Director, UX Research

About the role

We are seeking a Director, UX Research (M5) who can make deep customer understanding a driving force in HighLevel's product and company strategy. You have spent 12+ years conducting and leading research for complex digital products, including 5+ years leading researchers or research programs, and are ready to set the research direction for a broad platform used by agencies, entrepreneurs and SMBs around the world. This role reports to the Vice President of Product Design and is a member of Design Leadership. You will lead a small, senior research team of one or two researchers and remain a hands-on practitioner who personally leads the company's highest-stakes studies. We expect candidates at this level to demonstrate exceptional research craft, strategic judgment, cross-functional influence and executive communication. You should be comfortable framing ambiguous business questions, choosing the right level of evidence for each decision and turning complex findings into clear direction for senior leaders. Experience researching AI-powered, automation-heavy, CRM, marketing technology, platform or SMB software experiences is highly valuable. Experience using AI-powered tools for synthesis, analysis, documentation or workflow acceleration is expected.

Responsibilities

• Align Product, Design, Engineering, Data and Product Marketing leaders on a shared research agenda so teams invest in the highest-impact questions instead of running competing studies
• Connect customer evidence across research, product analytics, Product Marketing and customer-facing teams into one shared view of customer needs and opportunities
• Lead foundational research, including segmentation, jobs-to-be-done, customer journeys and agency and SMB operating models, that informs company and portfolio strategy
• Build and run Voice of the Customer programs that synthesize NPS, CSAT, support themes, sales feedback, customer councils and behavioral data into recurring, decision-ready insight
• Personally lead high-stakes, mixed-methods studies from problem framing through synthesis, recommendation and follow-through
• Scale research across teams by training designers and product managers, providing guardrails, templates and study reviews, and keeping democratized research rigorous
• Coach and develop the researchers on your team, setting clear expectations for craft, influence and impact
• Keep HighLevel executives informed through regular, concise readouts on customer insight, emerging risks and opportunities
• Track insights through to roadmap decisions and shipped changes, and report the impact research has on product and business outcomes
• Use AI-powered tools thoughtfully to accelerate synthesis and analysis while protecting research quality, privacy and customer trust
• Collaborate effectively across US and India time zones in a 100% remote environment
• Build and scale a high-performing UX Research team, owning talent capability, leadership pipeline, team structure, performance and career development standards, and resource allocation to meet evolving product and business priorities

Requirements

• 12+ years of relevant UX research, product research or mixed-methods research experience, including 5+ years leading researchers or research programs
• Proven experience leading research in complex B2B SaaS, platform or multi-product environments

Qualifications

• A strong body of work that demonstrates research strategy, methodological judgment, clear synthesis and measurable influence on product and business outcomes
• Expert command of qualitative and quantitative