Principal UX Researcher (AI)

TL;DR

Principal UX Researcher (AI): Leading research for AI-powered commerce and shopping experiences across Microsoft platforms, focusing on understanding customer behaviors, motivations, and needs. Focus on defining agentic commerce scenarios, uncovering user mental models, trust boundaries, and decision-making behaviors in AI-mediated purchasing contexts.

Location: Hybrid position, 4x a week in office in Redmond, WA or Mountain View, CA, United States.

Salary: USD $188,000 – $304,200 per year (San Francisco Bay Area and New York City Metropolitan Area) or USD $139,900 – $274,800 per year (U.S. typical base pay).

Company

hirify.global Design & Research team is a creative community dedicated to creating and delivering holistic, AI-powered customer experiences across apps and the web.

What you will do

• Understand customer behaviors, motivations, needs, and aspirations to build impactful experiences.
• Lead research across complex commerce ecosystems, including shopping discovery, payments, and post-purchase experiences with AI agents.
• Define and evaluate agentic commerce scenarios, uncovering user mental models, trust, and decision-making in AI-mediated purchasing.
• Partner with Product Management and Design leadership to inform foundational decisions for AI-native commerce systems.
• Translate research insights into durable frameworks guiding product strategy and platform investments.
• Lead research on 0→1 business initiatives with notable risk, complexity, and ambiguity.

Requirements

• Doctorate in Human-Computer Interaction, Human Factors Engineering, Computer Science, Technical Communications, Information Science, Information Architecture, User Experience Design, Behavioral Science, Social Sciences, or related field AND 3+ years UX Research experience OR Master’s Degree AND 4+ years OR Bachelor’s Degree AND 6+ years OR equivalent experience.
• English: C1 required.
• Work format: Hybrid, 4x a week in office.
• Location: Must be based in Redmond, WA or Mountain View, CA, United States.
• Work Authorization: Must be legally authorized to work in the United States.

Nice to have

• Experience conducting research on commerce, shopping, financial transactions, payments, subscriptions, cashback, or loyalty-related user experiences.
• Demonstrated ability to influence product direction in complex, multi-stakeholder systems.
• 8+ years experience in UX research or a related field.
• High-level mixed-methods research skills (qualitative and quantitative).
• Excellent communication and presentation/storytelling skills.

Culture & Benefits

• Opportunity to explore new ideas and product possibilities with a growth mindset.
• Creative community of designers, researchers, prototypers, and writers.
• Collaborative, fast-moving diverse team building experiences for billions of customers worldwide.
• Embody Microsoft's culture and values.
• Access to additional benefits and pay information via Microsoft careers link.