Principal UX Researcher, Upstart

• Bachelor’s degree in Human-Computer Interaction, Psychology, Sociology, Statistics, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience)
• 8+ years of experience conducting UX research using qualitative and quantitative methods
• Experience building or scaling a UX research practice, including establishing processes, tools, or frameworks
• Demonstrated experience leading research that influenced product strategy or roadmap decisions
• Experience working in complex, multi-product environments

Desirable

• Upstart's Product Experience team brings together product design, research, and content strategy to shape the future of lending. We focus on high-craft execution, deep customer insight, and measurable business impact, partnering across product areas to build experiences that are clear, trustworthy, and human
• Content Design and User Research are cross-cutting craft specialties that serve every pillar — essential to journey quality and informed decision-making across the team
• As the Principal UX Researcher reporting to the VP of Product Design, you will establish Upstart's dedicated UX research practice. Today, product designers conduct their own research as needed and the Consumer Insights team provides market and customer intelligence — but there's no shared UX research methodology or consistent way to connect customer behavior insights to product design decisions
• You'll bridge that gap: defining how UX research gets done, equipping designers and PMs to conduct foundational research well, and leading the strategic studies that influence decisions across Upstart's lending products
• Establish and scale a UX research practice, including methodologies, standards, and tools used across product teams
• Lead high-impact, cross-functional research initiatives that inform product strategy and roadmap decisions
• Enable designers and product managers to conduct effective day-to-day research through toolkits, templates,and best practices
• Build and maintain research infrastructure — participant recruiting pipelines, research repositories, and insight-sharing systems that make findings accessible and actionable across teams
• Partner with Product, Engineering, and Consumer Insights leaders to ensure research has an informed and influential voice in product decisions — bridging horizontal insights across a multi-product lending portfolio
• Define and promote best practices for conducting research in a regulated environment with sensitive borrower data
• Balance speed and rigor by prioritizing research that drives timely, actionable insights