Senior/Staff UX Researcher

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior/Staff UX Researcher

Company: Jobgetgether (on behalf of a partner company)

Location: Portugal

Job Type: Full-time

Category: UX Research / Product Operations

Date Posted: April 10, 2026

Experience Level: Senior / Staff (5-7+ years)

Remote Status: Fully Remote

🚀 Role Summary

• Establish and scale the UX research practice within a fast-growing, AI-powered product organization.

• Build and maintain ResearchOps infrastructure, including participant systems, insights repositories, and scalable research frameworks.

• Conduct strategic research initiatives to deeply understand user behavior and inform product direction.

• Translate complex qualitative and quantitative insights into actionable recommendations for product, design, and engineering teams.

• Act as a user-centric advocate, evangelizing user understanding and embedding research into core decision-making processes across the company.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned as the foundational UX Researcher for the partner company, indicating a significant opportunity for strategic impact and the establishment of research best practices. The emphasis on "Senior/Staff" and "building and scaling" suggests a need for an experienced individual capable of independent operation and strategic leadership in research. The mention of "AI-powered" and "AI tools" indicates a modern, technology-forward environment where research may be augmented by AI.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Establish and Scale Research Practice: Define and implement the UX research function, including methodologies, tools, processes, and best practices to support product development lifecycle.

• Build ResearchOps Infrastructure: Develop and manage essential ResearchOps systems, such as participant recruitment pipelines, consent management, segmentation databases, and insights repositories to ensure efficient and ethical research operations.

• Lead Strategic Research Initiatives: Design and execute mixed-methods research studies (generative and evaluative) to uncover user needs, pain points, and opportunities, focusing on areas like personas, Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD), and user segmentation.

• Drive Product Strategy with Insights: Translate research findings into clear, compelling, and actionable insights that directly influence product strategy, roadmap prioritization, and OKR setting.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner closely with product managers, designers, engineers, and data analysts to ensure user understanding is integrated into all stages of product development and decision-making.

• Enable Team Research Capabilities: Mentor and empower cross-functional team members to conduct effective user research, fostering a user-centric culture throughout the organization.

• Evangelize User-Centricity: Champion the importance of user understanding and research findings across the company, building advocacy and integrating research into the core of the business.

• Stay Ahead of AI in Research: Leverage and explore AI tools to enhance research efficiency, data analysis, and insight generation, staying current with technological advancements in the field.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a dual focus on hands-on research execution and strategic, operational leadership. The requirement to "build and scale" and "establish the UX research practice" implies a need for someone who can define processes and infrastructure from the ground up, not just execute research tasks. This is a key differentiator for operations-minded candidates who can think systematically about research delivery.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is mandated, a Bachelor's or Master's degree in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, Computer Science, or a related field is typically beneficial for understanding research methodologies and human behavior.

Experience: 5–7 years of progressive experience in User Experience (UX) research, with a demonstrated ability to lead research initiatives and build research functions. Experience in B2B or technical product environments is highly valued.

Required Skills:

• Mixed-Methods Research Expertise: Proficient in both qualitative (e.g., interviews, usability testing, ethnography) and quantitative (e.g., surveys, analytics, A/B testing analysis) research methodologies.

• ResearchOps Proficiency: Proven experience designing, building, and managing Research Operations infrastructure, including participant recruitment systems, consent workflows, and insights repositories.

• Strategic Research Design: Ability to design and execute strategic research studies such as persona development, JTBD analysis, and user segmentation.

• Product Strategy Acumen: Strong understanding of product strategy, OKRs, and prioritization frameworks, with the ability to align research efforts with business objectives.

• Insight Translation: Skill in translating complex research findings into clear, actionable, and influential product recommendations and narratives.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Experience working effectively with product management, design, and engineering teams in fast-paced, agile environments.

• Mentorship & Enablement: Demonstrated ability to mentor junior researchers and enable non-researchers to conduct effective user research.

• GDPR & Ethical Practices: Solid understanding of data privacy regulations (like GDPR) and ethical research principles.

• English Communication: Excellent verbal and written communication skills for stakeholder management and reporting.

Preferred Skills:

• AI Tool Integration: Hands-on experience with AI tools and a keen interest in their application within research workflows for enhanced efficiency and insight generation.

• Remote Research Experience: Experience conducting and managing research in remote or distributed team settings.

• PLG Environment Familiarity: Understanding of Product-Led Growth (PLG) models and how user research contributes to growth strategies.

• Tooling Proficiency: Familiarity with common UX research tools (e.g., UserTesting.com, Dovetail, Qualtrics, SurveyMonkey, Miro, FigJam) and collaboration platforms.

