Senior User Researcher & AI Research Operations

Our mission is to open the door to the life-changing impact of education. We build market-leading, online college credit and test-preparation solutions that help working adults earn their degrees, advance their careers, and achieve economic mobility. Recognized by Fast Company and GSV 150 as one of the world's most innovative education companies, we are also at the forefront of AI-first learning, combining artificial intelligence with the latest learning science to improve access and outcomes at scale.

Our product is our impact. Through our Keys to College and Keys to the Classroom initiatives, we have saved students over $700 million in tuition and enabled hundreds of thousands of learners to pursue and succeed in careers across nursing, teaching, counseling, business, and other high-demand fields. We are deeply focused on measurable outcomes and building products that create meaningful, lasting change in people's lives.

We're looking for an AI first Senior User Researcher to lead and modernize our research team across product, marketing, brand and lead the AI transformation for Research. This role is for a seasoned, full-stack researcher who brings mastery of qualitative and quantitative methods, deep experience in both product and marketing research, and the experience to leverage AI to accelerate the scale and quality of research at

You'll be responsible for leading our most important research initiatives across college credit and professional test prep segments to equip the company with strategic and actionable customer insights. You will also be responsible for internal voice of the customer programs, managing contractors and conducting your own research on high priority business areas.

This role is based in our Mountain View, CA office and is hybrid in office Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.

What You'll Do:

* Lead and scale high-impact research across product development, brand strategy, and marketing. Independently conduct complex generative and evaluative studies that uncover unmet needs, inform product vision, and de-risk decisions at scale.

* Implement advanced AI-native practices and embed AI into research workflows to ensure speed, quality, and impact. Define what it means to work AI-natively across research internally and for our customers. Stay up to date on the latest AI-based research techniques and tools.

* Connect the dots, patterns and connections across teams. Ensure insights are shared across teams and inform decisions. Partner with senior leadership to identify and evangelize the highest-impact opportunities for our customers.

* Be the in-house expert across all core research methods, including usability testing, ethnographic research, surveys, segmentation, message testing, brand tracking, and concept validation.

* Coach designers, marketers, product managers and other employees on conducting research, reviewing their projects and adapting the AI first workflow based on needs.

* Lead and moderate company-wide Voice of the Customer (VoC) sessions, interviewing real customers in live forums to bring their perspectives directly to cross-functional teams

* Manage external research contractors and vendors, including scoping, quality control, and budget alignment

* Build and scale a research enablement model, coaching designers, marketers, and product managers to run self-serve research with confidence and consistency. Develop tools, templates, and guidance that scale research capabilities and impact.

* Collaborate with cross-functional leadership to build and prioritize a unified, impact-driven research roadmap

* Be a skilled communicator to peers to executives. Articulate effective customer stories to drive change and inform strategy of product initiatives to business strategy.

What You'll Bring To

The Role:

* 5+ years in user research roles, with experience spanning product, marketing, and brand research

* Deep fluency in all major research methodologies, qualitative and quantitative, statistical analysis, generative and evaluative. Hands on experience moderating user interviews is required.

* Experience managing contractors, vendors, and agencies across multiple work streams

* Expert knowledge of AI tools to support the end-to-end research workflow

* Expert knowledge of User Testing and Survey Monkey for usability testing, survey design, and rapid feedback collection

* Strong leadership and enablement skills to equip non-researchers to conduct reliable, lean research

* Fluent in English (written and verbal)

The salary range for this position is $130,000 to $160,000 per year. Pay is dependent upon factors including skills, work experience, business needs, and market demands.

At , we know that strong communities are built on the power of our diversity, and we respect and strive to understand for the diverse identities, race, ethnicities, backgrounds, and perspectives of our team members. Our work and company culture have been consistently recognized, including:

* Inc. Best Place to Work

* Fortune Great Places…