User Researcher

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: User Researcher

Company: Dust

Location: Paris, Île de France, France

Job Type: Full-Time

Category: User Research / Product Operations

Date Posted: 2026-11-03

Experience Level: Mid-Senior Level (5-10 years)

Remote Status: Hybrid (Office-First Culture)

🚀 Role Summary

• Spearhead the establishment and evolution of Dust's user research function, defining methodologies, tooling, and documentation standards.

• Conduct end-to-end qualitative and quantitative research studies, including user interviews, usability tests, concept tests, and surveys, to deeply understand user needs and behaviors.

• Translate complex research findings into actionable, decision-driving narratives for Product, Design, Go-To-Market (GTM), and executive teams.

• Partner closely with Sales and Customer Success to surface patterns in customer conversations, informing GTM positioning, ICP definition, and customer segmentation.

• Leverage AI-assisted research tools and build scalable research systems to enhance efficiency and democratize insights across the organization.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned as the foundational User Researcher for Dust, implying a significant opportunity to build the research practice from the ground up. The emphasis on AI-assisted research and building scalable systems suggests a forward-thinking approach to research operations and a need for candidates who can innovate within the field. The "office-first" culture with hybrid flexibility indicates a strong emphasis on in-person collaboration for product development and GTM strategy.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Develop and Own Research Practice: Define and implement research methodologies, select appropriate tooling, establish cadences for feedback loops, and create robust documentation standards for the research function.

• End-to-End Research Execution: Design, plan, and execute qualitative and quantitative research studies throughout the product development lifecycle, from exploratory research to validation and post-launch analysis.

• Insight Synthesis and Communication: Synthesize complex user data into clear, compelling, and actionable insights, presenting findings in formats that directly influence product decisions, roadmap prioritization, and GTM strategies.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Embed within Product and Design teams to ensure research informs decisions proactively, act as a user advocate in roadmap discussions, and challenge assumptions with evidence.

• GTM and Customer Understanding Support: Collaborate with Sales and Customer Success to analyze customer interactions, refine value propositions, contribute to ICP definition, and support segmentation efforts with primary research data.

• AI Integration and Scalability: Actively integrate AI tools to accelerate research velocity and expand coverage; build reusable research assets and self-serve systems to enable broader team access to insights.

• Prioritization and Impact Measurement: Identify and prioritize high-leverage research questions aligned with the product roadmap, and follow up to ensure research insights lead to measurable impact on product and business outcomes.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a blend of foundational research practice building and hands-on execution. The emphasis on "building from scratch" and "scale your impact with AI" indicates a need for a proactive, strategic, and technologically adept researcher. The integration with GTM functions is a key differentiator, suggesting the role bridges product insights with market strategy.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is listed, a strong academic foundation in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, Market Research, or a related field is typically expected for a User Researcher role.

Experience: 5-10 years of experience in user research, product research, or a closely related field, with a proven track record of influencing product and business decisions.

Required Skills:

• Mixed-Methods Research Expertise: Proficient in designing and executing both qualitative (user interviews, usability testing, concept testing) and quantitative (surveys, data analysis) research, and adept at triangulating findings.

• User Interview Proficiency: Demonstrated experience running and synthesizing in-depth user interviews at pace while maintaining rigor and clarity.

• Insight Translation & Storytelling: Ability to translate complex user data into clear, persuasive, and decision-driving narratives for diverse stakeholders, including engineers, PMs, and founders.

• Impactful Research Delivery: Proven track record of research directly influencing product or business decisions, with a focus on measurable outcomes and avoiding "filed and forgotten" documentation.

• AI Tool Integration: Active and demonstrated use of AI tools to enhance research velocity, coverage, and efficiency, treating AI as a core component of the research workflow.

• User Obsession: A deep-seated passion for understanding users and consistently bringing the user's perspective into broader organizational discussions.

• Direct and Collaborative Communication: Ability to communicate findings directly, even uncomfortable ones, while maintaining a low-ego, collaborative approach across different functions.

