Senior UX Researcher

We are looking for a Senior UX Researcher to build InvestEngine's UX research practice from scratch. This is a hands‑on, founding‑researcher role. You will be embedded in the Design team and work closely with Product Designers and Product Managers to test important flows and concepts before they are built, validate them after release, and raise the overall quality of evidence used in product decision‑making. Your primary focus will be UX research — usability testing, prototype testing, concept validation, journey‑level studies, and building the research operations needed to support a growing product organisation. You will also partner with teams across Marketing, Product, and Compliance as a research quality partner, advising on study design, reviewing research approaches, and helping define shared evidence standards across the company without directly owning or executing their research programmes.

What You’ll Do

• Plan and run UX research for key initiatives — concept tests, prototype tests, usability studies, and journey‑level research, with a strong focus on testing important flows and concepts before development.
• Set the evidence bar for design work — define what "good enough evidence" looks like and ensure significant design decisions and launches are informed by research.
• Build a lightweight research operating mode — establish recruitment, screening, consent, interview guides, templates, repositories, and ways of working that scale without becoming heavy process.
• Run post‑release UX checks — evaluate key customer journeys after launch to assess task success, comprehension, usability, and friction, and feed findings back into the design process.
• Maintain a high standard of research quality — identify weak or biased research, challenge unsupported conclusions, and be transparent about what evidence does and does not support.
• Partner across the company on research quality — advise on customer and market research run by Marketing, Product, and Compliance teams, and help define shared evidence standards.
• Own the research toolset — select, implement, and maintain the tools, repository, and workflows needed to support an effective UX research practice.
• Use AI in research workflows — actively apply AI to improve transcription, synthesis, analysis, and reporting while maintaining research quality and rigour.

What We’re Looking For

• 6+ years of hands‑on experience in User Experience (UX) Research, Product Research, or Design Research.
• Deep expertise in moderated usability testing, prototype testing, concept validation, user interviews, task‑based studies, and journey‑level research.
• Proven experience partnering closely with Product Designers throughout the product development lifecycle.
• Strong understanding of research methodology, participant recruitment, study design, bias identification, and evidence quality.
• Strong survey design and quantitative reasoning skills, including confidence with sample sizes, segmentation, and interpreting findings.
• Experience building lightweight research operations, repositories, standards, and ways of working.
• Demonstrable experience integrating AI tools into research workflows.
• Comfortable operating independently and establishing a UX research practice from the ground up.
• Good understanding of investing, ETFs, personal finance, and financial decision‑making behaviour, with the ability to incorporate financial context, risk, and regulation into research design and interpretation.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, including the ability to challenge weak evidence constructively.
• English fluency (C1 level and above) — we are a UK‑based company, and the role involves regular communication with the team.

Nice to Have

• Experience running UX research in a UK‑regulated fintech, financial services business, or another regulated consumer‑facing environment.
• Experience integrating research tooling with Figma and other design workflows.
• Experience building or scaling UX research practices within high‑growth startups or scale‑ups.

What We Offer

• Impact from day one — You’ll take on meaningful work from the start, tackling real challenges that drive the stability, efficiency, and growth of our business.
• Room to grow — As we scale, you’ll have opportunities to expand your responsibilities, influence how we work, and help shape our long‑term direction.
• Transparent and open culture — We share decisions openly, keep communication channels clear, and encourage collaboration across every part of the business.
• Supportive, experienced team — Work alongside talented professionals who are experts in their fields — smart, driven, and generous with their knowledge.
• Remote first and flexible — Work in the way that best suits you. We focus on results, not rigid hours, and trust you to manage your time effectively.