The Director of Qualitative Research and Survey Science owns the qualitative user research practice for People eXperience and Technology Central Science (PXTCS) and leads the science behind Amazon's state-of-the-art employee surveys, setting the standard for how Amazon measures what its employees are experiencing. The questions that matter most in this role are the ones numbers alone cannot settle, and that often run ahead of demand - identifying the challenges leaders will face before they ask, and building the methods to address them. How is the culture changing as the company evolves? What are employees experiencing that no metric on a dashboard captures? Where are employee concerns emerging that have not yet shown up in any data? These factors drive business outcomes, resist clean quantification, and require creative, mixed-methods approaches to address.
Doing this well starts with knowing what Amazon's leaders are contending with. You will be a voice in senior leader forums, learning firsthand which people problems are hardest and judging which of them research can move. From there, you will design the approach, working in close partnership with the quantitative research leaders in PXTCS, so that qualitative work, survey measurement, and quantitative analysis combine into one answer rather than three separate ones. You will deliver findings directly to senior leadership, on the timeline the decision requires, framed as actions those leaders can take. You will be a strategic advisor to PXT leaders on what aspects of the employee experience Amazon can and should measure, how much.
Key job responsibilities
• Identify the workforce challenges senior leaders have not yet named, and partner with quantitative science leaders to build a mixed-methods research agenda that addresses them.
• Develop and apply creative, technically rigorous qualitative and survey approaches that measure changes in the workforce that are not captured by quantitative data.
• Represent this work in senior leader forums, translating findings into decisions leaders can act on.
• Maintain and raise the bar on the science behind Amazon's employee survey program, coordinating with senior leaders across Amazon so survey content delivers actionable insights for their businesses.
• Provide guidance on qualitative and survey methods to teams across PXT, so employee research across Amazon meets a consistent standard.
• Run the practice as an operation - set the intake and prioritization mechanisms and manage a stakeholder portfolio across PXT, so the team's capacity goes to the questions that matter most.
• Lead through managers, building and developing a team of qualitative researchers and survey scientists.
About the team
PXT Central Science is Amazon's people-science R&D organization. We develop causal inference methods, predictive models, and decision-support tools that operate at the intersection of economics, machine learning, and organizational science. Our work spans employee experience, workforce planning, compensation, talent acquisition, and employee relations - always grounded in rigorous methodology and always aimed at real-world impact.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
- Demonstrated track record of leading mixed-methods research that directly influenced senior leadership decisions.
- 10+ years of qualitative and/or survey research experience, including 5+ years leading research organizations.
- Working knowledge of both qualitative and survey research methods, with the depth to set research strategy, design integrated mixed-methods approaches, evaluate the rigor of the team's work, and know when to bring in deeper expertise.
- Experience leading through managers, and managing or mentoring senior scientists and qualitative researchers.
- Strong verbal and written communication skills with both technical and non-technical audiences, including executive leadership.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Experience owning a recurring measurement or survey program in production, with results delivered to business decision-makers.
- Depth in survey science - questionnaire design and validation, sampling, and the measurement properties of survey instruments - sufficient to judge whether a survey supports the conclusions drawn from it.
- Experience in people analytics, labor economics, employee relations, or HR-adjacent research domains.
- Comfort operating in highly ambiguous environments where problem definition is part of the work.
- Thought leadership in how organizations measure themselves, whether through publications in peer-reviewed journals and conferences or through shaping the measurement practice of a large organization.
The base salary range for this position is listed below. Your Amazon package will include sign-on payments and restricted stock units (RSUs). Final compensation will be determined based on factors including experience, qualifications, and location. Amazon also offers comprehensive benefits including health insurance (medical, dental, vision, prescription, Basic Life & AD&D insurance and option for Supplemental life plans, EAP, Mental Health Support, Medical Advice Line, Flexible Spending Accounts, Adoption and Surrogacy Reimbursement coverage), 401(k) matching, paid time off, and parental leave. Learn more about our benefits at https://amazon.jobs/en/benefits.
USA, CA, San Francisco - 238,000.00 - 322,000.00 USD annually
USA, MA, Boston - 216,400.00 - 292,800.00 USD annually
USA, VA, Arlington - 216,400.00 - 292,800.00 USD annually
USA, WA, Bellevue - 216,400.00 - 292,800.00 USD annually
USA, WA, Seattle - 216,400.00 - 292,800.00 USD annually