• Ambiguity Tolerance & Proactivity: Comfort with ambiguity and the challenge of building processes in a lean, fast-paced startup environment; ability to identify and act on missing research opportunities.

• Impactful Collaboration: Eagerness to make colleagues sharper by actively sharing learnings and insights.

• End-to-End Ownership: Proven ability to own projects from framing research questions to delivering insights and following up on their impact.

• Strategic Judgment: Comfort in making informed decisions about research investment and scope, understanding when research is the most effective approach.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience building a research function or practice from the ground up.

• Familiarity with enterprise software, AI agents, or SaaS product development.

• Experience supporting Go-To-Market (GTM) functions with user insights.

• Knowledge of statistical analysis and advanced quantitative research methods.

• Experience with research operations (ResOps) best practices and tooling.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Aptitude, Attitude, and Agency" framework is a key differentiator. The requirements emphasize not just technical research skills but also the proactive, collaborative, and impact-oriented mindset crucial for a foundational role in a fast-growing startup. The explicit mention of AI integration as a core requirement is significant.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Demonstrated Impact: Showcase case studies that clearly illustrate how your research directly influenced product decisions, led to specific feature changes, or improved key business metrics. Quantify impact whenever possible.

• Mixed-Methods Application: Provide examples of projects where you effectively utilized a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to answer complex research questions, demonstrating your ability to triangulate data.

• Research Process Documentation: Include examples of your research plans, methodologies, synthesis artifacts (e.g., affinity maps, user journey maps), and final reports, highlighting your structured approach.

• User-Centric Storytelling: Present findings in a compelling narrative format, demonstrating your ability to translate raw data into actionable insights that resonate with stakeholders across product, design, and business teams.

• AI Integration Examples: If possible, include examples of how you've leveraged AI tools to enhance research efficiency, analysis, or synthesis in past projects.

Process Documentation:

• Methodology Definition: Be prepared to discuss how you would define research methodologies, select appropriate tools, and establish cadences for feedback loops at Dust.

• Scalable Systems Design: Demonstrate experience in creating reusable research assets, templates, or systems that enable self-service or broader team access to insights, rather than solely producing one-off outputs.

• Insight Delivery Formats: Showcase a variety of ways you've delivered research findings (e.g., presentations, reports, workshops, interactive dashboards) and how you tailor delivery to drive action.

📝 Enhancement Note: Given this is a foundational role, the portfolio should emphasize not just past work but also the candidate's vision for building and scaling a research function. The ability to demonstrate how research drives concrete business outcomes and how AI can be integrated is crucial.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: For a User Researcher with 5-10 years of experience in Paris, France, the estimated annual salary range would typically fall between €70,000 and €100,000. This estimate is based on industry benchmarks for mid-to-senior level research roles in major European tech hubs, considering the company's funding and growth stage, and the specific responsibilities of building out a function.

Benefits:

• Competitive salary and potential for equity in a fast-growing startup.

• Comprehensive health insurance and wellness benefits.

• Generous paid time off and holidays.

• Support for professional development, including conferences, training, and learning resources.

• Opportunity to shape a critical function within a category-defining AI company.

• Collaborative and dynamic work environment with a focus on user impact.

• Hybrid work arrangement with office-first culture, fostering in-person collaboration.

Working Hours: The role likely adheres to standard full-time working hours, approximately 40 hours per week. While there is an office-first culture, the company emphasizes trust and flexibility, allowing individuals to make calls on when working from home is more productive for specific tasks.

📝 Enhancement Note: Salary is estimated based on typical compensation for experienced User Researchers in Paris, France, taking into account the company's stage and funding. Benefits are inferred from standard offerings at well-funded tech startups and the emphasis on employee growth and well-being.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Enterprise Software, SaaS. Dust is at the forefront of building the product layer for AI agents, focusing on enterprise-grade governance and human-agent collaboration.

Company Size: Growing startup, backed by Sequoia, with a team originating from companies like Stripe and OpenAI. The company is aiming for significant growth (x5 by end of 2026).