📝 Enhancement Note: The requirement for "5-7 years" combined with "building and scaling" suggests this role is not for an early-career researcher. Candidates should be prepared to showcase strategic leadership, operational design capabilities, and a deep understanding of how to embed research into a growing organization. The emphasis on AI tools indicates a forward-thinking approach to research methodology.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Research Strategy & Design: Showcase examples of research plans, methodologies chosen, and how they aligned with specific business or product goals.

• Research Operations Infrastructure: Present evidence of building or significantly improving research operational processes, such as participant recruitment systems, insights repositories, or standardized workflows.

• Mixed-Methods Research Case Studies: Provide detailed case studies demonstrating the application of both qualitative and quantitative research techniques to solve complex problems.

• Impactful Insights & Recommendations: Clearly articulate research findings and demonstrate how these insights led to specific, measurable product improvements or strategic shifts, ideally with a focus on ROI or business impact.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration Examples: Illustrate how you partnered with product, design, and engineering teams, and how your research influenced their decisions and workflows.

Process Documentation:

• Workflow Design: Examples of how you've designed end-to-end research workflows, from planning and recruitment to analysis and synthesis.

• System Implementation: Document instances where you implemented new research tools, participant databases, or insights management systems.

• Performance Measurement: Showcase how you've measured the effectiveness and impact of research initiatives and ResearchOps processes.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a role focused on establishing and scaling research, a portfolio demonstrating not just research execution but also the design and implementation of research systems and processes is crucial. Candidates should be prepared to discuss the "how" behind their research operations and highlight instances of building foundational elements.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Given the Senior/Staff level, 5-7+ years of experience, and the fully remote nature within Portugal, a competitive salary range is expected. For a Senior UX Researcher in Portugal, the annual salary typically falls between €50,000 and €75,000. For a Staff-level researcher with significant strategic and operational responsibilities, this could extend to €80,000 - €95,000+, depending on the specific partner company's compensation philosophy, funding, and the candidate's precise experience and negotiation.

Benefits:

• Competitive Compensation Package: Salary aligned with experience and market rates.

• Equity Participation: Opportunity to own a stake in a high-growth company.

• Flexible Remote-First Working Model: Ability to work from anywhere within Europe, offering significant work-life balance.

• Generous Vacation Allowance: Tailored to local country standards, ensuring ample time for rest and rejuvenation.

• Comprehensive Health & Wellness: Standard benefits including health, wellness programs, pension contributions, and insurance, provided according to country-specific regulations.

• Annual Learning & Development Budget: Dedicated funds for professional growth, including training, conferences, and coaching to enhance UX research and ResearchOps skills.

• Unlimited Access to AI Tools: Provision of advanced AI tools to boost productivity, innovation, and research capabilities.

• Remote Work Flexibility: Freedom to manage work schedule with occasional team off-sites for in-person collaboration and team building.

• Strong Company Culture: Emphasis on transparency, autonomy, collaboration, and innovation.

• Additional Perks: Support for open-source contributions and opportunities to participate in company-wide hackathons.

Working Hours: The role is full-time, typically aligning with standard professional hours (approximately 40 hours per week). However, the remote-first model and emphasis on autonomy suggest flexibility in daily scheduling, provided core responsibilities and collaboration needs are met.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary estimate is based on research for senior/staff UX Researcher roles in Portugal, considering the cost of living and typical compensation structures for remote, high-impact positions in tech. The benefits package is detailed, emphasizing professional development and flexibility, which are attractive to experienced operations professionals.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: The partner company operates within the technology sector, specifically leveraging AI for its product offerings, and is described as "AI-powered" and operating "across Europe and beyond." This suggests a focus on cutting-edge technology, data-driven product development, and potentially a global customer base.

Company Size: The description implies a fast-growing company that is actively investing in establishing core functions like UX research. This suggests a company that is likely past the very early startup stage but still in a phase of rapid scaling and strategic development, likely between 50-250 employees. This size offers the opportunity to build and influence without the bureaucracy of a large enterprise.

Founded: While the founding date isn't specified, the emphasis on establishing a function and scaling implies the company has achieved product-market fit and is now focused on growth and operational maturity.

Team Structure:

• The UX Researcher will be the first dedicated UX Researcher, indicating a small, nascent research team.

• They will work at the "intersection of product, design, and engineering," suggesting close collaboration with these departments.

• The reporting structure is not explicitly defined but is likely within a Product or Design leadership framework, given the nature of UX research.

