Staff User Experience Researcher (Foundations and Enablement)

Role Overview

Join Khan Academy as a Staff User Experience Researcher. You will lead the “People Who Do Research” program to enable the Design team to run their own tactical user experience research. You’ll also build a research technology stack powered by responsible AI, advise leadership using customer/user insights, and act as a high-level internal research consultant.

Key Missions / Responsibilities

• Refine and scale the “People Who Do Research” program to empower designers and product teams to conduct high-quality tactical UX research.
• Design, propose, and manage a research tech stack using responsible AI, including automated workflows for:
  • recruiting participants
  • synthesis
  • distributing insights.
• Serve as the Design Leadership Team’s expert on customer and user profiles, synthesizing cross-surface insights to identify strategic gaps and opportunities.
• Provide internal consulting to guide research strategy and how teams adopt research checkpoints.

Requirements

• 12+ years of UX research experience in complex enterprise software or SaaS environments.
• Exceptional communication and executive presence, able to influence cross-functional leaders on the value of democratized (yet governed) research.
• Strong understanding of the product development lifecycle (PDLC) and software development lifecycle (SDLC) to integrate research into existing design/engineering workflows.
• Mastery and rigor in research methods (including the ability to detect flaws in research design and AI-generated summaries).
• Responsible AI fluency: practical understanding of GenAI/LLMs, including limitations; ability to use AI for speed while ensuring quality and ethical guardrails.
• Proven cross-cultural competency and ability to drive inclusive perspectives and behaviors.
• Strong coaching/mentorship experience, including building Research Ops programs.
• Motivated by Khan Academy’s mission: free world-class education for anyone, anywhere.

Nice-to-Haves / Valued Qualities

• Track record building scalable systems, templates, and workflows to improve research velocity and quality.
• Maturity, low-ego, emotionally intelligent, growth mindset (willing to learn and teach).
• Comfort with ambiguity and shifting priorities; ability to balance near-term delivery with longer-term scouting.
• Strong collaborative drive: proactive unblocking, pitching in when needed.

Work Arrangement

• Full remote with a flexible environment.