Founded: Founded with a mission to "rewrite work" by enabling AI Operators. The company emphasizes speed, user focus, and a collaborative, optimistic team culture.

Team Structure:

• The User Researcher will be the first dedicated researcher, sitting close to Product and Design teams.

• Reporting structure likely involves close collaboration with Product leadership, Head of Product, or potentially a CTO/CPO, given the foundational nature of the role.

• Cross-functional collaboration is a core tenet, involving close partnerships with Product, Design, Engineering, Sales, and Customer Success. Methodology:

• Data-Driven Decision-Making: Emphasis on grounding decisions in user insights and data, challenging assumptions with evidence.

• Agile & Iterative Development: Shipping fast and iterating based on user feedback is a core practice.

• User-Centricity: A strong focus on understanding and serving users, evident in their product adoption rates (70%+ weekly active users).

• AI Integration: Proactive adoption and integration of AI tools to enhance productivity and innovation.

Company Website: https://dust.tt/

📝 Enhancement Note: Dust is positioned as an innovative leader in the enterprise AI space, focused on practical applications of AI agents in the workplace. The culture appears to value speed, user obsession, and collaborative innovation, with a strong emphasis on building.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This is a foundational role for a mid-to-senior level User Researcher. The individual will be responsible for establishing and owning the research function, which offers significant autonomy and strategic influence. It's a high-leverage position with direct impact on product strategy and GTM.

Reporting Structure: The User Researcher will likely report into Product leadership (e.g., Head of Product, CPO) and will work very closely with Design and Product Managers. This close proximity ensures research is embedded in the product development process.

Operations Impact: The role's impact is significant, directly shaping product decisions by providing evidence-based user insights. This influences not only product development but also how the company positions its value proposition and understands its customer base, thereby impacting overall GTM strategy and revenue growth.

Growth Opportunities:

• Build and Lead: Opportunity to build the entire user research function from the ground up, defining its processes, tools, and culture, potentially leading to a Head of Research role as the company scales.

• Skill Specialization: Deepen expertise in AI-assisted research, advanced qualitative/quantitative methods, and GTM research, becoming a recognized expert in these areas within the company and industry.

• Strategic Influence: Grow into a key strategic advisor for product and business decisions, influencing the company's long-term vision and product direction.

• Cross-Functional Leadership: Expand influence beyond product into GTM strategy, customer success, and sales enablement through deep user understanding.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role offers a unique opportunity for a researcher to define their own domain within a rapidly growing, category-defining company. The growth trajectory is tied to building out the function and demonstrating increasing strategic impact.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Dust promotes an "office-first" culture, valuing the synergy and spontaneous collaboration that arises from in-person work. They have physical offices in Paris, London, San Francisco, and New York.

Office Location(s): The role is based in their Paris office. The company culture actively protects the benefits of being together, suggesting a vibrant, collaborative workspace.

Workspace Context:

• The environment is described as energetic, fostering fast decisions and unexpected conversations that lead to problem-solving.

• As the first researcher, the individual will have the opportunity to shape the research tools and technology available within their workspace.

• Close proximity to product, design, and engineering teams is a key aspect, facilitating frequent interaction and collaboration.

Work Schedule: While the culture is office-first, Dust emphasizes trust and allows flexibility for individuals to work from home when it makes sense for their productivity. This suggests a hybrid model where in-office days are prioritized for collaborative activities and strategic discussions.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "office-first" approach is a deliberate choice to foster innovation and rapid iteration, indicating a preference for candidates who thrive in collaborative, in-person settings, while still offering a degree of flexibility.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A conversation to assess alignment with the company's mission, culture, and the core requirements of the role. This may involve a recruiter or hiring manager.

• Hiring Manager Interview: Deeper dive into your research experience, methodologies, and how you approach building a research function. Focus on "Aptitude, Attitude, and Agency."

• Portfolio Presentation & Case Study: A significant part of the process will involve presenting your portfolio, showcasing specific research projects, your process, and the impact of your work. Be prepared to discuss how you'd tackle research challenges at Dust.

