UX Research Manager

ReTool; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 130,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Retool in San Francisco, CA is seeking a Senior UX Researcher to guide product and design strategy in the AI era. As a foundational member of a new research team, you’ll shape how insights drive impact, partnering with designers, engineers, and product managers across the organization.

You will own research initiatives, identify knowledge gaps, and synthesize findings into actionable stories that influence strategic directions and product experiences.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in UX research, product research, or a related field, ideally in Enterprise Saas or technical platform environments.
• Proven ability to own research projects end-to-end, from scoping through to execution and analysis, leveraging a range of qualitative and quantitative methods.
• Strong synthesis and storytelling skills, with an ability to distill ambiguity into clarity and make insights resonate with diverse audiences.
• Experience shaping product direction through early-stage generative research and iterative usability testing.
• Comfort working in ambiguous problem spaces and a bias toward action—you're as strategic as you are scrappy.
• Deep curiosity about how complex systems work, especially technical workflows or developer tools.
• Excellent collaboration and communication skills, with an understanding for how to bring others into the process and rally teams around user insights.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities, scope projects appropriately, and deliver high-quality work on time.

Responsibilities

• Own research initiatives to inform product strategy and design, collaborating closely with cross-functional teams to deliver insights that shape Retool’s future.
• Identify knowledge gaps, latent assumptions, and open questions to prioritize opportunities for impactful research.
• Plan, conduct, and analyze studies leveraging qualitative and quantitative methods—from usability tests to in-depth interviews and in-product surveys.
• Balance speed with rigor, creatively leveraging research methods within constraints.
• Triangulate insights from user research, product usage, support, and market signals to surface meaningful patterns.
• Distill complex data into clear, compelling stories for teams across the org, including executives.
• Collaborate with teammates to shape research practice, evolve processes, and embed user-centered thinking across everything we do.

Skills

UX research

Qualitative methods

Quantitative methods

Storytelling

Stakeholder collaboration

Product strategy

Early-stage research

Ambiguity tolerance

Developer workflows

Time management

Education

HCI or related field

Job description

WHY WE’RE LOOKING FOR YOU:

We’re looking for a Senior UX Researcher to inform our product and design strategy, we’re reimagining how software gets built in the era of AI, and your research will light the way.

You’ll be a foundational member leading a small, strategic research team, with an opportunity to shape the culture of research at Retool, and define how insights drive impact across the organization. Though a new function, research is already deeply valued across the organization, informing key strategic designs and guiding our expansion into new customer segments and AI-powered experiences. You’ll collaborate with a curious and customer-centric group of designers, engineers, and product managers who are eager to partner with research to uncover new opportunities to elevate our products.

WHAT YOU'LL DO:

In this role, you’ll own research initiatives to inform product strategy and design, collaborating closely with cross-functional teams to deliver insights that shape Retool’s future. You will:

• Work with stakeholders to identify knowledge gaps, latent assumptions, and open questions to prioritize opportunities for impactful research.
• Plan, conduct, and analyze studies leveraging a range of qualitative and quantitative methods—from tactical usability tests, to in-depth interviews, in-product surveys, and more to generate actionable learnings.
• Balance speed with research rigor, creatively leveraging research methods to work within constraints.
• Triangulate insights from across user research, product usage, support, and market signals, to surface meaningful patterns.
• Distill complex data into clear, compelling stories for teams across the org, from product, design, and engineering peers to executive stakeholders.

As an early member of the research team, you’ll also collaborate with your teammates to shape our research practice, evolve our processes, and help embed user-centered thinking across everything we do.

THE SKILLSET YOU'LL BRING:

• 5+ years of experience in UX research, product research, or a related field, ideally in Enterprise Saas or technical platform environments
• Proven ability to own research projects end-to-end, from scoping through to execution and analysis, leveraging a range of qualitative and quantitative methods
• Strong synthesis and storytelling skills, with an ability to distill ambiguity into clarity and make insights resonate with diverse audiences
• Experience shaping product direction through early-stage generative research and iterative usability testing
• Comfort working in ambiguous problem spaces and a bias toward action—you're as strategic as you are scrappy
• Deep curiosity about how complex systems work, especially technical workflows or developer tools
• Excellent collaboration and communication skills, with an understanding for how to bring others into the process and rally teams around user insights
• Ability to manage multiple priorities, scope projects appropriately, and deliver high-quality work on time

Additional nice-to-haves:

• Bachelor’s or advanced degree in Human-Computer Interaction, Psychology, Human Factors, Computer Science, or similar field
• Experience working on AI products, along with an understanding of how these technologies work and implications for how users interact with them
• Familiarity with design thinking frameworks, usability evaluation techniques, and A/B testing
• Interest and excitement in leading and growing our small UXR team