UX Researcher (Design Researcher)

Responsibilities

• 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 BetterUp’s mission and values.
• 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.

Qualifications

• 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.
• Excellent communication and storytelling skills—you make research accessible, memorable, and actionable for any audience.