• Cross-Functional Interviews: Meetings with Product, Design, and potentially GTM leaders to assess collaboration style, communication, and ability to integrate insights across teams.

• Founder/Executive Interview: A final conversation to ensure alignment with the company's vision and culture.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Focus on Impact: Prioritize case studies where your research demonstrably influenced product decisions or business outcomes. Quantify results whenever possible.

• Showcase Your Process: Clearly articulate your methodology, from problem framing and research design to synthesis and delivery. Highlight your ability to adapt methods to specific research questions.

• Demonstrate Strategic Thinking: Explain why you chose certain methods, how you prioritized research questions, and how your insights fit into the broader product and business strategy.

• Highlight AI Integration: If you have examples of using AI tools, be ready to discuss them and their impact on your workflow.

• Address "Building from Scratch": Be prepared to discuss how you would approach building Dust's research function, including defining methodologies, tooling, and documentation standards.

• User Empathy: Convey your passion for understanding users and how you advocate for their needs throughout the product development process.

Challenge Preparation:

• Research Design Challenge: You might be asked to design a research study for a hypothetical product problem relevant to Dust. Focus on clear objectives, appropriate methods, and actionable deliverables.

• Insight Synthesis Exercise: Be ready to synthesize a set of research findings (provided or from your portfolio) into a compelling narrative for a specific audience.

• Stakeholder Alignment Scenarios: Prepare for questions about how you'd handle conflicting stakeholder opinions or push back on research findings.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process is likely rigorous, focusing on both technical research skills and the ability to operate autonomously and strategically in a startup environment. The portfolio presentation is a critical component, serving as a live demonstration of your capabilities and vision.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Research Platforms: Tools for conducting interviews, usability tests, and surveys (e.g., UserTesting.com, Lookback, Maze, Typeform, SurveyMonkey).

• AI-Assisted Research Tools: Specific tools for AI-powered transcription, analysis, synthesis, or insight generation (e.g., Dovetail, Condens, or emerging AI research assistants).

• Collaboration & Documentation: Tools for synthesizing findings and sharing them across teams (e.g., Miro, Figma, Notion, Confluence).

Analytics & Reporting:

• While not a primary analytics role, familiarity with product analytics tools (e.g., Amplitude, Mixpanel) could be beneficial for triangulating qualitative insights with quantitative user behavior data. CRM & Automation:

• Familiarity with CRM systems (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot) might be useful for understanding customer data and collaborating with Sales/CS on customer insights.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "AI-Assisted Research" suggests a need for familiarity with or a strong aptitude for integrating emerging AI tools into the research workflow. Candidates should be prepared to discuss their experience with or enthusiasm for such technologies.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• User Obsession: A fundamental value driving all decisions, ensuring the user's needs are at the forefront.

• Bias for Action & Shipping Fast: A culture that prioritizes execution, iteration, and rapid deployment of products and features.

• Collaboration & Low Ego: Team members work closely together, sharing knowledge and supporting each other without excessive bureaucracy or self-importance.

• Data-Driven & Evidence-Based: Decisions are grounded in insights, whether from user research, data analytics, or market understanding.

• Optimism & Determination: A positive outlook and resilience in tackling complex challenges and building a new category.

Collaboration Style:

• Embedded Research: The researcher is expected to be deeply integrated into Product and Design workflows, fostering constant communication and collaboration.

• Cross-Functional Partnership: Strong emphasis on partnering with Sales, Customer Success, and GTM teams to create a holistic understanding of the customer.

• Knowledge Sharing: A culture where learnings are actively shared to make the entire team sharper and more effective.

• Direct Communication: Open and honest communication, including surfacing challenging insights, is encouraged.

📝 Enhancement Note: The values align with a high-performance, fast-paced startup environment that prioritizes user impact, efficient execution, and strong teamwork.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Building from Scratch: Establishing a research function without existing playbooks or infrastructure requires significant initiative, strategic thinking, and resilience.

