Senior / Staff UX Researcher, Qualitative

Suno•Los Angeles, CA

8d•$176,000 - $220,000•Onsite

About The Position

Suno is seeking a Senior or Staff Qualitative UX Researcher to focus on understanding the needs of new and potential users for their mobile music creation platform. This role is crucial for expanding Suno's reach to individuals who are not yet familiar with music production terminology or capabilities. The researcher will be responsible for building creative confidence across diverse age groups and experience levels, which is identified as a high-impact research area for the company. The position is a senior individual contributor role, requiring the researcher to independently define and drive the research agenda, particularly for the mobile create product. The researcher will partner closely with the Product Manager and Designer for mobile create, working collaboratively to integrate user insights into the product development process. They will also coordinate with another researcher focused on rapid mobile evaluation to ensure a holistic approach to understanding user behavior. A key aspect of the role involves conducting in-person and in-field research, including home visits and sessions with multiple participants, to capture behaviors that may not be evident in remote testing. The goal is to provide deep foundational understanding that complements quantitative data and influences product strategy, user segmentation, and acquisition/retention efforts.

Requirements

7+ years of industry UX research experience, with deep specialization in qualitative methods and consumer mobile products
A track record of research that shifted strategy, not just UI. You can name the roadmap decisions, product bets, or reversals your work drove
Experience designing and moderating research with participants across a very wide age range, including early childhood and early elementary ages, using developmentally appropriate methods for pre-readers and early readers
Experience running in-person research with families, including in-home and in-context sessions, sessions with more than one participant at a time, and the consent and assent workflows that come with them
Rigorous methodological judgment and the range to match method to question rather than reaching for the same study every time
Sound instincts about ethics and participant comfort with people who are not professional research subjects
Fluency with quantitative data. You can read an experiment readout, design a survey that holds up, and hold your own with a data scientist
Genuinely self-directed. You find the important question before anyone assigns it, and you have a high tolerance for ambiguity, shifting priorities, and moving faster than feels comfortable
The ability to influence senior stakeholders without authority, and to hold a position when the room disagrees
Excited by consumer products, creativity, music, and AI, and by the idea that the interaction patterns for this category don't exist yet

Nice To Haves

PhD in HCI, Human-Centered Computing, Psychology, Learning Sciences, or a related field, combined with real industry experience.
Startup experience, especially as the first or only researcher, or as a founder.
Experience in sensitive or high-scrutiny product areas such as safety, trust, or wellbeing
Background in consumer mobile in audio, music, or social
Experience researching AI and generative products, where user mental models are still forming
You know of a good UX research lab or in-person session space in LA that we could use, and bonus points if you've worked out of it
Bonus points if you've used Suno to make music

Responsibilities

Own the foundational research agenda for mobile create - Define and run the generative studies that shape where the product goes: ethnography, diary and longitudinal studies, in-context observation, concept work.
Research the full range of new creators - Design and moderate research with participants across a wide age range, including early childhood and early elementary ages, using developmentally appropriate methods for pre-readers and early readers.
Go where the creating happens - Lead in-person and in-field research, including in-home sessions and sessions with more than one participant at once, such as household and family settings.
Be a true partner, not a service desk - Sit with the mobile create PM, designer, and engineers as decisions are being made.
Turn findings into things the org keeps using - Segmentations, journey and jobs-to-be-done frameworks, opportunity maps, design principles that outlive any single launch and get cited in rooms you're not in.
Connect qual to the numbers - Pair depth with survey and behavioral data. Work with data science as a peer to size what you find, and with growth partners to translate insight into acquisition, onboarding, and retention bets.
Raise the craft bar - Mentor, review study designs, and unblock other researchers.