Senior UX Research and Design Manager

Key Responsibilities

• Own UX Research Strategy: Develop and execute a comprehensive UX research strategy to guide product innovation and iterative improvements.
• Contribute to Product Strategy: Collaborate with product managers to prioritize research questions, align on objectives, and inform product roadmaps with user-centric insights.
• Plan and Execute User Research: Plan and conduct user research using a variety of methods (e.g., user interviews, usability testing, surveys, field studies, concept validation) to uncover user behaviors, motivations, and pain points.
• Translate Data into Actionable Insights: Analyze and synthesize qualitative and quantitative data into actionable insights and recommendations.
• Ideate, Prototype, and Test: Partner with UX designers and product teams to ideate, prototype, and test new product experiences and workflow improvements.
• Integrate Research into Discovery and Development: Work closely with product managers in the US and India to ensure research findings are integrated into product discovery and development cycles.
• Create High Fidelity Designs: Create high fidelity designs for product and engineering teams based on insights generated from user and market research.
• Champion a User-Centric Mindset: Champion a user-centric mindset throughout the organization by focusing on continuous discovery, iteration, and user validation.
• Set a New Standard: Mentor and coach product team members on research best practices, ensuring a consistent and effective approach to user discovery.
• Standardize Research Process: Define, refine, and standardize research processes, tools, and documentation to improve efficiency and transparency across teams.
• Drive Continuous Discovery: Introduce and maintain frameworks for continuous discovery, ensuring the product team remains in constant communication with users.
• Measure Impact: Work with product and analytics teams to measure the impact of UX improvements on user engagement, satisfaction, and product adoption.
• Present Findings: Present clear and compelling findings to stakeholders, including executives, that demonstrate how research translates to user and business value.
• Manage Design Team: Manage a design team, overseeing all aspects from hiring and training to guiding day-to-day operations and long-term strategic planning.

Qualifications & Experience

• Education: Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Human-Computer Interaction, Psychology, Anthropology, Design, or a related field.
• Experience: 7+ years of hands-on UX research experience, with at least 3 years in a leadership role. Proven track record in a SaaS environment, ideally with complex workflow products. Experience in a similar-sized enterprise (e.g., mid-market SaaS business) is highly desirable. Highly Desirable: Experience in the Higher Education EdTech space or with B2B SaaS workflow tools.
• Research Skills: Proficiency in a wide range of qualitative and quantitative research methods. Strong analytical skills with the ability to translate complex data into user-centric insights.
• Product Mindset: Comfort working in agile and lean development environments, partnering closely with product managers, designers, and engineers.
• Communication & Leadership: Excellent written, verbal, and presentation skills. Ability to influence and persuade key stakeholders, from executive leadership to engineering teams. Experience mentoring or managing research teams or cross-functional pods.
• Culture & Values: Highly collaborative and user-focused. Passion for higher education and improving the experiences of students, alumni, and administrators.