User Experience Researcher

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At Leading Educators (LE), we know that excellent teaching is the most important driver of student success. The moment a student steps foot in the classroom, their opportunity to learn depends on how prepared their teacher is to translate complex content knowledge, standards, and their knowledge of that student into lessons that help them learn deeply and apply their thinking to the real world.

That’s a big lift, and it often happens alone. As a national nonprofit, we partner with school systems to overcome persistent instructional challenges, foster intentional collaboration and adult learning by design, and ignite new possibilities through systemic solutions at the intersection of teaching, talent, and technology.

We work shoulder-to-shoulder with educators at every level of the education system to strengthen their instructional and leadership practices, bring a vision for excellent instruction to life with consistency, and ensure every student reaches their full potential.

Through direct support, strategic advising, innovation pilots, and best-in-class research, we help educators work toward a future where every student is ready to thrive. Learn more about our work at leadingeducators.org.

At Leading Educators, we believe that excellent teaching transforms student potential into real-world success. But teachers don't work in isolation—they need thoughtfully designed tools, strategic support, and data-driven insights to reach every student. As Director of UX Research, you'll be the architect of that experience, ensuring the technology and measurement tools we create are not just powerful, but genuinely usable and impactful for the educators who depend on them.

This role sits at a critical intersection: where rigorous research meets human-centered design, where impact evaluation connects with technology innovation, and where complex data transforms into actionable insights. You'll partner with our Research and Data team and Innovation colleagues to evaluate how our tools actually work in real classrooms and school systems. Your research will directly shape the products we build and the decisions we make—ensuring that every feature, dashboard, and survey we deploy serves educators and students better.

You'll work with school systems across the country, conduct foundational and evaluative research, synthesize findings into compelling stories, and build a culture where continuous user feedback drives excellence. If you're energized by the intersection of rigorous methodology, product thinking, and educational impact, this is your opportunity to lead research that matters.

• Designing and conducting mixed-methods UX research including usability testing, cognitive walkthroughs, user interviews, and journey mapping to inform product and tool development?
• Analyzing data with R to clean, visualize, and derive insights from both quantitative and qualitative datasets, translating complexity into clarity?
• Survey design and deployment using platforms like SurveyMonkey, with a strong foundation in instrument design principles and data quality?
• Text analysis and natural language processing techniques—including sentiment analysis and topic modeling—to extract meaning from large volumes of qualitative data?

• Building strong cross-functional partnerships that align differing priorities, clarify roles, and drive coordinated execution across teams and external partners?
• Translating research findings into compelling narratives that resonate with diverse audiences and directly inform critical decisions?
• Engaging directly with end users—teachers, leaders, and system partners—to understand their needs, observe their workflows, and shape the tools they use?
• Solving complex problems at the intersection of research methodology, product thinking, and real-world implementation in educational contexts?

• Experience using Snowflake Cortex for data analysis and classification
• Experience collaborating on research studies in applied or field-based settings
• Background in information design, data visualization, or dashboard development
• Proficiency with GitHub for version control and collaborative code sharing

• This is a remote position requires 1 to 5  trips a year
• National travel for org retreats, programming, job related travel, or professional development 
• Outside of the above mentioned travel, this person will work from a home office that must be located anywhere within the U.S. 

If you have questions about this role or about our hiring process at any point, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at talent@leadingeducators.org. This inbox is monitored regularly, and we aim to respond within two business days. To ensure your question receives a thoughtful and timely response, we kindly ask that you refrain from emailing individual staff members or members of our HR team directly. The best way to connect with us is always through talent@leadingeducators.org.

• Build on strengths: We affirm and begin with the unique and collective talents, experiences, and wisdom of ourselves and others.Continuously learn: We develop ourselves and others. We apply new learning and deepened self-awareness to our relationships and practices.
• Prioritize people: We build trust and reflect on the impact of different perspectives and experiences.
• Champion success for all: We re-imagine structures, habits, and mindsets to ensure every learner has access to evidence-based learning opportunities.

• We use artificial intelligence–enabled tools throughout our hiring process, from the moment a candidate applies through the offer stage, to support administrative tasks and organize candidate materials. These tools help us organize, analyze, and surface relevant information efficiently, but they do not make hiring decisions.

Leading Educators is an equal opportunity employer.  All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age, marital status, military status, pregnancy, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local, state, or federal laws, rules, or regulations.

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