Methodology:

• Data-Driven Product Decisions: The company emphasizes turning "complex user behavior into clear, actionable insights that guide product direction."

• Scalable Research Systems: A key focus is on creating "scalable research systems" to enable "faster and better-informed decisions."

• Autonomy and Experimentation: The remote-first environment values "autonomy, experimentation, and deep user understanding."

• AI Integration: There's a clear interest in leveraging AI tools to support productivity and innovation.

Company Website: While the posting is by Jobgether, the partner company's website would be the primary source for understanding their product, mission, and culture. [Specific company website URL would be inserted here if available].

📝 Enhancement Note: The context suggests a dynamic, growth-stage company where this role is critical for building out a foundational capability. Candidates should be prepared to operate with a high degree of autonomy and demonstrate strategic thinking in establishing research operations. The "AI-powered" aspect is a significant differentiator.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is positioned as Senior/Staff UX Researcher. This indicates a senior individual contributor role with significant strategic responsibility. It implies a level of autonomy, the ability to define processes, and a leadership capacity in influencing product direction. The "Staff" designation often signifies an expert individual contributor who can tackle ambiguous problems, mentor others, and have broad impact across multiple teams or product areas.

Reporting Structure: As the first dedicated UX Researcher, the role likely reports into a Head of Product, VP of Product, Head of Design, or a similar senior leadership position. The key is that this role will have direct access to and influence over product leadership and decision-making. The researcher will collaborate closely with Product Managers, Designers, and Engineers.

Operations Impact: The impact of this role is framed as establishing and scaling the UX research function to "shape product decisions at scale." The researcher's work will directly influence product innovation, long-term product strategy, and the overall user-centricity of the organization. By turning user behavior into actionable insights, they will directly contribute to product success, user adoption, and potentially revenue growth through improved product-market fit and user satisfaction. The role is expected to "turn complex user behavior into clear, actionable insights that guide product direction."

Growth Opportunities:

• Building a Function: The primary growth opportunity is to build and lead the UX research function from its inception, establishing its methodology, team, and impact within the company. This could lead to a Head of Research or similar leadership role as the team grows.

• Strategic Influence: The role offers significant influence on product strategy and roadmap, allowing for growth in strategic thinking and cross-functional leadership.

• Skill Development in AI & ResearchOps: Opportunity to deepen expertise in applying AI tools to research and to become a leader in Research Operations, a rapidly evolving and in-demand field.

• Mentorship & Enablement: Developing leadership and coaching skills by mentoring cross-functional teams in user research practices.

• Broad Product Exposure: Working across multiple product areas in a fast-growing company provides exposure to diverse challenges and opportunities for learning.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is ideal for a researcher who wants to move beyond execution and into strategic leadership and operational design. The "Staff" level suggests expectations of thought leadership, ambiguity tolerance, and the ability to drive significant change.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: The company operates on a remote-first model. This means that remote work is the primary mode of operation, and the company culture and infrastructure are built around supporting distributed teams. While there might be occasional team off-sites, there is no central physical office requirement for daily work.

Office Location(s): The role is based in Portugal, but the "flexible remote-first working model across Europe" suggests that while the primary talent pool is within Portugal, the company is open to hiring remotely within the broader European region. This offers flexibility to employees within that geographic scope.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Environment: Despite being remote, the culture emphasizes "collaboration." This implies the use of digital collaboration tools (e.g., Slack, Zoom, Miro, Notion) and structured opportunities for team interaction.

• Operations Tools & Technology: Access to and utilization of a suite of digital tools will be essential, including communication platforms, project management software, and specialized UX research and AI tools.

• Team Interaction: Opportunities for interaction will likely be through scheduled virtual meetings, asynchronous communication, and potentially periodic in-person team off-sites to foster connection and strategic alignment.

Work Schedule: The role is full-time, with an expected 40-hour work week. The remote-first nature and emphasis on autonomy suggest flexibility in daily work hours, allowing individuals to structure their day around personal needs and peak productivity times, while ensuring availability for key meetings and cross-functional collaboration.

📝 Enhancement Note: The remote-first nature with a specific country focus (Portugal) is a key detail. Candidates should be comfortable with asynchronous communication and digital collaboration tools. The "occasional team off-sites" are a key aspect for in-person connection in a remote setup.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening (Jobgether): The application will first be reviewed by Jobgether's AI-powered matching process, followed by a human review to shortlist candidates.

• Hiring Company Screening: A brief call with the hiring company to assess initial fit and align expectations.

• Skills Assessment/Case Study: Likely a practical exercise or case study focused on a research problem, requiring the candidate to outline their approach, methodology, and expected outcomes. This might involve presenting a research plan or analyzing a sample dataset.

