Principal UX Researcher

About the Role

We are seeking an experienced Principal UX Researcher to shape the future of employee experiences across HR and workforce technology platforms. In this role you will lead strategic research initiatives that uncover employee needs, inform product decisions, and drive measurable improvements in user experience, adoption, and business outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Define research strategies for complex HR technology initiatives, aligning objectives to product roadmaps, business priorities, employee experience goals, and measurable outcomes.
• Develop and implement comprehensive research plans and methodologies to gather user insights that inform high‑level design and product decisions across the organization.
• Identify critical knowledge gaps across employee journeys, workflows, systems, and user groups, and recommend appropriate research approaches.
• Lead research across the full product lifecycle—from early discovery and problem framing through concept validation, usability testing, launch readiness, and post‑launch optimization.
• Determine the right mix of qualitative and quantitative methods to uncover user needs, validate assumptions, reduce delivery risk, and improve product adoption.
• Develop research artifacts (journey maps, service blueprints, experience principles, opportunity areas, actionable recommendations) that clearly communicate user needs, pain points, motivations, and decision drivers.
• Create reusable research assets and insight repositories to enable faster, more informed decisions across related products and employee journeys.
• Ensure research artifacts are clear, credible, and tailored to product teams, designers, technologists, HR stakeholders, and senior leaders.
• Synthesize complex qualitative and quantitative inputs into clear insights, themes, and recommendations that inform product strategy and experience priorities.
• Connect research findings to business outcomes such as adoption, efficiency, satisfaction, reduced rework, improved task completion, and better employee experience.
• Develop executive‑ready readouts that tell a clear story, highlight implications, and recommend practical next steps for decision‑makers.
• Use research metrics, behavioral data, survey results, usability findings, and product analytics to evaluate experience effectiveness and identify improvement opportunities.
• Partner with product, design, technology, HR, analytics, and change teams to embed user insights throughout planning, prioritization, design, and delivery.
• Influence senior stakeholders by framing user problems, trade‑offs, risks, and opportunities to support better business and product decisions.
• Facilitate workshops, discovery sessions, research readouts, and alignment discussions that bring cross‑functional teams around a shared understanding of user needs.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to product and design teams, helping translate research insights into experience direction, requirements, and measurable improvements.
• Advance research standards, methods, templates, and practices to improve consistency, quality, and impact across the UX and product organization.
• Stay current on emerging UX research methods, AI‑enabled research tools, employee experience trends, and enterprise technology practices.
• Promote a culture of evidence‑based decision‑making by helping teams understand when research is needed, how to use insights, and how to measure experience outcomes.
• Maintain a repository of research findings, stay current with the latest UX research methodologies, tools, and industry trends, and champion user‑centered design principles and ethical research practices.

Requirements

• Experience leading UX research for complex digital products, enterprise platforms, or workflow‑driven experiences.
• Strong expertise in qualitative and quantitative research methods, including interviews, usability studies, surveys, journey mapping, and concept testing.
• Ability to develop research strategies, define plans, and select the right methods based on business goals and user needs.
• Proven ability to synthesize research into clear insights, recommendations, and decision‑ready narratives.
• Experience connecting research findings to measurable outcomes such as adoption, satisfaction, efficiency, and improved user experience.
• Strong communication, facilitation, stakeholder management, and executive storytelling skills.
• Experience partnering across product, design, technology, analytics, HR, and change teams.
• Ability to influence without authority, operate as an individual contributor, and mentor others in research practices.
• Experience in HR technology, employee experience, workforce management, or related enterprise domains.
• Familiarity with employee lifecycle experiences such as hiring, onboarding, learning, performance, career development, and employee support.
• Knowledge of platforms such as Workday, ServiceNow, SAP SuccessFactors, Oracle HCM, or similar systems.
• Experience using product analytics, survey data, operational metrics, or behavioral insights to assess experience effectiveness.
• Experience building research repositories, templates, standards, or scalable research practices.
• Familiarity with AI‑enabled research tools, service design, accessibility, and inclusive research practices.

Pay

The Principal UX Researcher role offers an annual salary range of $158,200.00 – $237,400.00 USD. Individual starting salary within this range may depend on geography, experience, expertise, and education/training.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage
• 401(k) plan
• Tuition reimbursement program
• Paid time off and holidays (at least 23 days of vacation each year and 9 company‑designated holidays, based on date of hire)
• Paid parental leave
• Paid caregiver leave
• Additional sick leave beyond statutory requirements (unprotected)
• Adoption reimbursement
• Short‑term and long‑term disability benefits
• Life and accidental death insurance
• Supplemental benefit programs (critical illness, accident, hospital indemnity, group legal)
• Employee Assistance Programs (EAP)
• Extensive employee wellness programs
• Employee discounts up to 50 % off on eligible AT&T mobility plans, accessories, AT&T internet (including fiber where available), and AT&T phone services

Schedule

Location: Dallas, Texas (on‑site). This position requires a minimum of five days per week in the office; no relocation assistance is offered. Weekly hours: 40. Time type: Regular.