Staff Design Researcher/UX Researcher

FocusKPI is looking for a Staff Design Researcher/UX researcher to join one of our clients, a high-tech SaaS company.

As a Staff Researcher for the Dash tool, you will be instrumental in shaping the product and organizational strategy for one of the client’s 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 role focuses on identifying opportunities to expand the value, adoption, and scalability of Dash in a rapidly evolving landscape. Your work will extend beyond informing individual product decisions and will guide how Dash 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, deeply embedded 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 Dash builds experiences that are deeply useful, magical, and grounded in human needs. Your work will influence Dash’s offerings and help create magical, reliable, and delightful experiences that redefine knowledge work.
 

Work Location: Remote - anywhere in the US; Client location: San Francisco, CA
Duration: 3-month contract with possibility of extension or conversion depending on your performance and the budget approval
Pay Range: Zone1: $100/hr to $110/hr; Zone2: $85 to 95/hr; Zone3: $71 to 81/hr
**No C2C resumes are considered**
Responsibilities:

• Lead complex, multi-quarter research initiatives and programs that influence product and business strategy across Dash 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 organization.
• Deliver high-signal insights through rigorous triangulation across qualitative, quantitative, 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 Dash Research externally, contributing to thought leadership and helping the client attract and retain top research talent.

• 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 quantitative 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.
• Experience with B2B or enterprise SaaS products
• 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
• Background in survey design and tooling (e.g., Qualtrics, SurveyMonkey, Sprig)

1. Strategic Research Leadership: Proven ability to drive company-level recommendations using a variety of methods
2. Stakeholder Management: Strong communication, influence, and ability to navigate differing opinions
3. Methodological Flexibility: Comfortable working in a fast-paced, zero-to-one environment with scrappy timelines (e.g., condensing 6-month studies into 2-week sprints)

• 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.

Thank you!

FocusKPI Hiring Team

Founded in 2010, FocusKPI, Inc. (FocusKPI) is a data science and technology firm specializing in predictive analytics practice and methodologies. FocusKPI is a US company headquartered in Silicon Valley, California, with an East Coast office in Boston, Massachusetts.