• Deep Dive Interviews: Multiple interviews with key stakeholders (e.g., Head of Product, Design Lead, Engineering Lead) to assess deep expertise in UX research, ResearchOps, strategic thinking, and cross-functional collaboration.

• Final Interview: Potentially with a C-level executive to discuss strategic vision and cultural fit.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Showcase ResearchOps: Highlight specific examples of building or improving research infrastructure (e.g., participant databases, standardized templates, recruitment processes). This is a key differentiator for this role.

• Strategic Impact: Focus on case studies where your research directly influenced product strategy, roadmap decisions, or led to measurable business outcomes. Quantify impact where possible (e.g., "increased conversion by X%", "reduced user errors by Y%").

• Methodological Rigor: Clearly articulate the rationale behind your chosen methodologies for both generative and evaluative research. Explain why specific methods were selected and how they addressed the research questions.

• Insight Synthesis: Demonstrate your ability to synthesize complex qualitative and quantitative data into clear, concise, and actionable insights. Use storytelling to convey the user's perspective and the implications for the product.

• Collaboration & Enablement: Include examples of how you partnered with other teams and how you enabled non-researchers to conduct user research effectively.

Challenge Preparation:

• Research Strategy Design: Be prepared to outline a comprehensive research strategy for a given product scenario, including objectives, target users, methodologies, and timelines.

• ResearchOps Problem-Solving: Anticipate questions about how you would tackle common ResearchOps challenges, such as scaling recruitment, managing insights, or ensuring data privacy.

• Stakeholder Management: Practice articulating research recommendations in a way that resonates with different stakeholders (product, engineering, marketing), focusing on business value.

• AI in Research: Be ready to discuss your experience or ideas on how AI tools can enhance UX research workflows, from participant screening to data analysis and synthesis.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on building ResearchOps and strategic impact means candidates should prepare to discuss their operational design thinking and demonstrate how they've driven significant product outcomes through research. Highlighting AI tool integration in their portfolio will be a strong advantage.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• UX Research Platforms: Experience with tools like UserTesting.com, Maze, Lookback, or similar for remote usability testing and user feedback collection.

• Qualitative Data Analysis: Proficiency in tools like Dovetail, NVivo, or similar for organizing, coding, and synthesizing qualitative data.

• Survey & Form Tools: Expertise with platforms such as Qualtrics, SurveyMonkey, Typeform, or Google Forms for designing and deploying surveys.

• Collaboration & Whiteboarding: Familiarity with Miro, Mural, FigJam for collaborative ideation, journey mapping, and research synthesis sessions.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Product Analytics: Experience with tools like Amplitude, Mixpanel, or Google Analytics to understand user behavior patterns and identify areas for research.

• Data Visualization: Ability to use tools like Tableau, Power BI, or even advanced spreadsheet functions to visualize research data and findings.

CRM & Automation:

• CRM (Indirect): While not directly managing CRM, understanding how user data is managed within systems like Salesforce or HubSpot can be beneficial for B2B research.

• Research Participant Management: Experience with building and managing participant databases or utilizing recruitment platforms that automate aspects of this process.

• AI Tools: Explicitly mentioned is "Unlimited access to AI tools to support productivity and innovation." This suggests familiarity with or a strong aptitude for learning AI-powered research assistants, transcription services, summarization tools, or data analysis platforms.

📝 Enhancement Note: The explicit mention of "Unlimited access to AI tools" is a significant indicator. Candidates should be prepared to discuss their experience with or willingness to adopt AI in research workflows. This is a critical differentiator for this role.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• User-Centricity: A deep-seated commitment to understanding and advocating for the user in all product decisions.

• Data-Driven Decision Making: A belief in using evidence from user research and data analytics to guide strategy and product development.

• Collaboration & Transparency: Open communication, shared knowledge, and a willingness to work closely with all cross-functional teams.

• Autonomy & Ownership: Empowering individuals to take ownership of their work, make decisions, and drive initiatives forward with minimal oversight.

• Experimentation & Learning: A culture that encourages trying new approaches, learning from both successes and failures, and continuous improvement.

• Efficiency & Scalability: A focus on building robust, scalable systems and processes that enable the organization to grow effectively.

Collaboration Style:

• Remote-First Collaboration: Leveraging digital tools and asynchronous communication effectively to maintain strong connections and productivity across distances.

• Cross-Functional Partnership: Proactive engagement with Product, Design, and Engineering teams, acting as a bridge between user needs and technical implementation.

