Hiring nowHuman-AI interaction and experience research

AI UX Researcher

Also called AI User Researcher

An AI UX Researcher finds out what people need from an AI product, what its mistakes cost them, and how they really use it. Design and product teams then build on evidence, not assumption.

What they do

The work starts with a question about an AI feature: who relies on it, when, and what happens when it is wrong. The researcher plans studies, recruits participants, and runs interviews, diary studies and usability sessions on prototypes. They watch how people interpret confident but incorrect output, when they over-trust or ignore it, and where they need control. They check accessibility with assistive tools. They then pull the evidence together into clear findings and talk designers and engineers through what to change.

What a strong hire delivers

In the first months, a strong hire gives the team a shared, evidence-based picture of its users and the points where the product lets them down. They produce research syntheses that designers act on, a clear view of which failures matter most to users, and a repeatable way to test new AI behaviour before release. Design decisions start to cite evidence.

How you can tell they are good

Ask for a past study and have them walk through it. Listen for a sharp research question, a sensible choice of method, and honesty about what the evidence could not show. Ask what changed in the product because of it. Strong people separate what users say from what they do, and can explain how they tested an AI that gives different answers each time.

Why it is hard to fill

The title is used loosely, so candidates with the same label can have very different experience. Many strong UX researchers have never studied systems whose output varies and can be wrong. Many AI-literate people have never run a rigorous study with real users. The overlap is small, and most of those in it are already in post, so searches need patience and a clear brief.

Where to find them

Look at UX researchers in product teams that already ship AI features, and at researchers from HCI labs and academic groups. Cognitive psychologists, service researchers and accessibility specialists often move across well. Conversational design and search teams are also good sources, as are research roles at model providers and AI-focused start-ups.

Indicative pay

Not enough published evidence yet to give a fair range for this role, which is common for work this new. We benchmark it for you as part of a search.

Interview questions for an AI UX Researcher

  1. Tell me about a study where users behaved differently from what they told you. What did you do with that?

    A strong answer names the gap, the method that exposed it and the design change that followed. Worry if they rely only on interviews or stated preferences, or cannot show any decision their work shaped.

  2. How would you work out what a wrong answer costs users of an AI feature?

    Good answers cover context, stakes, ability to detect errors and recovery effort. They mix observation with interviews and rank failures by impact, not frequency. Worry if they treat all errors as equal or only measure satisfaction.

4 more questions, with what a strong answer covers, are in the Role Kit.

Job description you can post

We are building AI products that people need to understand and trust. We are looking for an AI UX Researcher to find out what our users need, where our product fails them and what those failures cost. You will work closely with design, product and engineering.

What you will do

  • Plan and run studies on how people use our AI features
  • Identify the most costly failures and unmet needs for our users
  • Test prototypes with participants, including people who use assistive technology
  • Synthesise findings into clear, actionable design recommendations
  • Help the team define how we evaluate AI behaviour with real users
  • Share evidence with design, product and engineering and follow it through to decisions

What you will bring

  • A portfolio of research that changed a product decision
  • Strong experimental design and a range of qualitative and quantitative methods
  • Experience studying interactive systems, ideally with variable or uncertain output
  • Working knowledge of accessibility practice
  • Clear writing and a confident, evidence-led presentation style
  • Comfort working with ambiguity and building prototypes with designers

Nice to have

  • Background in HCI, cognitive psychology or service research
  • Experience researching conversational or agent-based products
  • Experience setting up research practice in a small team

Free to use and adapt. If it saves you time, a link back to this page is appreciated.

Skills that matter

  • Human-computer interactionAdvancedDesign and study interactions between people and AI
  • User researchAdvancedStudy user needs, context and behaviour
  • AccessibilityWorkingEnable equitable use by people with disabilities
  • Experimental designWorkingChoose comparisons that identify credible effects

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How we wrote this

Role definitions are our own editorial work, checked against occupational classifications, standards, research and employer pages. Titles vary by company, and this is a description of the work, not a job advert.

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