Director, UX Research

About This Role

Strava is the app for active people. With over 150 million athletes in more than 190 countries, it’s more than tracking workouts—it’s where connection, motivation, and personal bests thrive. No matter your activity, gear, or goals, Strava’s got you covered. Find your crew, crush your milestones, and keep moving forward. Start your journey with Strava today.

As the Director, UX Research you will be responsible for leading the User Experience Research team and driving a deep understanding of user needs, behaviors, and motivations. You will partner with senior leadership and cross-functional partners, driving research that shapes company and product strategy and ensures decisions are informed by data and meaningful insights. You will manage a team of researchers and report directly to the Chief Design Officer.

We are looking for a UX Research leader who can establish a vision and culture that empowers a team of talented researchers to deliver exceptional research. You will drive research across multiple user experiences (free and subscriber, novice to elite athletes, focused on running and cycling). You will drive the creation of research roadmaps in partnership with cross-functional stakeholders and determine the priorities for your team. The right candidate will coach their team from a deep understanding of UX research best practices, employ a variety of methodologies and embody a nimble, creative, and pragmatic approach that quickly unlocks new insights that have tangible impact to the product and business outcomes.

We follow a flexible hybrid model that generally translates to around half your time on-site in our San Francisco office —roughly three days per week.

You’re excited about this opportunity because:

• You think big and spearhead complex research initiatives that have a tangible impact on company and product strategy, user satisfaction and business outcomes.
• You lead high-visibility research projects, collaborating closely with key stakeholders such as Design, Product Management, Data Science, Analytics, and executives.
• You are a recognized expert within the organization utilizing your knowledge and experience to train and educate stakeholders on best practices.
• You champion and lead with deep empathy for our customers by seamlessly integrating insights from diverse sources, including primary and secondary research, industry news, and operational data.
• You lead the objective-setting and discovery process, including user persona development, critical user journey-mapping, and qualitative and quantitative methods.
• You are a role model, mentor, and motivator for your team. You are invested in developing talent and creating an inspiring environment and team culture.
• You forge high-trust relationships with colleagues, fostering collaboration and innovation and by doing so, you influence teams to act on research insights by providing clear, actionable recommendations and relevant business context.
• You develop processes that drive quality and efficiency to scale and deliver consistent, high quality research.
• You embrace diversity of perspective yet have a strong point of view that can cut through the clutter.

You will be successful here because you can:

• Plan, Define and Implement our Research Roadmap: Define and create a quarterly and annual roadmap that aligns with our product roadmap and business priorities. Manage research plans, timelines, and budgets to ensure projects are completed on schedule.
• Conduct and Direct User Research: Plan and execute qualitative and quantitative research studies across a wide variety of needs: large scale surveys, usability, trust and safety, monetization, B2B, etc. Prepare detailed reports, personas, journey maps, and presentations to effectively communicate insights to stakeholders.
• Measure and Analyze Data: Interpret and synthesize research findings to generate actionable insights and recommendations for product improvements. Develop metrics (like but not limited to CSAT, NPS) to measure user satisfaction.
• Stay Updated: Keep abreast of the latest UX research methods, tools, and industry trends to continuously improve research practices.
• Conduct Competitive Analysis: Analyze competitors' products to understand market trends and identify opportunities for innovation.
• Facilitate Workshops: Lead workshops and brainstorming sessions to gather input from stakeholders and users.
• Oversee research operations: Manage third party agencies, participant recruiting and incentives, focus groups, unmoderated testing, etc.

We’re excited about you because:

• 8+ years of UX Research experience in a corporate agile setting
• Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, Social, Behavioral Sciences, or Human-Computer Interaction. Master’s or PhD degree preferred.
• Expertise in a wide range of qualitative and quantitative research methods, including pathfinding work, usability studies, interviews, focus groups, surveys, card sorts, and heuristic reviews, large quantitative surveys. Data Science experience is a plus.
• Exceptional communication skills, adept at translating data into actionable insights both verbally and in writing
• Expertise in data-driven storytelling, transforming raw data into compelling narratives and visualizations
• Expert in taking user personas and working with Data Science to build customer cohorts
• Familiarity with quantitative and qualitative research tools like QuestionPro and UserTesting, as well as UX methodologies such as Design Thinking and Lean UX
• Commitment to ongoing learning and staying current with industry techniques and tools
• Strong organizational, analytical, critical thinking, and team-building abilities
• Proven track record of effective collaboration with cross-functional teams

Compensation Overview:

At Strava, we know our employees are the most important ingredient to our success, and our compensation and total rewards programs reflect that. We take a market-based approach to pay, and pay may vary depending on the department and your location. Salary ranges are categorized into one of three tiers based on a cost of labor index for that geographic area. We will determine the candidate’s starting pay based on job-related skills, experience, qualifications, work location, and market conditions. We may modify these ranges in the future. For more information, please contact your talent partner.

Compensation: $241,000- $283,000. The base salary posted is within the compensation range for this role. This range reflects base pay only and does not include equity or benefits. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your location during the hiring process.

For more information on benefits, please click here.

About Strava

Strava is Swedish for “strive,” which epitomizes who we are and what we do. We’re a passionate and committed team, unified by our mission to connect athletes to what motivates them and help them find their personal best. With billions of activity uploads from all over the world, we have a humbling and adventurous vision: to be the record of the world’s athletic activities and the technology that makes every effort count.

Strava builds software that makes the best part of our athletes’ days even better. Just as we’re deeply committed to unlocking their potential, we’re dedicated to providing a world-class, inclusive workplace where our employees can grow and thrive, too. We’re backed by Sequoia Capital, TCV, Madrone Partners and Jackson Square Ventures, and we’re expanding in order to exceed the needs of our growing community of global athletes. Our culture reflects our community. We are continuously striving to hire and engage diverse teammates from all backgrounds, experiences and perspectives because we know we are a stronger team together.

Despite challenges in the world around us, we are continuing to grow camaraderie and positivity within our culture. We are differentiated by our truly people-first approach, our compassionate leadership, and our belief that we can bring joy and inspiration to athletes’ lives — now more than ever. All to say, it’s a great time to join Strava!

Strava is an equal opportunity employer. In keeping with the values of Strava, we make all employment decisions including hiring, evaluation, termination, promotional and training opportunities, without regard to race, religion, color, sex, age, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, physical handicap, mental disability, medical condition, disability, gender or identity or expression, pregnancy or pregnancy-related condition, marital status, height and/or weight.

We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.

California Consumer Protection Act Applicant Notice