Principal, Visual Systems Strategist Waltham, MA or Remote

At Constant Contact, we are seriously awesome people who take ownership and make an impact by operating with the mindset, integrity and courage of a small business owner. There’s something so profoundly rewarding about knowing that your work is empowering people everywhere to pursue their dreams. Here, we all play an integral part in helping business owners, entrepreneurs, non‑profits and individuals to succeed by giving them all the help and tools they need to grow online.

We’re energized by new challenges and new possibilities—and we’re just getting started!

The Senior User Experience Researcher is a strategic, experienced, and highly autonomous individual contributor (IC) responsible for uncovering deep customer insights that drive significant impact. This role’s primary mission is to proactively drive strategic discovery research to identify high‑leverage problems and opportunities within the customer experience. You will be instrumental in aligning the product strategy to our target audiences’ intent and unmet needs, informing where Constant Contact should invest next to enhance the product portfolio.

You will not just report findings; you will translate complex insights into compelling narratives and actionable recommendations that directly influence executive decision‑making.

• Strategic Discovery & Problem Identification: Lead and own the strategic discovery research roadmap for your product domain. Proactively plan and execute studies specifically designed to identify fundamental customer problems and emergent opportunities for the product experience, ensuring alignment with target audience intent and core needs.
• Mixed‑Methods Execution: Design, conduct, and analyze a broad range of studies using a robust, mixed‑methods approach (e.g., in‑depth interviews, ethnography, longitudinal studies, complex surveys, and telemetry analysis).
• Insight Synthesis & Strategy: Transform complex, multi‑layered data into clear, concise, and compelling strategic artifacts (e.g., updated personas, intent‑driven journey maps, and opportunity frameworks) that clearly articulate where and why the product strategy should pivot or accelerate.
• Strategic Influence: Partner closely with Principal Designers, Product Leads, and Engineering Leaders to ensure research findings are effectively integrated into the long‑term product strategy and directly influence prioritization and investment decisions.
• Democratization of Research: Lead initiatives to enable and train cross‑functional partners on best practices for conducting effective, lightweight research, acting as a methodological consultant for embedded teams.
• Ethical Practice: Ensure all research activities adhere to ethical guidelines, data privacy regulations (GDPR/CCPA), and internal best practices.
• Embed AI into research workflows: 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.

• Experience & Expertise: 5+ years of dedicated experience as a User Experience Researcher, Design Researcher, or Applied Researcher, preferably in a complex SaaS or software environment.
• Methodological Mastery: Deep expertise in planning and executing a wide range of qualitative and quantitative research methods, with proven ability to select the right methodology to uncover strategic intent and latent needs.
• SaaS Domain Focus: Significant experience designing research for integrated workflow tools and SaaS platforms, with a clear understanding of the small business user journey.
• Data Translation: Proven ability to synthesize insights from various sources (user interviews, behavioral metrics, market data) to build a holistic understanding of customer behavior and identify strategic patterns.
• Communication & Storytelling: Exceptional storytelling and presentation skills, with a track record of clearly communicating complex research findings and their strategic business implications to executive stakeholders.
• Education: Master’s degree in Human‑Computer Interaction (HCI), Psychology, Anthropology, Sociology,…