Director of User Research

Socket.dev; Arlington (VA); On-site; USD 215,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Bloomberg Industry Group seeks a senior leader to build and guide a centralized user research function across Law, Tax, and Government product lines. You will hire, develop, and manage a team of researchers, expanding from a small footprint to a scalable capability.

You will define research processes, partner with multi-disciplinary leadership, and translate customer insights into strategic recommendations that influence product bets and roadmap decisions.

Qualifications

• 10+ years applying user research to product development for complex, web-based or platform-level products.
• Hiring, developing, and leading user research teams.
• Experience building or scaling a research function in a multi-product organization.
• Strong expertise in qualitative research with working knowledge of quantitative methods.
• Ability to influence product strategy and senior stakeholders through clear insights.

Responsibilities

• Lead a centralized user research function for Law, Tax, and Government product lines.
• Hire, develop, and scale a research team.
• Define and operate a scalable research model and intake process.
• Embed research into product development and inform strategy and investment decisions.
• Translate insights into actionable recommendations that drive product improvements.
• Establish standards and systems for quality and accessibility of research.
• Enable cross-team access to insights to accelerate decision-making.
• Leverage tools to streamline recruitment, synthesis, and sharing.

Skills

Hiring & leading teams

Qualitative research

Quantitative approaches

Influence product strategy

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication & storytelling

Research tools & technologies

Tools

Participant recruitment platforms

AI-assisted synthesis

Insight sharing tools

Job description

Bloomberg Industry Group builds products that help professionals navigate the complexity of law, tax, and government with clarity, confidence, and action. Our customers rely on our tools to make high-stakes decisions in domains where workflows are complex, fragmented, and constantly evolving.

What You Will Do

• Build and lead a centralized user research function serving Law, Tax, and Government product lines
• Hire, develop, and manage a team of user researchers, evolving from a limited existing footprint to ascaledcapability
• Define andoperatea research model, including intake, prioritization, and engagement, that ensures research is focused on the highest-impact product and business decisions
• Partner with Product, Design, and Engineering leadership to embed research into product development andshape strategy, roadmap, and investment decisions
• Lead research on complex, ambiguous problemspacesand critical product bets
• Translate customer insights into clear implications, tradeoffs, and recommendations that directly inform decisions and drive measurable product improvements
• Establish standards, processes, and systems that improve the quality, consistency, andaccessibility of research
• Connect insights across product lines and Core Product Experience to inform platform-level opportunities
• Establish systems, tools, and practices that enable teams to efficiently access and apply research insights, improving the speed and consistency of decision-making across the organization
• Leverage tools and emerging technologies to streamline research operations, including participant recruitment, synthesis, and insight sharing, and continuously improve how research is conducted

What You Need to Have

• 10+ years of experience applyinguser research to product developmentfor complex, web-based or platform-level products, with increasing scope and leadership responsibility
• Experiencehiring, developing, and leading user research teams
• Experience building or scaling a research function in a multi-product organization
• Strongexpertiseinqualitative research methods, with working knowledge ofquantitative approaches
• Experience defining research processes, operating models, or systems that scale insight across teams
• Demonstrated ability toinfluence product strategy, prioritization, and senior stakeholders through clear, actionable insights
• Experience working across Product, Design, Engineering, and business teams with competing priorities
• Strong communicationand storytelling skills, with the ability to translate insights into decisions and action
• Experienceleveragingmodern research tools and emerging technologies to improve efficiency and scale (e.g., participant management platforms, AI-assisted synthesis, or similar capabilities)
• Ability to balance hands-on research, team leadership, and organizational enablement

Compensation Range: $215,000.00-$260,000.00

Placement in the salary range will be decided upon completion of the interview process. Salary determination will be determined based on factors including but not limited to relevant experience, demonstrated skills related to the requirements of the role, education, certifications, and geographic location.

Equal Opportunity

Bloomberg Industry Group maintains a continuing policy of non-discrimination in employment. It is Bloomberg Industry Group’s policy to provide equal opportunity and access for all persons, and the Company is committed to attracting, retaining, developing, and promoting the most qualified individuals without regard to age, ancestry, color, gender identity or expression, genetic predisposition or carrier status, marital status, national or ethnic origin, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, sexual and other reproductive health decisions, parental or caring status, physical or mental disability, pregnancy or maternity/parental leave, protected veteran status, status as a victim of domestic violence, or any other classification protected by applicable law (“Protected Characteristic”). Bloomberg prohibits treating applicants or employees less favorably in connection with the terms and conditions of employment, in all phases of the employment process, because of one or more Protected Characteristics (“Discrimination”).