Lead UX Researcher

Thomson Reuters•Eagan, MN

23h•Hybrid

About The Position

Join the Tax UX Research Team at Thomson Reuters and contribute to the transformation of the company into a digital-first organization. This role focuses on reimagining business processes and customer engagement by prioritizing the individual user. We are seeking proactive, intelligent, and self-motivated UX professionals who excel at converting complex challenges into user-centric solutions. The team fosters an agile, collaborative, and supportive environment that values diverse perspectives, innovative design, and experimentation. Our work is central to a broad range of transformational projects aimed at simplifying business interactions for our customers. In this Lead UX Researcher position, you will spearhead the end-to-end UX research practice for a significant and high-impact product portfolio. This includes current initiatives such as the agentic-focused CoCounsel migration, Guided Assurance redesign, Confirmation NextGen, and GoFileRoom modernization. You will be responsible for driving both strategic generative research and evaluative studies, significantly influencing how the team uncovers and utilizes deep user insights. Beyond execution, you will build crucial partnerships with product, engineering, and design teams to identify impactful research opportunities, champion user-centered principles in product roadmaps, and provide strategic thought leadership in UX research methodologies. You will also mentor less experienced researchers through coaching and peer review, elevating the overall quality and influence of the team's research.

Requirements

Enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the end-to-end product development process, with a special emphasis on demonstrating the business impact of UX research and insights.
Think beyond the click and ask: Why would anyone want to push this button in the first place?
Experienced leader with experience working side by side with Product, Design, and Engineering leaders to solve the right problems at scale.
Ability to write about research findings in a way that does not require voice-over — clear, compelling, and self-contained.
Deep knowledge and experience with a wide variety of research methods, both qualitative and quantitative, including: Qualitative analysis and reporting; interviewing and group facilitation techniques; Contextual Inquiries, Remote Usability Testing, Parallel Prototyping, Persona Development; Un-moderated feedback tools (e.g., UserZoom); Ability to triangulate data from many sources; Quantitative methods, specifically: statistical analysis, experimental/A-B test design, and survey methodology; Other User-Centered Design (UCD) methods to develop user insights.
Deep knowledge and practical experience structuring user needs through fundamental UX frameworks such as Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) and Customer Experience Outcomes (CXOs).
Use frameworks not just to describe user behavior, but to connect research insights directly to business and product decisions.
Experience researching with regulated or compliance-driven professional users (e.g., tax, audit, financial) strongly preferred.
Ability to keep pace with agile testing while maintaining the strategic perspective needed to give design teams long-term goals for hitting user objectives.
Influence decisions and next steps with product and design partners, are comfortable navigating trade-offs, and advocate for user-centered outcomes in roadmap prioritization.
Experience evaluating AI-powered or agentic product experiences with real users and production data — assessing trust, transparency, error recovery, and non-deterministic output quality.
Experience building, using, or experimenting with AI tools (e.g., Claude and other AI platforms).
Practical experience applying AI to accelerate research workflows, synthesis, and insight generation.
Experience building prototypes with AI tools that pull directly from a body of insights to illustrate recommendations.
A mindset focused on responsible, thoughtful adoption of AI to raise the efficiency and impact of UX research.
Previous experience with leading research projects involving complex workflows, visualization of large datasets, operating system-level tools, and both web and software environments is a plus.
8+ years of experience applying research to high-volume, interactive B2B and B2C applications, rich web-based applications, or websites.
Demonstrated experience with quantitative research methods (e.g., statistical analysis, experimental design, survey methodology) in addition to qualitative expertise.
Strong analytical problem solving, decision-making, and leadership skills.
In-depth understanding of user-centered design principles and tools.
Familiarity with SharePoint and project management tools such as ADO, Linear.
Familiarity performing studies in a virtual lab environment.
Familiarity with data-logging tools and systems such as Tableau, Qualtrics, Pendo, V0, or other BI analytic programs.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor's degree in a Social Science, or Master's degree in Social Sciences, Interaction Design, Human Factors, Cognitive Psychology, Cognitive Science, or a related field.
Located within commuting distance of Office Location, or willing to relocate at your own expense, to meet the hybrid (2–3 days/week onsite) schedule for this role.

Responsibilities

Own the full research lifecycle — from intake and scoping through execution to demonstrating measurable business impact.
Quickly synthesize business objectives and customer needs to define the right research scope.
Develop a UX research approach, schedule, and detailed test plan.
Plan, partner with Research Ops on developing strategies on how best to recruit our target audience, script, facilitate, collect, analyze, and document data.
Lead strategic generative research to identify unmet user needs and long-horizon product opportunities.
Identify and articulate user needs first, and then potential usability issues, both verbally and through documentation.
Transform data into prioritized, actionable recommendations within a short turnaround time.
Influence product and design decisions — not just report findings, but drive next steps.
Clearly communicate qualitative analysis, recommendations, and potential design solutions.
Create persuasive presentations for product owners, developers, visual designers, other UX team members, and C-level executives.
Facilitate internal meetings to triage and manage research findings.
Demonstrate the business impact of research through clear before/after framing, behavioral outcomes, or measurable product changes.
Evaluate AI-powered or agentic product experiences with real users and production data — assessing trust, transparency, error recovery, and non-deterministic output quality.
Build, use, or experiment with AI tools (e.g., Claude and other AI platforms).
Apply AI to accelerate research workflows, synthesis, and insight generation.
Build prototypes with AI tools that pull directly from a body of insights to illustrate recommendations.
Adopt AI responsibly and thoughtfully to raise the efficiency and impact of UX research.
Proactively identify opportunities and act without waiting for direction.
Provide strategic and thought leadership on UX research practices, methods, and the team's overall research approach.
Partner with other customer insight functions, including Product Marketing and Customer Experience teams to create a more holistic research roadmap and triangulate data.
Take initiative to shape research strategy, not just execute studies.
Form key partnerships with product, engineering, and design to unearth deeply impactful research opportunities.
Advocate for user-centered decisions in roadmaps and influence next steps with product and design partners.
Navigate trade-offs thoughtfully and help teams make informed, user-grounded decisions under constraints.
Support less experienced UX researchers through coaching, peer review, and mentorship (coaching and peer review — not formal people management).
Continuously raise the bar for what “Lead level” research looks like in quality, influence, and outcomes.
Be a strong team player who collaborates naturally while operating autonomously and owning results end to end.

Benefits

Flexible vacation
Two company-wide Mental Health Days off
Access to the Headspace app
Retirement savings
Tuition reimbursement
Employee incentive programs
Resources for mental, physical, and financial wellbeing
Market competitive health, dental, vision, disability, and life insurance programs
Competitive 401k plan with company match
Competitive vacation, sick and safe paid time off
Paid holidays (including two company mental health days off)
Parental leave
Sabbatical leave
Optional hospital, accident and sickness insurance paid 100% by the employee
Optional life and AD&D insurance paid 100% by the employee
Flexible Spending and Health Savings Accounts
Fitness reimbursement
Access to Employee Assistance Program
Group Legal Identity Theft Protection benefit paid 100% by employee
Access to 529 Plan
Commuter benefits
Adoption & Surrogacy Assistance
Tuition Reimbursement
Access to Employee Stock Purchase Plan