About Mariem
Senior User Researcher Helping Teams Build AI Products that Add Value to People and Businesses
What sets me apart is my ability to connect deep user understanding with product strategy, especially in AI-driven or technically complex products. Clients work with me when they need clarity, rigor, and a researcher who can operate autonomously and think at a senior level.
I help product teams make high-stakes decisions with confidence by turning complex user behavior into clear, actionable direction.
With 5+ years of experience in big tech (Meta, Microsoft) focused on AI systems and large-scale products, I specialize in research that directly impacts product strategy, roadmap prioritization, and product launch decisions, not research that sits in a slide deck.
I’m particularly effective in ambiguous, fast-moving contexts, where teams need to understand users quickly, balance technical constraints, business objectives and user needs, and de-risk product bets.
What I bring to the table
- End-to-end UX research: from problem framing to insights that shape roadmaps
- Strong qualitative expertise: in-depth interviews, diary studies, mental models, journey mapping, surveys
- Data science expertise: log data analysis and visualization using Python, R, and SQL
- AI systems experience: Chatbots, Natural Language Understanding, Recommendation Systems
- Actionable insights: clear data-driven recommendations tied to business and product impact
- Senior-level collaboration: trusted partner to PMs, designers, engineers, and senior executives
Typical projects & deliverables
- Foundational and exploratory research for new products or features
- User insights to inform product strategy, positioning, and prioritization
- Risk and sentiment assessment to support launches and experiments
- UX frameworks, principles, and mental models for alignment across teams
- Research plans, insight reports, and executive-ready readouts
English
Native or bilingual
French
Native or bilingual
Arabic
Native or bilingual
Remote only
Primarily works remotely
Experience
- Meta PlatformsLead User Researcher - Instagram Feed RecommendationsTECHSeptember 2022 - September 2025 (3 years)Montreal, QC, Canada
- Shaped Instagram's recommendations strategy and informed the roadmaps of 6 machine learning teams across 3 organizations by leading the development of a research-informed point of view for Feed recommendations in partnership with Product and Data Science leads
- Informed executive decision-making on a major Instagram Feed ranking algorithm change by leading a global mixed-methods study including survey, in-depth interviews, and log analysis, contributing to a 1% improvement in user satisfaction
- Validated and refined value propositions for 4 core recommendation products in Feed by leading two longitudinal diary studies, uncovering unmet user needs that directly informed algorithm tuning
- Influenced 18 feature launches for Instagram's recommendation algorithms by leading generative qualitative research and user-sentiment impact assessments of A/B tests, contributing to sustained improvements in Tier 1 business and engagement metrics
- MicrosoftLead User Researcher - Nuance Conversational AI SaaSTECHJanuary 2021 - September 2022 (1 year and 8 months)Montreal, QC, Canada
- Shaped the roadmap and long-term scaling strategy of a conversational SaaS platform by leading foundational research that identified needs across 3 Fortune 500 customers
- Improved developer satisfaction by 10% within 6 months by measuring user sentiment, identifying pain points, and delivering actionable insights that directly informed platform product and business decisions
- MicrosoftData ScientistTECHSeptember 2020 - December 2020 (3 months)Montreal, QC, Canada
- Reduced time to identify user pain points by 10x for a Fortune 100 company's interactive voice response system by building a Python-based automated analysis pipeline for large-scale call log data
- Delivered speech recognition solutions for three Fortune 500 customers by developing seven speech grammars and conducting redundancy analyses within one week, accelerating deployment timelines
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Education
- Ph.D. in Cognitive NeuroscienceUniversity of Montreal2020Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroscience
- Master's in PsycholinguisticsUniversité Laval2015Master's in Psycholinguistics