Sr Lead UX Researcher

Cox Enterprises; Atlanta (GA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Cox Enterprises seeks a Senior Lead User Researcher to oversee enterprise-level research systems, governance, and strategy. You will mentor senior researchers, design AI-supported workflows, and influence SVP-level decisions through evidence-driven insights.

You will lead multi-portfolio programs, set ethics and privacy standards, and partner with Research Operations to scale governance and tooling. Expect significant cross-functional collaboration and long-term capability development.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree with 8+ years in a related field or equivalent.

Responsibilities

• Architect enterprise-level research systems and insight lifecycle management.
• Lead multi-portfolio programs informing strategic investments with evidence.
• Identify enterprise-wide user problems and opportunities across ecosystems.
• Set standards for research quality, ethics, privacy, and governance.
• Develop AI-native research tools and evaluation methods.
• Partner with Research Operations on governance, framework, and tooling decisions.
• Lead alignment across product, design, analytics, and engineering.
• Develop internal research curriculum and train practitioners.
• Review methodologies for high-risk initiatives.
• Build longitudinal insight systems revealing trends over time.
• Oversee insight repository architecture and discoverability.
• Shape culture of research excellence across CAI.

Skills

Research methods

Executive-level communication

Cross-functional leadership

Mentoring senior staff

Privacy & ethics

Behavioral analytics

Experimentation

Complex modeling

AI-native workflows

LLM tooling literacy

Education

Bachelor's degree

Advanced degree preferred

Master's degree

Ph.D.

10+ years applied research experience

Tools

LLM tools

Job description

As a Senior Lead User Researcher, you will lead research systems, governance, and strategy at the enterprise level. You will operate with mastery across all research competencies and serve as an organizational authority in research methodology. You will architect enterprise insight frameworks, unify research practices across portfolios, and lead high complexity initiatives with major business impact. You will design AI supported research workflows, partner with Research Ops to scale operations, and influence SVP level decisions through evidence driven insights. You will mentor senior researchers and guide long-term capability development across CAI.

Position Responsibilities:

• Architect enterprise-level research systems, including taxonomies, sampling frameworks, and insight lifecycle management.
• Lead multi‑portfolio research programs that inform strategic product investments with evidence-based insights.
• Identify enterprise-wide user problems, patterns, and opportunities across ecosystems.
• Set standards for research quality, ethics, privacy, and governance.
• Develop AI-native research tools, evaluation methods, and automation pipelines.
• Partner with Research Operations on governance, research frameworks, panel strategy, vendor selection, and tooling decisions.
• Lead alignment conversations across product, design, analytics, and engineering.
• Develop internal research curriculum and train research practitioners.
• Review and approve methodologies for high-risk or high-visibility initiatives.
• Build longitudinal insight systems that reveal trends across quarters and years.
• Oversee insight repository architecture, metadata, and organizational discoverability.
• Shape the culture of research excellence across CAI and the mechanisms to measure research quality across the enterprise.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in and 8 years’ experience in a related field. The right candidate could also have a different combination, such as a master’s degree and 6years’ experience; a Ph.D. and 3 years’ experience in a related field; or 12 years’ experience in a related field
• Mastery across all core user research methods and advanced techniques
• Demonstrated success shaping research strategy for large enterprises
• Expertise in multi-source synthesis, longitudinal studies, and enterprise frameworks
• Excellent communication and persuasion skills at executive levels
• Deep understanding of CAI’s product ecosystems, customer journeys, and industry
• Experience mentoring and developing Lead and Senior-level researchers
• Strong business literacy and ability to connect insights to P&L outcomes
• Proven ability to manage complex cross-functional alignment
• Expert-level understanding of privacy, compliance, and ethical research constraints
• Highly skilled in behavioral analytics, experimentation, and complex modeling
• 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 strongly preferred
• 10+ years applied research experience

Additional Information:

• Significant travel may be required to lead executive workshops and ecosystem research