• Prioritization in a Fast-Paced Environment: Ruthlessly prioritizing research efforts against a dynamic roadmap and competing business needs.

• Integrating Insights: Ensuring research findings are consistently understood, acted upon, and lead to measurable impact across product and GTM teams.

• Balancing Qualitative Depth with Quantitative Breadth: Effectively managing mixed-methods research to provide comprehensive user understanding.

• Leveraging AI Effectively: Integrating AI tools seamlessly and ethically into research workflows to enhance, not replace, human judgment and empathy.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Foundational Role Impact: Define and shape the future of user research at Dust, creating a lasting impact on the company's product strategy.

• AI Research Innovation: Become a leader in applying AI to user research, developing new methodologies and best practices.

• Cross-Functional Expertise: Gain deep understanding and influence across Product, Design, Sales, and Customer Success functions.

• Startup Growth Experience: Benefit from rapid learning and professional development inherent in a high-growth startup environment.

• Industry Exposure: Engage with cutting-edge AI technology and contribute to defining a new category of enterprise AI solutions.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges are framed as opportunities for growth, emphasizing the proactive and strategic nature of the role. The learning opportunities are significant due to the foundational aspect of the position.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "How would you build Dust's user research function from the ground up, considering our stage and focus on enterprise AI?"

• "Describe a time your research directly influenced a significant product decision. What was your process, and what was the outcome?"

• "How do you prioritize research requests when faced with multiple urgent needs from Product, Design, and GTM?"

• "Walk us through how you would approach understanding the unmet needs of our target customer profile for a new AI agent feature."

• "How do you ensure your research findings are actionable and integrated into product development and GTM strategies?" Company & Culture Questions:

• "What excites you most about Dust's mission and the enterprise AI space?"

• "How do you approach communicating uncomfortable research findings to stakeholders?"

• "Describe a situation where you had to work with ambiguity. How did you navigate it?"

• "How do you make the people around you sharper with the insights you gain?"

• "What are your thoughts on an 'office-first' culture, and how do you see yourself contributing to it?" Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure for Impact: Organize your portfolio around key themes or projects that showcase your strengths in mixed-methods research, influencing decisions, and building research capabilities.

• Tell a Story: For each case study, clearly articulate the business/product problem, your research approach, your key findings, the actions taken based on your insights, and the measurable impact.

• Highlight Your Role: Clearly define your specific contributions, especially if working in a team.

• Showcase Synthesis: Present your synthesis artifacts (e.g., journey maps, personas, key themes) to demonstrate how you derive insights from raw data.

• Be Ready for Deep Dives: Anticipate detailed questions about your methodology, stakeholder management, and decision-making process.

• Address AI: Be prepared to discuss your experience and vision for integrating AI into your research practice.

📝 Enhancement Note: Preparation should focus on demonstrating not only research expertise but also strategic thinking, proactive ownership ("Agency"), and a strong collaborative "Attitude," aligning with Dust's core evaluation criteria.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this User Researcher position:

• Submit your application through the provided Ashby link.

• Tailor Your Resume: Highlight experience in mixed-methods research, influencing product/business decisions, and any experience building research functions or processes. Weave in keywords like "User Interviews," "Usability Testing," "Research Synthesis," "Product Research," and "AI-Assisted Research."

• Curate Your Portfolio: Prepare 2-3 compelling case studies that showcase your ability to drive impact. Focus on clear problem definition, robust methodology, actionable insights, and quantifiable results. Be ready to discuss how you'd build research at Dust.

• Research Dust: Familiarize yourself with Dust's product, mission, customer base, and recent news. Understand their "office-first" culture and AI focus.

• Prepare for "Aptitude, Attitude, Agency": Reflect on specific examples from your career that demonstrate strength in each of these three dimensions, as these will be key evaluation criteria.

• Practice Your Presentation: Rehearse your portfolio walkthrough and prepare to answer strategic questions about building and running a research function in a startup context.

⚠️ 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.

---