About the roleAt Kalshi we strive to learn and understand our users' needs, behaviors, and emotions to build the best product for them. As the founding UX Researcher at Kalshi, you will own the research function that helps us understand customers deeply and make better decisions. You will lead qualitative and quantitative research across the product lifecycle, from early problem framing through post-launch measurement, and bring the customer's perspective into the room before direction is set. This is a rare opportunity to shape how a category-defining financial company builds its research functions from the ground up.
What you'll do- End-to-end research: Design and execute quant + qual research across the product lifecycle: interviews, usability studies, surveys, journey mapping, and behavior analysis. You know when to run an interview, when to run a survey, and when the answer is already in the data.
- Design and manage longitudinal research programs, including survey design, CSAT or NPS measurement, and ongoing feedback loops.
- Comfortable with product analytics and data tools. You can build and interpret dashboards, define metrics, and work with quantitative data to complement qualitative insight.
- Distill complex research into clear, actionable narratives for product, policy, and leadership.
- Develop deep empathy for traders of all skill levels, institutions, and developers, understanding their workflows, motivations, and pain points across the lifecycle
What we're looking for- Experience: 5+ years doing UX research in industry
- Speed in execution: You excel at prioritizing research in fast-moving 01 environments and are comfortable navigating ambiguity, taking initiative, and knowing when to be scrappy vs. when to go deep.
- Research craft: You know the right methodological approach for the question at hand, and you're an expert in both qualitative and quantitative methods.
- Data fluency: You excel at using behavioral and business data to sharpen research questions, interpret results, and connect insights to measurable outcomes. Triangulating across data sources is a standard part of the work you deliver.
- Actively incorporates AI tools into your research workflow; using them to synthesize qualitative data at scale, surface patterns across large interview sets, accelerate analysis, and ask sharper questions faster.
- Care deeply about users: You are energized by talking to customers regularly and believe that understanding people is the highest-leverage thing a product team can invest in.
- Ownership mindset: You take initiative in a self-directed environment, proactively identify what needs to be known, and drive research programs forward without waiting to be asked.
