Principal User Researcher

Change.org is searching for a Principal User Researcher to design and execute a research practice that ensures our product strategy, core experiences and new initiatives are guided by meaningful user insight. You will report to the VP of Design as a key member of our Product org.

We’re a social impact business (a public benefit company), and the world's largest social change platform with 100 million users, 40,000+ campaigns launched on the site every month, and a 100% user-generated revenue model. Our users win campaigns for change once every hour. We’re working for a world where no one is powerless, and where creating change is a part of everyday life. We’re just getting started and hope you’ll join us!

From mobilizing over 5 million people to investigate the fires in the Amazon, to mobilizing nearly 3 million against war and famine in Yemen, to large-scale mobilizations for the people of Iran and against the war in Ukraine, and calling for racial justice in the US, many movements were born on Change.org. Dozens of local, national, and international victories are happening every day thanks to the strength of our members who are changing the lives of people around the world. We want to help them go even further and we need your help!

Key Outcomes

• Lead and execute priority research projects that provide meaningful insights to guide the future of our product work, such as the future of petitions, user segmentation, and new product exploration.
• Determine and manage our systems for user research, to be used by you and other folks in the product org. This includes recruiting processes, tools, and research playbooks. 
• Build a shared, insightful understanding of our key user groups across the product team and company as a whole. 
• Make research accessible and empowering, leading to user-centered decisionmaking.
• Execute user research – recruiting and moderating, survey design and analysis, and storytelling.

The most important core competencies for the role are:

Research Design: You have deep experience designing and executing research studies from initial scoping to insight delivery. You can build the right methodological approach for product usability to audience understanding to new product exploration. You’re fluent in a wide range of qual and quant methods, and you choose the right method for the question. You’re skilled at making research relevant and actionable for product and design teams.

Qualitative and Quantitative Research Execution: You have hands-on experience in a variety of research tactics and practice them with excellence. Qualitatively, you are an excellent moderator, able to gather deep emotional insights and candid behaviors. You have experience in various approaches, including IDIs, focus groups, and persona work. Quantitatively, you are adept at survey design and analysis and you have executed intercepts to long form surveys. You also partner with analytics teams when needed to augment your work.

Strategic Influence & Storytelling: You understand how to connect user needs to product strategy. You help teams reframe product asks into meaningful research questions that move roadmaps forward. You go beyond strategy presentations and partner closely with PMs and designers to ensure insights translate into actionable product decisions. Your research has led to real product shifts. You are a compelling storyteller who surfaces user voices in ways that build empathy, align teams, and drive confident, informed decisions.

Research Ops & Enablement: You build systems that make research easier, faster, and more scalable for everyone. You’ve introduced tooling, templates, and operational workflows that empower non-researchers to run lightweight studies while maintaining quality. You prioritize foundations that reduce friction and increase the org’s capacity to make informed decisions.

Ownership: You take full ownership of your work — from defining the research question to doing the scrappy, hands-on tasks needed to get answers. You enjoy building systems and processes, and you enjoy rolling up your sleeves to recruit participants, schedule sessions, or QA a survey. You know when to be scrappy, when to push for rigor, and when to scale.

Cross-Functional Collaboration: Your influence spans design, product, engineering and beyond. You’re skilled at building trust with stakeholders, clarifying expectations early, and creating space for shared owne