Director, Research Infrastructure

Meta Platforms, Inc.; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 239,000 - 308,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus

Equity

Comprehensive benefits

Job summary

Meta Platforms, Inc. is seeking a Director of Research Infrastructure to lead and manage a diverse team of researchers. This role involves overseeing complex research projects, providing strategic insight, and driving product development through research impact.

The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in UX research and team management, with a proven track record of translating insights into business outcomes. The position offers a competitive salary package and opportunities for growth within Meta.

Qualifications

• 18+ years of experience in research post-Bachelor’s degree.
• 8+ years of people management experience with researchers.
• Experience in diverse research methodologies.

Responsibilities

• Manage a research area with broad scope in size and complexity.
• Oversee multiple research managers and initiatives.
• Build and manage high-performing research teams.

Skills

UX research experience

Team management

Research strategy formulation

Communication skills

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Graduate degree

Job description

We employ a variety of qualitative and quantitative methods to accomplish our goals, including surveys, focus groups, foundational & field studies, usability tests, and 1:1 interviews. We value a diverse range of perspectives and stem from many different backgrounds—geographically, culturally, educationally, philosophically. We come from industry and academia, with roots in anthropology, design research, economics, HCI, human factors, market research, political science, sociology, social computing, and social psychology, among others.

Meta is looking for an experienced research leader with seasoned research, communication and people management skills. The successful candidate has a proven track record of translating research into product decisions. It’s not enough to answer interesting questions about user behavior; our team focuses on impact. You will oversee a team of world‑class researchers across multiple research disciplines.

The successful candidate must be an expert researcher who can generate and socialize insights that impact the strategy and product roadmaps of complex and diverse products. The role also requires a proven track record of building and managing high‑performing teams, preferably with researchers of different disciplines. Candidates must be able to articulate the vision of the team to cross‑functional partners and be a strong advocate for the role of research in product development.

We enable building better infrastructure and world‑class tooling, to unlock, deliver, and maintain state‑of‑the‑art Developer, Data and AI tools. In service of this vision we partner with countless cross‑functional partners across dozens of tools, services and frameworks. It’s our role as designers and researchers to ensure the solutions we create are deeply thoughtful, human and responsible. As a research leader this means leveraging your craft and skills as a proven leader to lead an organization of researchers who can produce insights that teams can take action on; and stories that our range of partners can comprehend. We take extra care and attention into our research methods, research execution, and synthesis—because in the end, these insights guide action that support our bottom line and impact billions of users lives.

Director, Research Infrastructure Responsibilities

• Manage a research area with broad scope in size and complexity
• Manage multiple research managers and ICs across multiple broad initiatives
• Identify ways to elevate and uplevel Research with product leadership
• Influence and drive strategy
• Calls out risks and opportunities across multiple teams
• Consider factors beyond your immediate team to innovate, take appropriate risks, and balance short, medium, and long‑term needs
• Identify gaps and solutions for future growth and scale within the org, including system, product, function, partnership, culture and/or organization opportunities
• Responsible for the quality of the team, including coaching, growing ICs and managers and addressing under‑performance
• Responsible for developing a cohesive and strong leadership team of managers
• Be a role model for inclusive behaviors and build a diverse organization that values, respects and taps into different backgrounds and perspectives
• Understands org health (engagement, retention, feedback)
• Effectively diagnose and make recommendations to solve complex issues that may span multiple teams
• Communicate team purpose, contribution, and how it fits in with the broader mission of the company
• Make the company better through engaging in cross‑company efforts like recruiting, XFNs, diversity & inclusion, or site initiatives
• Actively recruit and close top tier talent to fill strategic open positions for both IC and management roles beyond your immediate organization
• Drive team execution, culture, and process across the FB research community, broader FB community and/or externally
• Form internal partnerships, influence, resolve conflict, build alignment, and work effectively across teams and disciplines throughout the company to execute the strategy
• Proactively identify the largest problems impacting your team's execution and effectively resolve and manage dependencies
• Identify relevant metrics and track trends to report progress relative to goals (e.g., team health, research impact, product goals)

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or significant experience conducting UX research with meaningful business impact
• 18+ years of experience conducting and/or studying research post‑Bachelor’s degree
• 8+ years directly managing, coaching and developing full‑time researchers
• 5+ years experience managing managers
• Have directly managed across different research methodologies
• Experience directly conducting primary research (either qualitative or quantitative) end‑to‑end (i.e., designing, fielding, analyzing and reporting out data)
• Experience building teams over time through hiring, growing, and retaining high‑performing researchers
• Experience building and setting research strategy that connects with business strategy
• Track record of translating research into business impact
• Experience working with a variety of cross‑functional peers and stakeholders (e.g., product managers, data scientists, designers, engineers, policy, communications, marketing)

Preferred Qualifications

• Graduate degree
• Experience with consumer products, consumer insights, or product development
• 5+ years of UX research experience
• An understanding of developer tooling and the software development process
• AI/ML foundational knowledge, both in tooling and model management

Meta is committed to providing reasonable support (called accommodations) in our recruiting processes for candidates with disabilities, long‑term conditions, mental health conditions or sincerely held religious beliefs, or who are neurodivergent or require pregnancy‑related support. If you need support, please reach out to [e-mail].

$239,000/year to $308,000/year + bonus + equity + benefits

Individual pay is determined by skills, qualifications, experience, and location. Compensation details listed in this posting reflect the base salary only, and do not include bonus, equity or sales incentives, if applicable. In addition to base salary, Meta offers benefits. Learn more about benefits at Meta.