Senior UX Researcher, Etsy

• We’re looking for a Senior User Experience Researcher who’s passionate about blending data science and human insight to shape how our machine learning systems — powering Search, Recommendations, and Ads — help people discover the things they love
• You’re fluent in both human stories and statistical models — equally comfortable running regressions or facilitating a cross-functional strategy workshop
• You’ve led user research in complex, data-driven environments and have 3+ years of experience influencing product decisions
• You are confident with qualitative and quantitative user research methods like contextual inquiry, usability testing, survey design, and diary studies
• You have experience with database querying (BigQuery / SQL) and are familiar with statistical programming (R, Python) and advanced analytics
• You have experience with AI-powered products (e.g., large language models, conversational AI, generative AI) and a robust understanding of the underlying technology and unique user challenges
• You are familiar with human-in-the-loop workflows, reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF), or model interpretability
• You love collaborating across disciplines — translating between the perspectives of machine learning engineers, designers, and product managers
• You’re motivated by making technology more human, transparent, and trustworthy

Desirable

• This is a full-time position reporting to the Product Research Manager.
• The Search, Recommendations, and Ads ML teams work on systems that influence nearly every buyer and seller experience on Etsy
• Together, you’ll explore how customers interact with algorithms — how they search, how they browse, and how they trust what they see — and ensure our models reflect the diversity, creativity, and authenticity of our community
• Design and lead research that blends quantitative analysis with qualitative storytelling to illuminate how buyers and sellers experience Etsy’s machine-learning-powered features (e.g., data-driven segmentation, survey analysis, journey mapping)
• Partner with ML engineers and data scientists to identify where human insights can inform model training, evaluation, and optimization
• Study how users interpret algorithmic recommendations, search results, and ad placements — and how those systems can better align with user intent, expectations, and delight
• Combine attitudinal data derived from interviews, usability studies, and surveys with behavioral and analytics data to identify impactful opportunities to improve our ML models
• Develop evaluation frameworks that combine quantitative metrics (relevance, engagement, fairness) with human experience measures (trust, satisfaction)
• Communicate insights through engaging storytelling — turning data, quotes, and trends into clear guidance for cross-functional partners
• Of course, this is just a sample of the kinds of work this role will require! You should assume that your role will encompass other tasks, too, and that your job duties and responsibilities may change from time to time at Etsy's discretion, or otherwise applicable with local law