Lead Specialist, UX Designer

Role Overview

This role aligns to Staff User Researcher. We’re looking for a Staff User Researcher who brings both exceptional craft and proven experience building research excellence  will be helping us understand teachers’ and students’ foundational needs as we shape the future of higher education.

• Operate at the intersection of user needs, product development and business strategy, leading high-impact research initiatives that shape product direction and influence organizational decision-making.
• Design and lead complex mixed-methods studies (ethnographic, longitudinal, usability testing, surveys, quantitative) as well as quick, scrappy evaluative research, synthesizing insights into compelling narratives and actionable recommendations for executive audiences.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to frame research questions that drive strategic decision-making, facilitate collaborative sessions that build shared understanding, and champion user-centered decisions across the organization.
• Mentor junior and mid-level researchers to accelerate their growth, establish research standards and frameworks that scale across teams, and build research literacy throughout the organization.
• Build systems to democratize research insights, continuously improve research operations, and advocate for research investment with leadership.

• Design and lead complex, generative and evaluative research across multiple platforms and user journeys as well as quick, scrappy evaluative research across multiple platforms and user journeys.
• Synthesize insights from diverse data sources into compelling narratives and present findings to executive audiences with actionable recommendations.
• Facilitate workshops and collaborative sessions that build shared understanding of user needs and drive consensus across stakeholders with competing priorities.
• Mentor junior and mid-level researchers, providing feedback and coaching that accelerates their growth and career development.
• Establish research standards, frameworks, templates, and processes that scale across teams and build research literacy throughout the organization.
• Build systems to democratize research insights, continuously improve research operations, and advocate for research investment with leadership.

• 7‑10 years of user research experience with proficiency in both qualitative and quantitative methodologies and a portfolio that demonstrates a strategic impact on product and business decisions.
• Strong strategic thinking ability to identify the right research questions, frame ambiguous problems, and connect research to business objectives—balancing rigor with speed to deliver impact.
• Exceptional storytelling and executive presence with confidence presenting to senior leadership, influencing strategic decisions, and tailoring insights for diverse audiences across the organization.
• Track record of effective cross‑functional partnership with design, product, and engineering leaders, building trust, navigating organizational complexity, and understanding when to push versus compromise.
• Experience mentoring researchers and building research capability across teams through training, knowledge sharing, and servant leadership with genuine passion for developing others.
• Proficiency in research tools (User Testing, Qualtrics), analytics platforms (Tableau, Mixpanel), design tools (Figma), and understanding of research ethics, data protection, and cross‑cultural research methods.

Pearson is on a mission to build a direct, lifelong relationship with millions of learners around the world. As the world’s leading learning company, with 18,000+ employees across 70 countries, we reach learners at critical moments of growth, through content, assessment, and digital experiences that shape education, careers, and opportunity on a global scale.
Now, Higher Education is entering its next chapter. We’re in the midst of a deep digital and AI transformation reimagining learning as agentic, adaptive, and human‑centered. Our teams are designing intelligent learning products that don’t just deliver information, but actively coach, challenge, and partner…