Senior UX Research Leader - AI-Driven Insight Programs

Cox; Mission (KS); On-site; USD 135,000 - 225,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Parental leave

Paid time off

Paid holidays

Job summary

CAI in Mission, Kansas seeks a Lead User Researcher to set research strategies across multiple products and guide programs. You will develop portfolio-level roadmaps, coordinate multi-team initiatives, and shape long-term product direction with advanced ethnography, journey mapping, and synthesis.

You will apply agentic AI techniques to build repeatable insight pipelines, mentor researchers, and ensure ethical practices and participant safety. Travel may be required.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in and 6 years' experience in a related field.
• Proven success leading large, multi-team research programs.
• Deep command of ethnography, journey mapping, concept testing, and synthesis.
• Ability to architect insight frameworks, research operations models, and standards.
• Strong influence skills; trusted advisor to Directors, VPs, and senior leadership.
• Excellent cross-functional leadership and facilitation skills.
• Strong understanding of product strategy and business-level decision frameworks.
• Demonstrated ability to manage complexity and ambiguity at scale.
• Ability to coach and elevate the performance of multiple senior researchers.
• Expertise in data-backed storytelling and strategic communication.
• Familiarity with analytics, experimentation, and modeling workflows.
• 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 required; advanced degree preferred.
• 6-10 years applied research experience.

Responsibilities

• Define portfolio level research strategies with measurable success criteria.
• Lead multiteam, multimethod research programs across product lines and identify cross domain insights that influence long-term product direction.
• Develop advanced personas, journey architectures, and ecosystem maps.
• Supervise development of personas, journey architectures, ecosystem maps, and opportunity landscapes used across teams.
• Apply advanced agentic AI to develop repeatable insight pipelines and quality controls.
• Partner with Research Operations on governance, research frameworks, panel strategy, vendor selection, and tooling decisions.
• Facilitate alignment workshops with senior product and UX leaders using collaborative tools (e.g., Miro, Mural)
• Provide expert guidance on method selection for ambiguous or high-risk projects.
• Mentor Senior Researchers and serve as a method-of-record reviewer.
• Oversee repository consistency and long-term insight durability.
• Influence roadmaps by communicating evidence backed opportunity areas.
• Develop capacity plans and guide resource allocation across research programs.
• Champion ethical research practices and participant safety.

Skills

Leadership

Ethnography

Journey mapping

Synthesis

Influence

Facilitation

Product strategy

Coaching

Storytelling

Analytics

AI in research

Education

Bachelor's degree or higher in related field

Advanced degree preferred

6-10 years applied research experience

Job description

CAI in Mission, Kansas seeks a Lead User Researcher to set research strategies across multiple products and guide programs. You will develop portfolio-level roadmaps, coordinate multi-team initiatives, and shape long-term product direction with advanced ethnography, journey mapping, and synthesis.

You will apply agentic AI techniques to build repeatable insight pipelines, mentor researchers, and ensure ethical practices and participant safety. Travel may be required.