Senior UX Researcher/ Designer

Genio; Leeds; On-site; GBP 69,000 - 81,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

EMI Share Options Scheme

Generous learning and training

33 days annual leave

3 gifted days off at Christmas

Job summary

Genio, a Leeds-based learner experience startup, seeks a Senior UX Researcher/Designer to lead foundational research that informs product direction. You will explore ambiguous problems, conduct deep learner research, and translate insights into accessible design solutions that ship.

In a small, startup-style team, you’ll collaborate with the CPO, Lead UX Designer, and product managers to drive decisions, while mentoring peers to raise research maturity across the LX division.

Qualifications

• Generative research methods, interview design, diary studies, prototyping, JTBD frameworks.
• Structured study design, sampling strategies, bias mitigation, synthesis frameworks.
• Ability to translate research into production-ready design solutions.
• Experience designing inclusively to meet WCAG standards.
• Mentor peers to raise research maturity within the team.

Responsibilities

• Lead foundational generative research to understand learner needs and problems.
• Apply rigorous methodologies and build a robust research repository and knowledge base.
• Share insights with Product, UX, and Growth teams to shape decisions and directions.
• Dedicate roughly 30% of time to translating research into production-ready design.
• Collaborate with Lead UX Designer to balance capacity and mentor teammates.

Skills

Generative Research

Methodological Rigour

Hands-on Design

Accessibility Standards

Collaboration & Mentorship

Job description

About the role

Career track: IC4

Unit: LX

As Senior UX Researcher / Designer, you will play a vital role in understanding our learner audience. This role sits within our Learner Experience (LX) division, a fully-funded zero to one startup within our established business.

You will guide rich, foundational research that shapes what we build before design work begins. Bringing genuine research depth and being comfortable with exploring ambiguous, early-stage problems, you will also be hands-on enough in design to turn what you learn directly into work that ships.

You will be responsible for

• Foundational Generative Research: Heading up exploratory research to build a deep, evidence-based understanding of learners, their needs, behaviours, and unmet problems in ambiguous, early-stage problem spaces, setting up continuous discovery practices.


• Methodological Rigour & Infrastructure: Applying structured research methodology, study design, sampling strategies, and bias mitigation, whilst building a robust research repository and knowledge base to compound insight over time.


• Cross-Functional Insight Sharing: Sharing generative insights clearly with Product Management, UX Design, and Growth Marketing to shape decisions, product directions, and commercial conversations and positioning.


• Design Delivery: As a small, start-up style team, dedicating roughly 30% of your capacity to translating research insights directly into simple, elegant, production-ready, and highly accessible user experience design solutions.


• Team Collaboration & Growth: Working closely with the Lead UX Designer to manage and balance capacity, mentoring colleagues to raise research maturity across the Learning Experience team.

Meet the team

You’ll report directly into our Chief Product Officer (CPO). On a day-to-day basis, you will work hand-in-hand with the Lead UX Designer to coordinate design and research capacity across our squads. You’ll also collaborate closely with both of our Learning Experience Product Managers, Technical Leads, the Growth Marketing Lead, and the wider Learning Experience division.

About you

What you’ll bring

• Generative Research Expertise: Strong skills in foundational research methods, interview design, diary studies, sacrificial concepts, prototyping, Jobs-to-be-Done frameworks, and segmentation research.


• Methodological Rigour: Proven ability to apply structured study design, sampling strategy, and bias mitigation with real methodical precision, and synthesis frameworks that transform messy findings into actionable insights.


• Hands-on Design Delivery: Comfort dedicating ~30% of your time to executing high-quality, elegant, and shippable design solutions utilizing design systems.


• Accessibility Standards: Experienced in designing and researching inclusively to meet WCAG standards for diverse access requirements.


• Collaboration & Mentorship: Passionate about sharing knowledge, mentoring peers to raise research maturity, and providing direct, empathetic feedback.

Bonus / Nice to have

• AI-Driven Experiences: Familiarity researching and designing for AI-mediated interactions, including balancing AI visibility, user control, and trust-building.


• AI Tool Integration: Intentional and effective use of AI tools in your own practice for synthesis, prototyping, or exploring directions faster.

Salary and benefits

• £69,000 - £81,000 dependent upon experience


• 33 days annual leave (Inclusive of bank holidays)


• 3 gifted days off at Christmas


• EMI Share Options Scheme


• Generous individual learning and training allowance


• Truly