Lead UX Researcher

Research at Taylor & Francis is central to how we understand our users, identify opportunities and shape meaningful digital experiences. As a Lead UX Researcher reporting to the Head of Product Design, you'll bring deep expertise in qualitative and mixed-methods research, uncovering users' motivations, behaviours and unmet needs. 

You'll work within multidisciplinary product teams, contributing throughout the product lifecycle, from discovery and problem framing to exploring concepts, prototyping ideas and evaluating solutions. Alongside research expertise, you'll bring practical design literacy, confidently participating in design conversations, sketching ideas and working with prototypes to help turn insight into action. 

As part of a growing design function, you'll also help establish how we conduct research, share insights and embed evidence-led design practices across Taylor & Francis. 

Discovery & Research 

You'll help teams understand the right problems to solve, bringing user insight into product decisions from the outset. 

• Partner with Product Designers and Product Managers to frame problems, identify assumptions and define research priorities. 

• Plan and conduct generative and evaluative research, including interviews, contextual inquiry, usability testing and concept evaluation. 

• Identify gaps in user understanding and proactively explore opportunities that inform future product direction. 

• Synthesise findings into clear, actionable insights that influence product priorities, design decisions and user experiences. 

• Balance research rigour with the pace of product delivery, selecting appropriate methods for different questions and contexts. 

Design Collaboration & Product Exploration 

Research should actively shape the experiences we create, not simply provide findings for others to interpret. 

• Work as an embedded member of multidisciplinary product teams, contributing to discovery, ideation, experimentation and evaluation. 

• Collaborate with Product Designers to translate research insights into design opportunities and potential solutions. 

• Participate in design workshops, critiques and collaborative problem-solving, bringing an evidence-led perspective to emerging ideas. 

• Use sketching, journey mapping and lightweight prototyping to explore concepts, communicate ideas and support design discussions. 

• Work confidently with wireframes and interactive prototypes, providing constructive feedback on usability, interactions and user needs. 

Mixed Methods & Insight 

You'll combine qualitative depth with quantitative evidence to help teams make informed product decisions. 

• Collaborate with Customer Intelligence, Data Science and Analytics colleagues to connect qualitative insights with behavioural and quantitative data. 

• Identify when findings require further validation and contribute to survey design or other quantitative approaches where appropriate. 

• Communicate research findings through clear, engaging outputs that support decisions rather than simply documenting observations. 

• Champion inclusive and ethical research practices, considering users with diverse needs, abilities and levels of digital confidence. 

Building Our Design Practice 

As part of a growing design function, you'll help establish sustainable research practices and build research confidence across teams. 

• Contribute to research standards, ethical principles and practical approaches to participant recruitment, research planning and insight management. 

• Help make existing research accessible and reusable, reducing duplicated effort and supporting shared user understanding. 

• Coach designers and other colleagues to conduct appropriate lightweight research independently and responsibly. 

• Advocate for evidence-led design, sharing expertise and helping improve collaborative ways of working across Product, Design and Engineering.

Function: Other
Experience Level: Executive