Staff User Experience Researcher

Ancestry

3d•$128,000 - $152,000•Hybrid

About The Position

As a Staff UX Researcher, you will lead research strategy and execution for a product domain at Ancestry. Functioning as a strategic partner to Product, Design, and Analytics leads, you will drive product discovery, eliminate user friction, and shape product direction, proactively guiding the thinking of your team. You will bring deep expertise as a mixed methods researcher, balancing lean research agility and methodological rigor, translating raw behavioral observations into structured, actionable insights that directly influence team metrics.

Requirements

7+ years of UX research experience, ideally embedded in cross-functional software development teams delivering large-scale consumer applications.
Proven ability to thrive in ambiguous environments, taking undefined or complex product spaces and breaking them down into structured, actionable research plans.
Proven track record as a mixed methods researcher with proficiency in both qualitative and quantitative research execution, demonstrating a high degree of comfort with triangulating diverse data sets including behavioral data, member services and social feedback, and external and trend sources.
Practical experience incorporating AI into research workflows and a proven desire to continuously experiment with emerging methodologies.
Expertise in knowing when to deploy rapid, lean usability checks versus foundational, longitudinal studies based on project risk and timeline constraints.
Strong fluency in product analytics; comfortable partnering with analytics to validate qualitative hypotheses at scale using behavioral data.
Proven ability to break down functional silos, working seamlessly alongside Product Managers, Designers, Engineers, and Marketing leads.

Responsibilities

Own end-to-end research roadmaps for key product spaces, identifying unaddressed user needs and tying research objectives to domain success metrics.
Drive generative, exploratory research during the early product discovery phase to deeply analyze problem spaces, uncover unmet user needs, and define product direction before design and execution.
Lead or delegate more tactical research to product and design partners (such as usability testing and concept validation), ensuring methodological rigor while freeing up time to focus on strategic initiatives.
Design and execute qualitative (interviews, usability testing, diary studies) and quantitative (surveys, card sorts, tree tests) studies as a mixed methods researcher, triangulating findings with product analytics behavioral data, member services and social feedback, and external trend sources for a holistic user perspective.
Incorporate AI into research workflows to streamline processes, demonstrating a strong desire to continuously experiment with new tools to accelerate and augment insights.
Act as an embedded strategic product leader—not just a research executor—working alongside Product, Design, and Engineering leads to co-own domain strategy, challenge product assumptions, and directly shape feature roadmaps.