Sr. Manager, UX Research

HighLevel

18h • Remote

About The Position

We’re hiring a Sr. Manager, UX Research to build and lead HighLevel’s research function and make user insight a first-class input into product strategy and execution. This role is not about running more usability tests - it’s about helping HighLevel answer hard questions:
- Where does complexity genuinely create power vs. friction?
- How do agencies vs. SMBs experience value differently?
- What should be easier now, and what can remain “expert-level”?
- How do we scale UX quality across dozens of product areas and teams?
- What does the competitive landscape look like?
- Where is the next big problem to solve for our customers?
- What is the next big SMB segment we should focus on?

You’ll partner closely with Product, Design, Engineering, Data, and GTM to ensure we’re building the right things, in the right order, for the right users.

Requirements

• 9+ total years of experience in UX research, with 4+ years leading teams.
• Experience influencing product strategy in complex B2B or platform products.
• Proven ability to operate in environments with:
• Power users
• Multi-persona workflows
• High configuration and automation depth
• Track record of turning research into clear decisions and measurable outcomes.
• Strong systems thinker who understands tradeoffs between power, flexibility, and usability.
• Comfortable with ambiguity and imperfect data.
• Pragmatic: knows when research should be deep and when it should be fast.
• Excellent communicator who can align executives, PMs, designers, and engineers.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in agency-led or reseller-driven products
• Background in SaaS, CRM, marketing automation, or workflow tools
• Familiarity with product analytics and experimentation
• Experience building a research function from scratch or scaling one rapidly

Responsibilities

• Research Strategy & Product Impact
• Define and own HighLevel’s UX research strategy across the full product lifecycle - from discovery and concept validation to post-launch learning and iteration.
• Investigate the competitive landscape to identify product differentiation opportunities and unmet needs across core SMB segments.
• Focus research on high-leverage decisions, including product sequencing, end-to-end workflows, onboarding, activation, retention, and long-term adoption.
• Own and execute customer research programs, including customer interviews, usability testing, surveys, diary studies, and quantitative signal analysis in partnership with Product and Data.
• Synthesize research into clear, actionable insights that inform product direction, not just surface-level usability improvements
• Org Design & Team Leadership
• Build and lead a scalable UX research team (initially small, growing with impact).
• Define roles, career paths, and hiring plans aligned to HighLevel’s growth stage.
• Partner deeply with Product and Design leadership to embed research into planning cycles.
• Act as the voice of the user at senior and executive levels.
• Research Operations at Scale
• Create repeatable systems for:
• Recruiting agencies, SMBs, and global users
• Running fast, pragmatic research without slowing teams down
• Centralizing insights in a shared, searchable repository
• Balance qualitative depth (interviews, contextual inquiry) with quantitative signal (usage patterns, surveys, funnels).
• Introduce lightweight standards for rigor, synthesis, and storytelling across teams.
• Executive Communication & Influence
• Translate complex findings into clear narratives that guide strategic decisions.
• Help leaders understand when to invest in UX simplification vs. when complexity is acceptable.
• Build confidence across teams in using research to move faster, not slower.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager
• Education Level: No Education Listed
• Number of Employees: 1,001-5,000 employees