How to hire a user experience researcher

How to hire a user experience researcher, step by step

Here's a step-by-step user experience researcher hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a user experience researcher job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new user experience researcher
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a user experience researcher do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   The user experience researcher hiring process starts by determining what type of worker you actually need. Certain roles might require a full-time employee, whereas part-time workers or contractors can do others.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   A user experience researcher's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, user experience researchers from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   This list shows salaries for various types of user experience researchers.

   Type of User Experience Researcher	Description	Hourly rate
   User Experience Researcher	Market research analysts study market conditions to examine potential sales of a product or service. They help companies understand what products people want, who will buy them, and at what price.	$35-64
   Marketing Department Internship	A marketing department internship is a marketing degree program requirement in most colleges. This is the work experience period where interns get to apply the knowledge they acquire in the real world... Show more	$12-18
   Marketing Internship	Marketing interns are usually marketing students or fresh graduates who are interested in getting actual work experiences before taking on a full-time job. They usually have an interest or academic background related to marketing... Show more	$11-18

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • User Research
   • User Experience
   • Research Methods
   • Research Findings
   • Quantitative Research
   • Design Research
   • Human Centered Design
   • Sketch
   • User Behavior
   • B Testing
   • Data Analysis
   • Product Development
   • UI
   • Quantitative Data

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Lead a team of researchers charge with the development of new homogeneous catalysis and process chemistry technologies.
   • Lead focus group sessions of 4-6 study participants, code transcripts of sessions, and analyze data using STATA.
   • Create Linux shell scripts to automate common process which severely reduce manual work load and processing time for the entire lab.
   • Conduct RNA/DNA isolation technique experiments; perform RT-PCR and DNA gels for analysis.
   • Authore and conduct interviews, usability tests, focus groups, surveys, and A/B tests.
   • Command applied catalyst research projects by computer chemistry tools.

   More user experience researcher duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your user experience researcher job description is a great way to entice the best and brightest candidates. A user experience researcher salary can vary based on several factors:

   • Location. For example, user experience researchers' average salary in mississippi is 46% less than in washington.
   • Seniority. Entry-level user experience researchers earn 46% less than senior-level user experience researchers.
   • Certifications. A user experience researcher with a few certifications under their belt will likely demand a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for a prestigious company or an exciting start-up can make a huge difference in a user experience researcher's salary.

   Average user experience researcher salary

   $99,849yearly

   $48.00 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level user experience researcher salary

   $73,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 20, 2025

   Average user experience researcher salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$122,451	$59
   2	Washington	$121,634	$58
   3	New York	$110,964	$53
   4	Oregon	$105,663	$51
   5	District of Columbia	$105,645	$51
   6	New Jersey	$101,824	$49
   7	Maine	$97,792	$47
   8	Texas	$93,520	$45
   9	Minnesota	$90,368	$43
   10	Massachusetts	$89,914	$43
   11	Colorado	$88,813	$43
   12	Pennsylvania	$88,439	$43
   13	Arizona	$87,597	$42
   14	Georgia	$83,644	$40
   15	North Carolina	$82,981	$40
   16	Utah	$82,683	$40
   17	Wisconsin	$80,742	$39
   18	Virginia	$80,336	$39
   19	Michigan	$79,635	$38
   20	Illinois	$79,196	$38

   Average user experience researcher salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Meta	$137,096	$65.91	143
   2	ByteDance	$135,852	$65.31
   3	Apple	$133,322	$64.10	24
   4	DoorDash	$133,264	$64.07	10
   5	Zoox	$131,561	$63.25
   6	Airbnb	$130,741	$62.86	1
   7	Instacart	$130,040	$62.52
   8	Google	$129,410	$62.22	112
   9	PayPal	$128,192	$61.63	7
   10	Turo	$125,315	$60.25
   11	Lyft	$123,172	$59.22
   12	Flexport	$122,209	$58.75
   13	PitchBook Data	$122,092	$58.70
   14	Palo Alto Networks	$121,859	$58.59	4
   15	Yelp	$121,674	$58.50
   16	Zeta	$120,611	$57.99
   17	Waymo	$120,540	$57.95	5
   18	Databricks	$120,218	$57.80
   19	GoPro	$119,988	$57.69
   20	Duolingo	$119,422	$57.41

4. Writing a user experience researcher job description

   A job description for a user experience researcher role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's a user experience researcher job description:

   User experience researcher job description example

   Whole Foods Market is looking for a Principal User Experience Researcher. We are building, evolving, and refining an ecosystem of digital and physical products to create a best-in-class retail experience that is intuitive, joyful, and innovative. This position will design and conduct research activities that inform our understanding of the end-to-end shopping experience, identifying key opportunity areas. The ideal candidate will have a deep understanding of user research methods and best practices, experience with and passion for new consumer technology and digital product development, and a nimble, creative, and pragmatic approach. This role will work in close day-to-day partnership with the Design, Product, and Technology teams to improve existing customer experiences and identify new opportunities for future growth.
   Essential to this role is…
   
   Conducting primary research, including methods such as ethnography, shopalongs/store intercepts, usability testing, and surveys to truly understand and empathize with our customers while answering specific business questions. You will be an expert in our suite of digital tools, fully understanding how our customers engage (or don't) with them throughout their shopping journey. Synthesizing the research into actionable and interesting insights. Great researchers uncover patterns that can effectively improve and enhance the suite of tools. Presenting the findings in clear and compelling formats that are effective at bringing teams together and sparking meaningful conversations. These communications will take the form of clearly written documentation as well as articulated through discussion and collaboration.
   
   Ultimately, this role will proactively represent and advocate for the diverse group of Amazon Fresh & Whole Foods Market customers and can efficiently help discover solutions that balance desirability with feasibility and viability.
   
   You are a human-centered design researcher and strong communicator who can work collaboratively on passionate teams. You are proactive and will dive into the suite of products to fully understand our existing end-to-end customer experience with a critical eye. You have the ability to empathize with the customer and take pride in untangling pain points in both conventional and novel ways. You understand the value for both qualitative and quantitative research and know when and how to leverage both. You know how to perform formal research studies when resources allow but are also comfortable finding ways to quickly get an idea in front of customers for a gut check. You take pride in your documentation and present findings in clear and beautiful ways. You are comfortable working across multiple modalities and interfaces from desktop and mobile to in-store experiences. You have excellent communication skills, are able to influence others, and work with minimal direction.
   
   Position can be located in either Austin, TX or Seattle, WA.
   Responsibilities:
   Distill project goals and research questions into well thought-out research plans.Method determination - ability to identify the best method or mix of methods based on research questions, timeline and resourcing.Evaluative research - assessing our existing product ecosystem with an eye for incremental improvements and refinements.Generative research - assessing gaps in our customer journey that would benefit the customer and how they engage with our offerings.Collaboration on interdisciplinary teams - strong cross-functional communication skills and comfortable working with design, product, and technology in order to actualize the recommended changes. Communication through documentation - Perform quick (but thorough) analysis and translate into clear, beautiful, and insightful presentations of research findings.Leading workshops and stakeholder meetings - ability to listen and incorporate feedback from colleagues in a workshop environment.Ownership of key research supplier relationships, including general account management and serving as the liaison between supplier and team members utilizing research platforms.
   
   Desired Skills and Experience:
   6-8 years of experience in product and/or UX research BA/BS degree or equivalent practical experience End-to-end experience with all aspects of research (study design, recruiting, moderation, analysis, reporting) Experience with usability testing and evaluative research as well as generative research methodologies, including expertise in digital product development Facilitation for decision making and prioritization Conversant in complex & emerging technologies Understanding of agile design and development practices UX-centered systems thinking for complex organizations Excellent communication, presentation, interpersonal and analytical skills; the ability to communicate complex concepts clearly and persuasively across different audiences and varying levels of the organization The ability to manage ambiguity, work autonomously, and multi-task in an agile environmentA portfolio that exhibits how past research experiences contributed to successful feature/product development is strongly encouraged, but not required Sense of humor is a must.
   
   At Whole Foods Market, we provide a fair and equal employment opportunity for all Team Members and candidates regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, age, marital status, disability, or any other legally protected characteristic. Whole Foods Market hires and promotes individuals solely based on qualifications for the position to be filled and business needs.

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5. Post your job

   There are a few common ways to find user experience researchers for your business:

   • Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your user experience researcher job on Zippia to find and recruit user experience researcher candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites such as swipe files, exit five, marketinghire, american marketing association.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Your first interview with user experience researcher candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents. You can move on to the technical interview if a candidate is good enough for the next step.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new user experience researcher

   Once you've found the user experience researcher candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   It's also important to follow up with applicants who do not get the job with an email letting them know that the position is filled.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new user experience researcher. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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