• Mentorship & Knowledge Sharing: A willingness to share expertise, mentor colleagues, and foster a learning environment around user research best practices.

• Constructive Feedback: An open environment for providing and receiving feedback to continuously improve research quality and processes.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on autonomy, experimentation, and building scalable systems points towards a culture that values proactive, strategic thinkers who can operate independently and drive change.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Establishing a New Function: As the first dedicated UX Researcher, a primary challenge will be defining the research strategy, processes, and infrastructure from scratch in a growing organization. This requires significant initiative and strategic planning.

• Balancing Hands-on Research with Ops: The role requires both deep, hands-on research execution and the strategic development of ResearchOps. Balancing these demands effectively will be key.

• Influencing Without Direct Authority: The researcher will need to influence product direction and embed research practices across teams where they don't have direct reporting lines, requiring strong communication and persuasion skills.

• Scaling Research in a Fast-Paced Environment: Keeping pace with the demands of a fast-growing, AI-powered product company while ensuring research quality and scalability can be challenging.

• Integrating AI into Research Workflows: Effectively identifying and integrating AI tools to enhance research efficiency and insight generation, while maintaining ethical standards and human oversight.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Leadership in ResearchOps: Opportunity to become a leader in Research Operations, a specialized and increasingly critical area within product development.

• Strategic Product Influence: Deepen expertise in shaping product strategy through impactful user insights, potentially leading to broader product management or strategy roles.

• AI in UX Research: Become an early adopter and expert in leveraging AI technologies to transform UX research practices.

• Mentorship & Team Building: Develop leadership skills by mentoring colleagues and potentially building out a research team in the future.

• Industry Exposure: Gain experience in a fast-growing, AI-focused tech company with a European presence, offering valuable industry insights.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges are directly related to the opportunity to build and lead. Candidates should be prepared to discuss how they approach ambiguity and how they drive foundational change within an organization.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "How would you approach establishing a UX research function from the ground up in a fast-growing, AI-powered company?" (Focus on R&D, systems, integration).

• "Describe your experience building ResearchOps infrastructure. What are the key components, and how have you implemented them?" (Showcase practical operational design).

• "Walk us through a complex research project where your insights significantly influenced product strategy or roadmap decisions. What was the impact?" (Demonstrate strategic impact and measurement).

• "How do you balance the need for deep qualitative insights with the scalability requirements of a fast-paced product organization?" (Address efficiency vs. depth).

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What excites you about working in an AI-powered product organization, and what unique research challenges do you foresee?" (Show company research).

• "How would you foster a user-centric culture and embed user understanding within engineering and product teams, especially in a remote environment?" (Assess collaboration and evangelism skills).

• "Describe your ideal collaboration dynamic with product managers, designers, and engineers." (Evaluate team fit and partnership approach).

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure for Impact: Organize your portfolio around key themes: Research Strategy & Execution, ResearchOps Implementation, Strategic Impact & Influence, and Cross-Functional Enablement.

• Quantify Results: For each case study, clearly articulate the problem, your approach, the insights generated, the actions taken based on those insights, and the measurable outcomes or business impact.

• Showcase Operational Thinking: Dedicate a section or specific examples to highlight your experience in building or improving research processes, tools, or infrastructure.

• Storytelling: Frame your case studies as compelling narratives that demonstrate your problem-solving skills, strategic thinking, and ability to drive user-centered change.

• Tailor to the Role: Emphasize projects that align with the requirements of building a research function, working with AI, and operating in a remote-first, fast-paced environment.

📝 Enhancement Note: Candidates should prepare to discuss not just research findings but also the operational and strategic aspects of their work, demonstrating their ability to build and scale a research function. Highlighting AI tool usage is critical.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Senior/Staff UX Researcher position:

• Submit your application through the provided Lever link.

• Customize Your Resume: Tailor your resume to highlight experience in establishing research functions, building ResearchOps, conducting strategic mixed-methods research, and influencing product strategy. Use keywords like "ResearchOps," "AI tools," "strategic research," "user segmentation," and "product roadmapping."

• Prepare Your Portfolio: Curate a portfolio that prominently features case studies demonstrating your ability to design and implement research systems, drive strategic product decisions, and enable cross-functional teams. Ensure it includes examples of your work with AI tools if applicable.

• Research the Company: Invest time in understanding the partner company's product, market position, and any publicly available information about their culture and technology stack, especially their AI initiatives.

• Practice Your Narrative: Be ready to articulate your experience in building a research function, your approach to ResearchOps, and your vision for user research in an AI-powered, remote-first environment. Practice presenting your portfolio highlights concisely and impactfully.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.

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