Staff User Experience Researcher

As a Staff UX Researcher, you will lead research strategy and execution for a product domain at Ancestry. Functioning as a strategic partner to Product, Design, and Analytics leads, you will drive product discovery, eliminate user friction, and shape product direction, proactively guiding the thinking of your team. You will bring deep expertise as a mixed methods researcher, balancing lean research agility and methodological rigor, translating raw behavioral observations into structured, actionable insights that directly influence team metrics. What you will do... • Domain Research Strategy: Own end-to-end research roadmaps for key product spaces, identifying unaddressed user needs and tying research objectives to domain success metrics. • Foundational Research & Product Discovery: Drive generative, exploratory research during the early product discovery phase to deeply analyze problem spaces, uncover unmet user needs, and define product direction before design and execution. • Tactical Research: Lead or delegate more tactical research to product and design partners (such as usability testing and concept validation), ensuring methodological rigor while freeing up time to focus on strategic initiatives. • Methodological Execution & Triangulation: Design and execute qualitative (interviews, usability testing, diary studies) and quantitative (surveys, card sorts, tree tests) studies as a mixed methods researcher, triangulating findings with product analytics behavioral data, member services and social feedback, and external trend sources for a holistic user perspective. • AI Integration & Experimentation: Incorporate AI into research workflows to streamline processes, demonstrating a strong desire to continuously experiment with new tools to accelerate and augment insights. • Strategic Product Partnership: Act as an embedded strategic product leader—not just a research executor—working alongside Product, Design, and Engineering leads to co-own domain strategy, challenge product assumptions, and directly shape feature roadmaps. Who you are… • Experience: 7+ years of UX research experience, ideally embedded in cross-functional software development teams delivering large-scale consumer applications. • Comfort Navigating Ambiguity: Proven ability to thrive in ambiguous environments, taking undefined or complex product spaces and breaking them down into structured, actionable research plans. • Mixed Methods Expertise: Proven track record as a mixed methods researcher with proficiency in both qualitative and quantitative research execution, demonstrating a high degree of comfort with triangulating diverse data sets including behavioral data, member services and social feedback, and external and trend sources. • AI Workflow Experience: Practical experience incorporating AI into research workflows and a proven desire to continuously experiment with emerging methodologies. • Methodological Flexibility: Expertise in knowing when to deploy rapid, lean usability checks versus foundational, longitudinal studies based on project risk and timeline constraints. • Data Literacy: Strong fluency in product analytics; comfortable partnering with analytics to validate qualitative hypotheses at scale using behavioral data. • Cross-Functional Collaboration: Proven ability to break down functional silos, working seamlessly alongside Product Managers, Designers, Engineers, and Marketing leads. Why Ancestry? Join a dedicated team working to connect millions of people with their past and enrich their futures. At Ancestry, you will play a role in pioneering legal solutions that shape the consumer genomics industry. Your contributions will help protect the privacy and stories of our customers while supporting a brand recognized and trusted around the world. We offer a collaborative workplace, competitive compensation, and the opportunity to make a meaningful difference. Compensation As a signatory of the ParityPledge in Support of Women and the ParityPledge in Support of People of Color, Ancestry values pay transparency and pay equity. We are pleased to share the base hourly range for this position: $128,000 - $152,000 with eligibility for bonus, equity and comprehensive benefits including health, dental and vision. The actual salary will vary by geographic region and job experience. *Note: Disclosure as required by sb19-085(8-5-20) and sb1162(1-1-23).