Lead User Researcher, Onshore Trading and Payments

OKX•San Jose, CA

12d•$268,333 - $313,055•Hybrid

About The Position

The Lead User Researcher is the foundational IC responsible for establishing research standards, strategy, and operating models. This is a highly hands-on role working directly with senior leaders to drive evidence-based product decisions. The position covers onshore trading, payments, and rapidly evolving AI-powered capabilities. This position offers uniquely high visibility across product portfolios and executive leadership, with direct influence on decisions shaping the future of trading, payments, and AI-driven financial services. The successful candidate will be accountable for ensuring research impacts direction, prioritization, and performance across global product portfolios.

Requirements

Bachelor’s or advanced degree in HCI, Psychology, Anthropology, Sociology, Behavioral Science, or closely related field.
10+ years UX research experience including strategic insight leadership for complex product ecosystems.
Proven ability to turn customer insight into strategic outcomes, including improved adoption, engagement, conversion, retention, or market expansion.
Demonstrated experience influencing roadmap trade-offs, investment decisions, and performance metrics.
Mastery of qualitative and quantitative mixed methods with strong methodological judgment.
Success working across global markets and culturally diverse audiences.
Exceptional executive communication, strategic framing, and insight storytelling skills.
Ability to operate in dynamic, fast-moving environments with clarity and leadership.

Nice To Haves

Research involving AI-assisted decision-making or human-AI interaction.
Experience in regulated, data-intensive environments such as fintech, crypto, payments, or trading platforms.
Insight activation playbooks that ensure research results drive sustained improvement.
Experience establishing or scaling research capability as a senior IC.

Responsibilities

Design and implement the foundational research strategy and scalable working model for the discipline.
Lead end-to-end research that guides strategic product decisions, including planning, recruiting, moderation, analysis, synthesis, and activation.
Translate research into clear decisions, opportunity sizing, and prioritization that deliver measurable product and business improvement.
Influence inflection points in product strategy, ensuring insight reduces risk and accelerates successful outcomes.
Conduct research reflecting cultural, regulatory, and behavioral differences across US, EU, Brazil, and UAE user populations.
Partner with Product, Data Science, and Marketing to create evidence-backed recommendations that resonate with executives.
Communicate insights through compelling narratives that drive alignment and action at senior levels.
Leverage behavioral datasets to triangulate and validate findings and sharpen differentiation.
Establish research operations foundations including participant programs, tooling, governance, and insight-driven KPI tracking.
Mentor product and design partners, elevating research literacy and customer-centric decision-making without direct line management.