Principal UX Researcher, AI & Developer Platforms

Arm; San Jose (CA); Hybrid; USD 212,000 - 286,000; Full time

Job summary

Arm is seeking a principal UX researcher to lead strategic research across AI & Developer Platforms, shaping how developers build, deploy and optimize AI-enabled software. You will study surfaces from tools and runtimes to APIs and documentation, translating findings into actionable design principles and product implications.

You will influence senior leadership, define research strategy, and bring external developer and partner insights to strategic decisions, guiding priorities and improving

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading complex UX research initiatives in product, platform, developer tooling, AI or technical ecosystem environments.
• Strong command of qualitative and quantitative research methods, with the judgment to choose approaches that fit ambiguity, risk and decision.
• Experience crafting research strategy and influencing product direction without relying on formal authority.
• Ability to influence senior team members through clear insight, sound judgment and business-relevant recommendations.
• Fluency in developer tools, AI platforms, enterprise software or related ecosystems.
• Strong systems thinking; connect developer needs, workflows, platforms, automation and ecosystem constraints.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills for leadership, customer or partner-facing discussions.

Responsibilities

• Shape strategic UX research across AI & Developer Platforms, ensuring well-defined priorities, high-quality delivery, and measurable product impact.
• Contribute to defining the future of AI-native developer experience as it reshapes how developers work across tools, GUIs, CLIs, APIs, documentation, runtimes and agent-mediated workflows.
• Identify high-value research questions and build pragmatic research approaches that inform product, platform and ecosystem decisions.
• Bring external developer, customer and partner insight into Arm’s decision-making.
• Translate research findings into practical design principles, product implications and recommendations that improve developer confidence, adoption, efficiency and developer success.
• Represent developer needs in planning, roadmap and leadership forums, especially where hardware targets, runtimes, deployment environments, performance tradeoffs and ecosystem complexity shape the experience.
• Raise the quality of research practice by sharing methods, mentoring peers and helping teams make better evidence-based decisions.

Skills

UX research leadership

Qualitative methods

Quantitative methods

Strategy development

Influence without authority

Developer tools & platforms

Communication with leadership

Education

Master’s degree in HCI/UX/related field

Job description

Job ID 2026-17397 Date posted 30/08/2026 Location San Jose, California; Austin, Texas; Seattle, Washington Category Research

Job Overview

Arm is shaping the software foundations that bring intelligence from cloud to edge. As part of the AI & Developer Platforms team, you will lead high-impact UX research focused on how developers build, optimize and deploy AI-enabled software across Arm’s ecosystem.

This role sits at the intersection of developer experience, AI platforms and hardware-aware software. You will study the surfaces developers use every day, including tools, GUIs, CLIs, APIs, documentation, runtimes, workflows and agent-mediated experiences. The goal is to help Arm define what developer experience should mean while developers establish direction. They coordinate automation, evaluate confidence, debug failures, and balance tradeoffs across performance, deployment, and ecosystem constraints.

This is an individual contributor role for a principal level researcher who can shape ambiguous problem spaces, influence product direction and bring external developer, customer and partner insight into strategic decisions.

Responsibilities

• Shape strategic UX research across AI & Developer Platforms, ensuring well-defined priorities, high-quality delivery, and measurable product impact.


• Contribute to defining the future of AI-native developer experience as it reshapes how developers work across tools, GUIs, CLIs, APIs, documentation, runtimes and agent-mediated workflows.


• Identify high-value research questions and build pragmatic research approaches that inform product, platform and ecosystem decisions.


• Bring external developer, customer and partner insight into Arm’s decision-making.


• Translate research findings into practical design principles, product implications and recommendations that improve developer confidence, adoption, efficiency and developer success.


• Represent developer needs in planning, roadmap and leadership forums, especially where hardware targets, runtimes, deployment environments, performance tradeoffs and ecosystem complexity shape the experience.


• Raise the quality of research practice by sharing methods, mentoring peers and helping teams make better evidence-based decisions.

Required Skills And Experience

• Proven experience leading complex UX research initiatives in product, platform, developer tooling, AI or technical ecosystem environments.


• Strong command of qualitative and quantitative research methods, with the judgement to choose approaches that fit the ambiguity, risk and decision at hand.


• Experience crafting research strategy and influencing product direction without relying on formal authority.


• Ability to influence senior team members through clear insight, sound judgment and business-relevant recommendations.


• Fluency in developer tools, AI platforms, enterprise software or related ecosystems.


• Strong systems thinking, with the ability to connect developer needs, workflows, platforms, automation and ecosystem constraints.


• Excellent written and verbal communication skills for leadership, customer or partner-facing discussions.

“Nice To Have” Skills And Experience

• Master’s degree in Human-Computer Interaction, Cognitive Psychology, UX Design, Engineering Design or a related field, or equivalent practical background.


• Background researching or defining AI-native user experiences, including how people set intent, supervise progress, evaluate confidence, recover from errors and collaborate with agentic systems.


• Familiarity with developer platforms, AI frameworks, runtimes, APIs, performance tooling, enterprise software or technical ecosystems.


• Track record of using external research, market signals, partner input or community engagement to shape product strategy.


• Ability to represent research externally through customer engagements, partner studies, industry forums, publications or conference talks.


• Hands-on use of AI to improve the speed, quality or scale of user research, including research planning, analysis, synthesis, insight generation, repository management or participant workflow support.

Please note that no relocation package is available for this role.

Salary Range

$211,600-$286,200 per year

We value people as individuals and our dedication is to reward people competitively and equitably for the work they do and the skills and experience they bring to Arm. Salary is only one component of Arm's offering. The total reward package will be shared with candidates during the recruitment and selection process.

Accommodations at Arm

At Arm, we want to build extraordinary teams. If you need an adjustment or an accommodation during the recruitment process, please email

Hybrid Working at Arm

Arm’s approach to hybrid working is designed to create a working environment that supports both high performance and personal wellbeing.

We believe in bringing people together face to face to enable us to work at pace, whilst recognizing the value of flexibility.

Within that framework, we empower groups/teams to determine their own hybrid working patterns, depending on the work and the team’s needs.

Details of what this means for each role will be shared upon application.

In some cases, the flexibility we can offer is limited by local legal, regulatory, tax, or other considerations, and where this is the case, we will collaborate with you to find the best solution.

Please talk to us to find out more about what this could look like for you.

Equal Opportunities at Arm

Arm is an equal opportunity employer, committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal opportunities are available to all applicants and colleagues. We are a diverse organization of dedicated and innovative individuals, and don’t discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.