Manager, UX Research

Cox Enterprises; Atlanta (GA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Cox Enterprises seeking a Manager of User Research to lead a team of researchers, translate product goals into learning agendas, and ensure ethical, high-quality studies. The role integrates insights across Product, Design, and Engineering to drive measurable impact and reduce delivery risk.

The ideal candidate will balance hands-on leadership with people development, in an agile environment, leveraging generative and evaluative methods, and advancing Research Operations practices.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree and 6 years’ experience in a related field (or equivalent combinations)
• 1+ year of management or lead role
• 6+ years of applied UX research experience with mentoring or leading researchers
• Experience operating within agile product development and influencing priorities

Responsibilities

• Translate business and product objectives into research roadmaps with clear goals and success criteria
• Staff, scope, and schedule studies; manage team workload across initiatives
• Ensure rigorous application of mixed methods (interviews, usability, surveys, ethnography)
• Integrate data sources and drive triangulation with clear recommendations
• Partner with Research Operations to scale quality practices including privacy and consent

Skills

Leadership

Communication

UX research

AI tools

Agile

Research operations

Mentoring

Education

Bachelor’s degree in HCI/psychology/cognitive science/human factors

Advanced degree preferred

Tools

LLM tools

Job description

The Manager of User Research leads a team of researchers to deliver high-quality, actionable insights that improve product outcomes and reduce delivery risk. This role converts product objectives into learning agendas, selects and sequences mixed methods studies, and ensures that ethical standards, privacy, and Research Operations practices are consistently applied. The manager partners closely with Product, Design, and Engineering leaders to set priorities, remove blockers, and translate research findings into clear decisions with measurable impact. The ideal candidate balances hands-on research leadership, people development, and operational excellence in an agile environment.

Position Responsibilities:

• Translate business and product objectives into research roadmaps with clear goals, hypotheses, and success criteria.
• Scope, staff, and schedule studies; manage team workload, priorities, and dependencies across concurrent initiatives.
• Review and elevate study plans, instruments, and analyses; ensure method fit, quality, and reproducibility.
• Ensure rigorous application of mixed methods (e.g., interviews, moderated/unmoderated usability, card/tree tests, diary studies, surveys, ethnography) with appropriate sample strategies.
• Integrate survey data and behavioral data with qualitative insight; drive triangulation and clear recommendations.
• Partner with Research Operations to scale quality research practices in recruiting, incentives, consent, privacy compliance, and accessibility.
• Establish issue logs, risk assessments, and evidence trails that link insights to decisions, design changes, and KPIs.
• Partner with Design, Product, and Engineering to align research to release milestones; communicate progress, risks, and trade‑offs.
• Maintain repository hygiene (tagging, metadata, insight durability); promote re-use and reduce duplicate research.
• Apply agentic AI responsibly for note-taking, coding, clustering, and synthesis with human QA and bias checks.
• Set clear expectations, provide coaching and timely feedback, and run effective 1:1s and growth plans.
• Build interviewing/facilitation excellence; conduct calibrations and peer reviews; model inclusive research practices.
• Recruit, onboard, and develop researchers; recognize performance and address gaps early.
• Improve time-to-insight, adoption of research-backed decisions, and reduction in post-release defects tied to UX.
• Track repository re-use, study cycle time, and stakeholder satisfaction; share outcomes transparently.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree and 6 years’ experience in a related field. The right candidate could also have a different combination, such as a master's degree and 4 years’ experience; a Ph.D. and 1 year experience in a related field; or 10 years’ experience in a related field
• 1+ year of experience in management or lead role
• 6+ years of applied UX research experience, including 1-2 years mentoring or leading researchers or cross-functional initiatives
• Proficiency across generative and evaluative methods; working knowledge of survey design and basic statistics
• Experience operating within agile product development; proven ability to influence prioritization and scope
• Strong communication and storytelling skills for cross-functional and leadership audiences
• Use of general-purpose LLM tools to analyze and synthesize user behavior, identify patterns, and prioritize opportunities
• Use AI to accelerate discovery, experimentation, development, and recommend improvements throughout the product design process
• Bachelor’s degree in HCI, Psychology, Cognitive Science, Human Factors, or related field; advanced degree preferred

Additional Information:

• May require up to 25% travel for portfolio alignment, fieldwork, and leadership forums