Principal UX Researcher

About the role

We are looking for a Principal UX Researcher to serve as the most senior researcher on the Product Design team, reporting directly to the VP of Design. This role will define BetterUp's research vision and practice—establishing the methodologies, governance, and strategic frameworks that ensure user insights shape product decisions at every level. You'll partner across Product, PMM, and the Labs behavioral insights team to connect foundational research to business outcomes, while mentoring researchers and design partners across the organization.

Responsibilities

• Define and evolve BetterUp's UX research practice: establish research methodologies, quality standards, tooling, and governance frameworks that scale across the product organization
• Drive strategic research that informs company-level product strategy, partnering directly with the VP of Design, Product leadership, and the executive team to identify high-leverage opportunities
• Lead foundational and generative research programs that uncover unmet user needs, validate market opportunities, and shape multi-quarter product roadmaps
• Partner cross-functionally with PMM, the Labs behavioral insights team, and Product to synthesize quantitative and qualitative data into actionable insights that influence go-to-market strategy and product direction
• Represent UX Research as the discipline's voice in executive forums, design reviews, and strategic planning sessions—ensuring research has a seat at the table for critical decisions
• Build and scale research operations: evaluate and select research tools and vendors, define participant recruitment strategies, establish research repositories, and create self-serve research capabilities for the broader organization
• Mentor and coach researchers and design partners across the team, raising the bar on research craft and building organizational research fluency
• Establish governance frameworks and best practices for responsible AI usage in research processes, including AI-augmented analysis, synthesis, and participant experience

Key partners

• Product Management
• Product Marketing (PMM)
• Labs (Behavioral Insights)
• Engineering
• Data Science

Requirements

• 12+ years of experience in UX research, design research, or a closely related field, with 6+ years operating at a senior or staff level of scope and impact
• Deep expertise across the full spectrum of research methodologies—qualitative and quantitative, generative and evaluative, behavioral and attitudinal
• Demonstrated track record of leading research that directly shaped product strategy and business outcomes at an organizational level
• Experience defining and scaling a research practice, including establishing processes, tooling, governance, and research operations
• Exceptional ability to synthesize complex data from multiple sources into clear, compelling narratives that drive executive-level decision-making
• Strong cross-functional partnership skills, with experience influencing Product, Engineering, Marketing, and Data Science stakeholders
• Experience mentoring and developing researchers at various career stages
• Excellent communication and storytelling skills—you make research accessible, memorable, and actionable for any audience

AI at BetterUp

Our team thrives at the intersection of human expertise and AI capability. As an AI-forward company, adaptation and continuous learning are part of our daily work. We're looking for teammates who are excited to evolve alongside technology—people who experiment boldly, share their discoveries openly, and help define best practices for AI-augmented work. These professionals thoughtfully integrate AI into their work to deliver exceptional results while maintaining the human judgment and creativity that drives real innovation.

As a Principal UX Researcher, you'll:

• Mobilize and align multiple functions to retire low-value research practices, scale AI-enabled research workflows, and focus teams on the few moves that create outsized impact
• Serve as a trusted advisor to leadership on AI strategy for research, modeling resilience, cultivating change confidence, and positioning BetterUp as an industry pace-setter for continuous reinvention through AI
• Shape company-wide AI strategy for research in partnership with executive leadership, ensuring alignment with business objectives
• Remove institutional barriers to AI adoption in research practices and drive cultural change that embraces continuous reinvention
• Serve as BetterUp's foremost expert in UX research, with recognized external influence on how AI transforms the research discipline

We encourage all candidates to share examples of how they've used AI tools in their work—whether it's AI-powered analysis platforms, generative research tools, or automated synthesis workflows. We view AI fluency as a complement to craft, not a replacement for it.

Benefits

• Access to BetterUp coaching; one for you and one for a friend or family member
• A competitive compensation plan with opportunity for advancement
• Medical, dental and vision insurance
• Flexible paid time off
• Per year:
  • All federal/statutory holidays observed
  • 4 BetterUp Inner Work days
  • 5 Volunteer Days to give back
  • Learning and Development stipend
  • Company wide Summer & Winter breaks
  • Year-round charitable contribution of your choice on behalf of BetterUp
  • 401(k) self contribution

Pay

Base salary is determined by job-related experience, education/training, residence location, as well as market indicators. The range below is representative of base salary only and does not include equity, sales bonus plans (when applicable) and benefits. This range may be modified in the future.

• New York City and San Francisco: $250,000 - $320,000
• Austin and Arlington: $230,000 - $280,000