Director, UX Research (AI)

Location: Hybrid role based in Bellevue, Washington; Chicago, Illinois; New York, New York; or Washington, DC

Annual base salary: $251,000–$345,000 USD for candidates in California excluding the San Francisco Bay Area, Colorado, Illinois, New York, and Washington; an additional listed range is $224,000–$308,000 USD. Equity, bonus, and benefits may also apply.

Company

Okta builds trusted identity infrastructure that helps organizations securely adopt AI and protect access for people and systems.

What you will do

• Set the multi-quarter user research agenda and roadmap for enterprise identity and AI-powered products.
• Lead researchers and research managers while building a scalable, high-quality research practice.
• Own Research Operations, including recruiting, panels, tooling, repositories, compliance, and methodology standards.
• Embed research evidence into product, engineering, planning, and roadmap decisions.
• Adopt AI-assisted synthesis, transcription, rapid analysis, and validation methods to shorten the insight-to-decision cycle.
• Present research findings and business implications to executives and, when relevant, customers.

Requirements

• Master’s degree in a related field or equivalent experience.
• 10+ years of user research experience, including 5+ years leading and developing research teams.
• Experience in enterprise B2B SaaS and a track record of influencing product and roadmap decisions.
• Deep knowledge of qualitative and quantitative research methods and strong methodological judgment.
• Experience owning or closely partnering with Research Operations.
• Experience with AI-assisted research and synthesis workflows, executive communication, and cross-functional partnership with Product and Engineering.

Nice to have

• Experience scaling research organizations, including distributed teams such as the Bangalore organization.
• Experience developing player-coach research managers.

Culture & Benefits

• Hybrid work environment with an in-person onboarding experience.
• Health, dental, and vision insurance.
• 401(k) and flexible spending account.
• Paid leave, including PTO and parental leave.
• Equity and bonus opportunities where applicable.
• Focus on user impact, research rigor, direct feedback, and continuous improvement.