Thesis Work: User-Centered Design for Lightweight Business Applications

At ABB, we help industries outrun - leaner and cleaner. Here, progress is an expectation - for you, your team, and the world. As a global market leader, we’ll give you what you need to make it happen. It won’t always be easy, growing takes grit. But at ABB, you’ll never run alone. Run what runs the world.

This Position reports to:

Portfolio Manager




At ABB, we work with many established systems and structured processes. Still, everyday operations often create new needs that require quick, practical solutions—especially around capturing, storing, and sharing information across teams. These needs are frequently solved with lightweight, local approaches (for example simple spreadsheets), which can be effective in the short term but may become challenging as usage grows, more stakeholders get involved, and long-term follow-up becomes important.

In this Bachelor thesis, you will explore what makes internal tools feel effortless to use—with a strong focus on UI/UX, adoption, and interaction design. You will investigate how lightweight app patterns (e.g., Microsoft Power Platform) can be designed to reduce friction, support the user’s workflow, and encourage consistent ways of working.


Your Role And Responsibilities

You will collaborate with stakeholders and end users to:

• Map common “quick solution” behaviors and understand why they happen
• Identify key UX pain points (friction, trust, findability, clarity, access, “too many steps”, unclear value)
• Define user journeys and usability requirements for typical data-capture scenarios
• Propose practical UI/UX guidelines and “best practice” patterns for simple internal apps (forms, lists, search, status, approvals)
• (Optional) Create low-fidelity prototypes and/or a small proof-of-concept (e.g., Power Apps) and run basic usability evaluations
  
  

Details:

• Scope: Bachelor thesis
• Credits: 15 ECTS
• Number of students: 1
• Location: Sweden (site/hybrid to be defined)
• Working language: English (Swedish is a merit)
  
  
  

Qualifications For The Role

• A Bachelor student in Interaction Design, UX, Informatics, Industrial Engineering, Computer Science, or similar
• Curious about how people work in large organizations and how tools influence behavior
• Comfortable with user research methods (interviews, simple workshops, observations) and synthesizing insights
• Able to communicate clearly and turn findings into concrete design recommendations
  
  
  

More About Us
Please apply with your CV, academic transcripts, and a cover letter in English. We look forward to receiving your application!

A future opportunity

This role is part of our talent pipeline, which means it’s not currently open, but we’re always looking for curious minds, bold thinkers, and people who want to make an impact.

Click Apply to express your interest and be considered for future opportunities that match your experience and aspirations.

At ABB, we welcome people from all backgrounds and believe that diverse perspectives help us build a cleaner, smarter future.

Apply today or visit https://www.abb.com to learn more about how we help run what runs the world.