Staff User Researcher

Coinbase, Inc.; San Francisco (CA); Remote; USD 217,000 - 228,000; Full time

Job summary

Coinbase is seeking a Staff Design Researcher for the Platform Design and Research team to shape research vision across Identity, Payments, Developer Experience, and more. You will translate ambiguous problems into clear opportunities and shipped solutions.

You’ll lead the research practice, run internal CSAT programs, guide generative and evaluative studies with engineers, PMs, and customers, and mentor designers to raise the craft and impact.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of professional experience in user research and product design.
• Ability to operate at a strategic level and influence executives through insights and presentations.
• Expert-level proficiency in design tools (Figma or equivalent).
• Strong command of qualitative research methods and ability to adapt methods.
• Experience building scalable research programs and driving design system adoption.
• Experience using AI responsibly to improve workflows.

Responsibilities

• Define and own the research practice for Platform, connecting insights to product decisions.
• Own and run Platform's CSAT program, analyze results and report to leadership.
• Lead generative, evaluative, and mixed-methods research with engineers, PMs, and customers.
• Drive high-quality design deliverables including prototypes and flows.
• Partner with senior leaders as cross-functional lead across strategy planning.
• Improve design consistency and contribute to design systems across the product area.
• Coach and mentor designers and product partners on research rigor and design craft.

Skills

User research leadership

Strategic influence

Qualitative research methods

Research program development

Mentoring designers

AI in design

Tools

Figma

Job description

Ready to do the most impactful work of your career? AtCoinbase, we are uncompromising on our mission to increase economic freedom. The bar is high, the environment is intense, and we like it that way. This isn't a place for complacency, it’s a place to be pushed past your perceived limits. If you're ready to build the future of finance alongside people who refuse to settle for "good enough," you belong here. Coinbase is a remote-first, but not remote-only company. Expect to get together quarterly for intense in-person working sessions called “surges.”learn more about working at Coinbase.

Team/ Role Paragraph

As a Staff Design Researcher on the Platform Design and Research team within the Platform group, you'll set the research vision and practice across the systems, tools, and infrastructure that power Coinbase. This team works across Identity, Payments, Developer Experience, Financial Infrastructure, Compliance, and other foundational areas. You'll define how Platform understands its customers, combining deep research with hands‑on design to translate ambiguous problem spaces into clear product opportunities, high-quality deliverables, and shipped solutions.

What you’ll do:

• Define and own the research practice for Platform, setting the vision, strategy, prioritization, and engagement models that connect customer insight to product and design decisions across the organization.
• Own and run Platform's recurring internal CSAT program, designing surveys, setting cadence, analyzing results, and reporting to leadership to track how internal teams experience Platform tools and surface actionable opportunities.
• Conduct and lead generative, evaluative, and mixed-methods research with engineers, technical leads, product managers, and end customers, upleveling existing methods and identifying new approaches to address ambiguous research problems across Identity, Payments, Developer Experience, internal tooling, and compliance.
• Drive process and execution that result in high-quality design deliverables, including polished prototypes, interaction flows, and visual storytelling that set the standard and bar for your product area.
• Partner with senior product, design, and engineering leaders as a cross-functional lead in all stages of strategy planning, influencing roadmaps and investment decisions through evidence-based research and well‑crafted design presentations.
• Drive improvements in design consistency and integrity across your product area, contributing to existing design systems and creating new solutions when needed, while building research repositories and frameworks that scale research impact across the broader Design and Research organization.
• Coach and mentor designers and product partners on both research rigor and design craft, raising the quality bar and expanding capacity beyond the core team.

Required Skills and Experience:

• 10+ years of professional experience in user research and product design, including setting research vision and leading research for complex, technical, or platform-scale products and systems.
• Demonstrated ability to operate at a strategic level, shaping product direction and influencing senior cross-functional and executive stakeholders through research-driven insights and compelling design presentations.
• Expert-level proficiency in design and prototyping tools (Figma or equivalent), with the ability to produce polished, high-quality deliverables that communicate customer experience and product direction to leadership.
• Strong command of qualitative research methods, with proven judgment about which methods fit which questions, and demonstrated ability to uplevel methods and introduce new approaches to solve ambiguous problems.
• Track record of building research practices, operating models, or measurement programs (such as recurring CSAT or voice-of-customer programs) that scaled impact beyond a single team, and driving design system adoption and contribution across a product area.
• Utilizes generative AI responsibly, maintaining human oversight to deliver business-ready outputs and drive measurable improvements in workflow efficiency, cost, and quality.

Pay Transparency Notice: Base salary varies by location (see range below). Total compensation may also include equity and bonus eligibility, and benefits (medical, dental, vision, 401(k)).

Annual base salary range (excluding equity and bonus):: $216,790 USD - $228,200 USD

• Equal Opportunity Employer: Coinbase is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or genetic information. Applicants with criminal histories will be considered consistent with applicable federal, state, and local laws.
• US Applicants: View Employee Rights, Know Your Rights, and E-Verify Notice of Participation.
• Accommodations: If you are an individual with a disability who needs a reasonable accommodation, email us your request and contact info at accommodations[at]coinbase.com.Need screen reading technology? Click here to download a free compatible screen reader and view thetutorial.
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