Mahboobeh Harandi, PhD
UX Researcher
Palo Alto,CA
Summary
Mixed Method UX Researcher with 7+ years of experience in driving product innovation through comprehensive research methodologies. Demonstrates expertise in AI UX and platform safety, leveraging skills in stakeholder communication and cross-functional collaboration to deliver strategic insights. Passionate about enhancing user trust and engagement, with a proven track record of influencing product roadmaps and achieving measurable results.
Overview
9
9
years of professional experience
Work History
UX RESEARCHER, MIXED METHODS
Meta Platforms, Inc.
09.2021 - 04.2025
- Led global research to expand the complex object enforcement system into 6+ high-risk markets by identifying market risks, synthesizing ops insights, and advising engineers on signal-based sourcing - directly influencing roadmap priorities and improving action rates up to 3x.
- Redesigned content review prioritization by integrating virality signal research and leading cross-org alignment with PM, DS, and Ops - optimizing human review efficiency in misinformation and civic harm queues.
- Led strategic user research, including interviews and concept tests, to uncover unmet needs and drive product improvements for Messenger Admins and Instagram Creators; aligned cross-functional partners to enhance safety, education, and enforcement transparency, shaping long-term strategy and roadmaps.
UX RESEARCH INTERN
Meta Platforms, Inc.
06.2020 - 08.2020
- Improved ad campaign features by identifying sales reps' pain points through a comprehensive survey and comment analysis.
- Informed long-term strategies to mitigate potential signal loss in ad personalization by leveraging best practices in speculative design.
GRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTANT
Syracuse University, School of Information Studies
01.2016 - 08.2020
- Mapped successful collaboration patterns among citizen scientists who used AI tools for knowledge discovery through log analysis, ethnography, and in-depth interviews that led to improve design and participants' engagement.
- Identified unique characteristics of diverse scientific communities by modeling and comparing the linguistic features of their members, leading to tailored support strategies for each community.
- Created a data mining and non-parametric analysis framework to uncover key motivational drivers among citizen scientists during the launch phase, informing design optimizations that boosted contributions by 16% the following month.
Education
PH.D. - INFORMATION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Syracuse University, School of Information Studies
Syracuse, NY12.2021
MASTER OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS ENGINEERING - undefined
Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Department of Computer and Information Science
12.2015
Skills
- Deep-dive Interviews
- Surveys
- Concept Testing
- Diary Studies
- Competitive Analysis
- Python
- R
- SQL
- NLP
- Statistical Modeling
- AI UX
- Trust and Safety
- Leadership
- Stakeholder Communication
- Cross-functional Collaboration
Additional Information
Selected Talks
Future of Work in Virtual teams, Graduate Seminar: Organization of Tomorrow, Syracuse, NY, 2019
Supporting Occasional Groups in Online Communities, WAIM Conference, NYC, NY, 2019
Humans, Machines, and the Future of Citizen Science, Graduate Seminar, Syracuse, NY, 2019
Survey of User Profiling in News Recommender Systems, RecSys Conference, Vienna, Austria, 2015
Selected Journal Publications
C. Jackson, C. Østerlund, K. Crowston, M. Harandi, et al., 2020, Teaching citizen scientists to categorize glitches using machine learning guided training
K. Crowston, C. Østerlund, T.K. Lee, C. Jackson, C., M. Harandi, et al., 2019, Knowledge Tracing to Model Learning in Online Citizen Science Projects,
T.K. Lee, K. Crowston, Harandi, M., et al., 2018, Appealing to Different Motivations in a Message to Recruit Citizen Scientists
Timeline
UX RESEARCHER, MIXED METHODS
Meta Platforms, Inc.
09.2021 - 04.2025
UX RESEARCH INTERN
Meta Platforms, Inc.
06.2020 - 08.2020
GRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTANT
Syracuse University, School of Information Studies
01.2016 - 08.2020
MASTER OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS ENGINEERING - undefined
Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Department of Computer and Information Science
PH.D. - INFORMATION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Syracuse University, School of Information Studies
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