Research Lead, Web & eCommerce
About The Position
As a Research Lead, Web & eCommerce, you will shape and scale the research strategy that informs the evolution of McGraw Hill’s web, eCommerce, and digital customer experiences. This role combines hands-on execution of qualitative and quantitative research with strategic leadership that drives customer-centered decision-making across Product, UX, Engineering, Analytics, Accessibility, Marketing, and business stakeholders. This individual will proactively define where research creates the greatest value, embed insight-driven decision-making throughout the product lifecycle, and ensure research findings are translated into measurable improvements for customers and the business. The ideal candidate is a strategic, hands-on researcher who excels in both qualitative and quantitative research, thrives in ambiguous environments, and is passionate about building research maturity while improving customer experience and business outcomes. This role is remote position, and open to applicants authorized to work for any employer within the United States. Candidates should be open to travelling up to 25% of the time.
Requirements
- Master's degree in HCI, Psychology, Human Factors, Cognitive Science, Design, or a related field, along with experience in web/eCommerce research, educational technology, and scaling UX research programs and organizational research maturity.
- 7+ years of UX Research experience leading end-to-end qualitative and quantitative research initiatives in support of web, eCommerce, and large-scale digital experiences, including study design, participant recruitment, execution, analysis, reporting, stakeholder presentations, and the application of insights to optimize customer acquisition, conversion, self-service experiences, and end-to-end customer journeys.
- Knowledge of the K–12, Higher Education, or educational technology ecosystem, including an understanding of the needs, behaviors, and challenges of educators, students, administrators, institutions, or educational buyers.
- Proficiency creating recruitment screeners, discussion guides, interview protocols, moderator guides, survey instruments, research reports, and executive-ready presentations and experience with research tools like Qualtrics, User Testing, Full Story and/or comparable enterprise research platforms for survey creation, administration, analysis, and reporting.
- Proven ability to influence product strategy by translating customer insights into actionable recommendations while building scalable research operations, governance, and best practices.
- Exceptional communication and stakeholder management skills, with experience presenting findings to cross-functional teams and executive leadership while thriving in fast-paced, ambiguous environments.
Responsibilities
- Define and execute a scalable mixed-methods research strategy that supports customer experience discovery, validation, optimization, innovation, and accessibility across McGraw Hill's web and eCommerce platforms.
- Proactively identify, prioritize, and advocate for research opportunities that influence product strategy, customer experience improvements, and business outcomes.
- Lead the end-to-end research lifecycle, including intake, planning, methodology selection, participant recruitment, moderation, analysis, synthesis, reporting, and stakeholder communication.
- Design, plan, and execute qualitative and quantitative research initiatives using a variety of methodologies—including customer interviews, usability testing, surveys, accessibility testing, A/B testing, and other evaluative and exploratory approaches—while developing research plans, participant screeners, discussion and moderator guides, and outcome reports that align research efforts to business objectives and deliver actionable recommendations.
- Demonstrated experience establishing and maintaining personas, journey maps, and other foundational customer experience artifacts, ensuring they are actively governed, periodically refreshed, and leveraged to inform product strategy, experience design, prioritization, and decision-making.
- Partner with Research, Product, UX, Engineering, Analytics, Accessibility, Content, and business stakeholders to align priorities, integrate multiple sources of customer insight, and ensure research findings inform short-term and long-term decision-making.
- Guide stakeholders through the research process by aligning objectives, setting expectations, communicating tradeoffs, and applying insights to business and product decisions within the broader project workflow.
- Translate research findings into clear narratives, strategic opportunities, and actionable recommendations through workshops, presentations, and stakeholder readouts, partnering with Product Managers and COE colleagues to build empathy and inform decision-making.
- Establish and evolve research operations, governance, prioritization frameworks, privacy practices, and research standards that improve the effectiveness, scalability, and consistency of research efforts.
- Mentor researchers and cross-functional partners while advancing research maturity, customer-centered thinking, and best practices across the organization
Benefits
- annual bonus plan
- full range of medical and/or other benefits
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
