Staff Design Researcher
**This is a contract role through December, 31, 2025 with possibility of extension.**
As a Staff Researcher for our client's product, you will be instrumental in shaping the product and organizational strategy for one of their most ambitious bets. You’ll lead strategic research initiatives and programs that illuminate new problem spaces, define long-term vision, and inspire product innovation across multiple teams.
This is a role focusing on identifying opportunities that expand the value, adoption, and scalability of the product in a rapidly evolving landscape. Your work will extend beyond informing individual product decisions, and will guide how the product evolves, scales, and delivers AI-powered experiences that redefine how knowledge workers discover, connect, and act on content.
In this dynamic and fast-paced environment, you’ll operate as both a craft leader and strategic thought partner, embedding deeply with cross-functional stakeholders across research, design, product, engineering, sales, and marketing. You’ll be expected to influence team-level execution and executive decision-making alike, ensuring the product builds experiences that are deeply useful, magical, and grounded in human needs. Your work will influence the product's offerings and help create magical, reliable, and delightful experiences that redefine knowledge work.
Responsibilities
- Lead complex, multi-quarter research initiatives and programs that influence product and business strategy across the product's and adjacent areas.
- Drive strategic thinking across product, design, and leadership teams, using research to shape vision, goals, and product architecture.
- Identify foundational and emergent research opportunities that align with company priorities and fuel long-term innovation.
- Own and evolve research practices, mentoring other researchers, championing methodological excellence, and elevating research quality across the org.
- Deliver high-signal insights through rigorous triangulation across qual, quant, and behavioral data.
- Proactively influence decision-making at the executive and cross-functional leadership levels through compelling synthesis and narrative craft.
- Build enduring partnerships across product, design, engineering, sales, and marketing, fostering alignment and shared understanding.
- Represent the Research externally, contributing to thought leadership and helping the client attract and retain top research talent.
Requirements
- 10+ years of experience in UX Research, with a proven track record of driving product and strategic decisions at scale.
- Deep fluency in a broad range of research qualitative and qualitative methodologies across the product lifecycle, from early generative to evaluative and longitudinal.
- Demonstrated experience in shaping product vision, working across complex product ecosystems or B2B/enterprise environments.
- Skilled at operating in 0->1 contexts, rapidly synthesizing ambiguity into clarity and direction.
- Strong executive presence and storytelling ability, and able to influence through insight and empathy across diverse stakeholder groups.
- Actively mentor peers, contribute to team rituals, hiring, and foster a collaborative research culture
Preferred Qualifications
- Advanced degree in Human-Computer Interaction, Cognitive Science, Psychology, or a related field.
- Familiarity with emerging research practices (e.g., AI-integrated research, simulation testing, metrics-driven validation).
- Experience building research functions or leading strategy in fast-scaling orgs or innovation labs.
- Background in complex industries such as AI, knowledge management, SaaS platforms, or data systems.
Compensation Range: $77-100/hr depending on location and experience.
** This pay range is Client-specific for the opening advertised. The identity of the Client will be disclosed if you are selected to move forward in the hiring process. **
Benefits:
- 75% of employee-only Medical & Dental coverage
- Vision - opt-in available
- 401k
- PTO
- Laptop
- Life Insurance, Disability Insurance, AD&D coverage
- Short-term Disability, Accident, Cancer/Critical Illness, Pet insurance - opt in available
Average salary estimate
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