Director, User Insights

Hi, we're DuckDuckGo, the online protection company and remote-first team of 300+ on a mission to raise the standard of trust online. Founded in 2008 and profitable since 2014, annual revenue now exceeds $100m USD and millions use our browser on Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android, our search engine, and the DuckDuckGo Privacy Pro. Our culture of trust, inclusivity, and empowered project management underpins everything we do, where each team member takes full ownership of their projects, from scoping and execution to postmortem. If you're seeking end-to-end ownership of your work — you've come to the right place!

Working on the User Insights team, you'll lead a group of researchers embedded across DuckDuckGo's product areas, turning user behavior and feedback into decisions that actually ship. The team works across qualitative and quantitative methods, partnering closely with product, data science, and leadership to make sure the right research reaches the right people at the right moments. Recent projects include:

1. Designing a cross-objective research intake system that surfaced upcoming product decisions 4-6 weeks ahead of roadmap commitments, enabling research to shape outcomes rather than document them.

2. Running a longitudinal study on AI feature adoption gaps to inform onboarding and acquisition messaging strategy for a major product launch.

3. Consolidating research findings across multiple objectives into decision-ready briefs, translating user constraints and invalidated assumptions into product language for engineering and design teams.

As a Director, User Insights, you'll set the strategic direction for how research connects to product decisions across the company, making sure the team is working on what matters most, and that the insights they produce actually move things.

• 15+ years of professional experience, including 4+ years of experience in senior leadership roles (Director, Head, VP levels) in user insights/research.

• Deep practitioner-level command of quantitative and qualitative methods: conjoint, MaxDiff, discrete choice, regression, multivariate analysis, moderated/unmoderated testing, diary studies, and metric framework development.

• Able to take an ambiguous product question with no established measurement approach and build one from first principles.

• Experience working at a consumer-facing tech company with a meaningful US userbase, and cross multiple product surfaces simultaneously.

• Background in environments with multiple daily sequenced A/B experiments where research is integrated into the shipping process.

• Track record of developing researchers — not just directing them — with measurable improvement in methodology, framing, and stakeholder communication.

• Comfort representing research strategy to senior leadership in terms of business outcomes, not just research outputs.

• Experience in resource-constrained orgs where sequencing decisions were as important as execution.

• Willingness to use AI and build effective workflows accelerating work through AI agents.

$243,800 USD annually and stock options. Compensation is identical within professional levels, regardless of geographic location or team. Compensation for each professional level is transparent across the organization.

Eligibility for company-sponsored health benefits is limited to team members based in the United States. This program does not extend to team members located in other countries, such as Canada or the UK.

Our Team Member Support Guide explains how we prioritize your wellbeing including paid parental leave, office setup, and co-working allowances.

Hiring works best when it's a two-way street. Learn how we help you get to know DuckDuckGo, envision your future role here, and find out more about how we hire.

DuckDuckGo provides equal work opportunities to all team members and applicants, and it prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, caste, religion, age, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by our policies or federal, state, or local laws.

We want to ensure that our hiring process is accessible. If you need reasonable accommodation for any part of the application process because of a medical condition or disability, please send an email to [email protected] to let us know the nature of your request.

1. You’ll be required to attend meetings on camera via video conferencing

2. Expect to travel at least two times a year: once for our all-hands meetup and again for a team retreat (each around 4-5 days). While extenuating circumstances may impact attendance, everyone is strongly encouraged to attend.

3. While we offer a flexible work arrangement with no core hours, expect an average full-time commitment of 40 hours per week.

4. A successful candidate must pass a background check as a condition of joining the team.

5. By applying for this role, you confirm that all information submitted is accurate and complete. You further acknowledge that providing false or fraudulent information during the application process is cause for denial of an offer, revocation of any existing offer, or other adverse action, up to and including termination after the start of your commencement of work.

As part of our commitment to enhancing our recruitment process, we utilize artificial intelligence (AI) technology to assist in reviewing and summarizing job applications and test projects, including those tools integrated into our recruitment vendor platforms. We use AI to flag potentially fraudulent applications, analyze and summarize applicants’ experience, interviews, and project performance, and help streamline our selection process.

Key Principles:

1. Data Privacy: All information provided in your application will be handled in accordance with our Recruiting Privacy Policy. We ensure that your personal information is protected and used solely for recruitment purposes.

2. Human Oversight and Accountability: The AI technology is designed to support our hiring team by providing insights and summaries of applications and evaluations of test projects against scoring rubrics. All final evaluations and hiring decisions, however, will be made by our hiring team, who will consider the AI's input alongside other factors.

3. Transparency: We believe in transparency regarding our hiring practices. If you have any questions about how AI is used in our recruitment process, please feel free to reach out to us.

By submitting your application, you acknowledge and consent to the use of AI technology in our review process. If you would like to request an alternative selection process, please contact us as at [email protected]. Thank you for your interest in joining DuckDuckGo!