentation for design controls and regulated deliverables (reports, traceability) (20%)
- Cross-functional implementation with engineering/design/clinical partners (15%)
- Other: stakeholder communication, vendor management, and training (10%)

Skills you'll use in this job:

Human-subjects study design; qualitative and quantitative analysis; risk and error analysis; clear documentation; familiarity with regulated development thinking; collaboration with engineering and design; communication with non-scientists

Talk about these PhD skills in your resume and interview:

Map your PhD to systematic study design, careful measurement, and translating findings into design decisions. Emphasize protocol development, defensible analysis, and writing reports that stand up to scrutiny.