I'm a UX Consultant working at a full-service agency in Europe. The most valuable (and interesting) part of my job has more to do with strategy and the design
process than it does with UI.
In my pov, my job is first and foremost to understand the "problem" that a client communicates. The stated problem may or may not correspond to the actual problem that needs to be solved. This is especially true of semi-privatized, previously national monopoly working in infrastructure (like SNCF or EDF in France, Deutsche Bahn in Germany...) or service industries, but is also true for smaller mid-size businesses.
The stated problem might be something vague like "more digitalization", "being more competitive with with newer, smaller actors" (eg. SNCF/DB vs. Trainline/Uber) or something specific, like "redesign our website so it's more modern", or "design a new iOS/Android app.
The real problem might be: aligning internal departments on a vision (seriously, getting the heads of Marketing and Engineering on the same page is VERY hard at that scale); making sure that good ideas at the company don't get diluted and killed going through middle management; promoting innovation within a company (which then is translated to a website, an application or even a change in strategy, management, structure).
Sometimes the real problem is that the company just hasn't spent enough time (or money) to understand what their users'/client's experience in relation to their product (in context of their normal lives). It could be something as simple as clients not really knowing how to use the product properly, being frustrated because they had to wait too long, not knowing which option to pick or pressing on "like" just to find a post later. It could be that clients absolutely love a small detail that wasn't meant to be very important. You learn a lot about just talking to people and asking questions.
So, depending on the type of project my job as UX Consultant is to:
— coordinate ethnographic interviews (mini-ethnographic maybe; the idea is to learn from real, in depth conversations) with either clients, potential clients or internal management
— organize ideation/innovation workshops (two goals: come up with new ideas AND get different departments and levels of management aligned on the same vision)
— map out customer journeys and create personae (with the client) so that we're able to empathise with real users (not always relevant; there's a risk of doing meaningless work if done because this it something that was sold, but when used properly can be really useful).
- translating these insights/findings into strategic recommendations or digital objects (app, websites)
- designing wireframes to concretize ideas and encourage discussion/debate
- working on high-fidelity interactive prototypes to pass on to developers (who might be working client-side)
- designing and organizing usability tests (and A/B tests) when relevant.
So that's how I see it.
Of course, there's also that part of UX which is to create addiction, increase "engagement" or encourage certain behavior (increase newsletter signup). That's not really my thing.