Director, User Experience Research – Experience Design (XD)

Location: United States — New York, Chicago, Austin, Seattle, or San Jose; additional locations may be approved by leadership

Salary: $242,000–$338,500 total cash annually in New York; ranges also vary by Chicago and Austin location, with performance-based increases up to $387,000, $333,000, and $358,500 respectively.

Company

hirify.global is a global travel company operating consumer brands, a B2B travel network, and travel advertising businesses.

What you will do

• Define and lead the research strategy across the Partner Tools portfolio, including hotel and vacation rental experiences, APIs, advertising, and AI-powered agentic products.
• Lead and develop a small, senior research team while remaining directly involved in research execution.
• Partner with engineering, design, product, and data science teams to translate partner insights into strategic business decisions.
• Apply rigorous, AI-informed research methodologies throughout planning, execution, and synthesis.
• Build scalable research frameworks and reusable insight systems for a complex multidisciplinary organization.
• Integrate qualitative and quantitative research to combine behavioral data with human-centered insight.

Requirements

• 15+ years of relevant professional experience without an advanced degree, or 5–10 years with a suitable advanced degree or equivalent experience.
• Bachelor’s or advanced degree in Human-Computer Interaction, Psychology, Anthropology, Cognitive Science, or a related field.
• Expertise in qualitative research and experience integrating AI into research planning, execution, or delivery.
• Experience leading and developing high-performing research teams across locations and career levels.
• Ability to influence senior stakeholders and convert research insights into strategic, business-impactful decisions.
• Experience building and scaling research programs across complex organizations and diverse product domains, ideally including B2B.

Nice to have

• Master’s degree or PhD in HCI, Computer Science, Statistics, Psychology, or a related field.
• Close day-to-day partnership with engineering teams, including agile or Scrum collaboration and technical scoping.
• Experience researching B2B tools, APIs, advertising, or monetization products.
• Experience using Cursor, Claude, GPT, or comparable AI platforms to create research artifacts and workflows.
• Experience establishing scalable research practices for AI tools, products, and systems.

Culture & Benefits

• Customer-first product development focused on travel experiences for travelers and partners.
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage.
• Paid time off and an Employee Assistance Program.
• Wellness and travel reimbursement, travel discounts, and IATAN membership.
• Inclusive and accessible recruiting experience with accommodation support.