Principal UX Researcher - Candidate

About the role

The Principal UX Researcher will lead and influence strategic research initiatives that shape SEEK’s product vision and strategy roadmaps across the APAC region. A core focus of this role is expert leadership in generative research in the first half of the Double Diamond (Discover and Define). You will uncover unmet needs, frame opportunity spaces, craft problem statements, and translate ambiguous questions into clear direction for product strategy. Experience running complex, multi-market generative programs including problem framing, field studies (qualitative and quantitative), Jobs to be Done (JTBD) mapping and insight triangulation with market/behavioural data is essential.

This role demands a strategic and entrepreneurial mindset to explore SEEK’s marketplace across both candidate and hirer propositions. You will manage multiple programs, ensure alignment with SEEK’s goals, and act as a thought leader who mentors others, fosters innovation, and connects early-stage insights to high-confidence decisions downstream.

Business strategy & commercial thinking

• Drives strategic product direction at SEEK by aligning user needs with business objectives.
• Uses key metrics to prioritize and lead high impact research that fuels growth and informs the company’s strategic framework.
• Identifies gaps in customer understanding to uncover new opportunities and shape product strategy.
• Advocates for research driven solutions that deliver customer value and business success, uniting teams around shared goals.

Research leadership 

• Highly influential contributor to product strategy, shaping long term vision.
• Maintains understand your domain and the competitive landscape.
• Seek opportunities to improve and model integrity and a growth mindset.
• Mentors and develops researchers, designers and product managers at all levels, inspiring and motivate teams by leading strategic, high-impact research work.
• Partner with the Design Leadership to influence org design, ensuring the team structure supports strategic goals. 

Research craft

• Lead large-scale, end to end programs with a primary emphasis on generative research in early phases, across domains and markets.
• Plan and run field work using the most appropriate methods: qualitative, quantitative, or mixed.
• Synthesise complex qualitative and quantitative inputs into clear problem definitions, customer archetypes, journeys, and opportunity frameworks.
• Connect generative and evaluative insights directly to product and business strategies, guiding solution design and roadmap decisions.
• Identifies gaps in customer understanding and drives research that uncovers new opportunities, reduces risk, and increases confidence in strategic direction.

Cross functional influence & partnership 

• Build strong relationships and act as a trusted partner across teams (Design, Engineering, and AIPS)
• Collaboratively formulate research projects, secure cross-functional buy-in, and align efforts to shared goals.
• Translate customer behavior into strategic insights that drive research-informed decision making across cross-functional teams.

Operations

• Improve and scale research practices, tools, and workflows in collaboration with Research Operations.
• Contribute to evolving SEEK’s research maturity through leadership in forums and shared research systems and strengthens the research and design organization’s reputation internally and externally.

The Team

The Principal UX Researcher is part of a passionate team responsible for research across the Candidate domain, working in close collaboration with the candidate design team and a wide range of stakeholders including Strategy, Growth, AIPS, Product, and Design. In this role you will lead impactful research initiatives, identifies new opportunities through generative research, and supports designers in validating concepts through evaluative methods—ensuring product decisions are grounded in deep customer insight and collaborative alignment across teams. 

Skills and experience

• 8+ years of research experience with both qualitative and quantitative methods and expertise in generative research for Discover and Define phases in the double diamond.
• Proven leadership of multi-market discovery programs with measurable strategic impact.
• Mastery of early phase methods: ethnography, contextual inquiry, diary studies, depth interviews, Jobs to be Done (JTBD), opportunity mapping, problem framing, and insight synthesis; plus, quantitative techniques such as survey design/analysis and behavioural data interpretation.
• Ability to translate ambiguous questions into rigorous mixed method research plans and clear problem statements.
• Strong synthesis and storytelling skills - turning data into frameworks, principles, and strategic recommendations.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and stakeholder facilitation.
• Strong organizational and program management skills; comfortable leading multiple concurrent streams.
• Experience in B2C and/or B2B; marketplace or two-sided platform experience is a plus.
• Exposure to adjacent skills (e.g., UX metrics, behavioural analytics, competitive analysis, workshop facilitation).

Perks and benefits

At SEEK we offer:

• The opportunity to work from anywhere for up to 4 weeks per financial year
• Frequent events including sports days, year-end party, hackathon, and trivia
• Casual dress every day

At SEEK, we are passionate about fostering a culture of inclusion and wellbeing that embraces and values the diversity of our people. We are a purpose driven business that works with heart.

We know teams with diverse ideas, experiences and perspectives are more creative and are critical to ensuring effective delivery and innovating to enable our future success. As such, we welcome applications from people with diverse backgrounds and life experiences, especially as they relate to gender, sexual identity, culture, faith, disability and life stages. If you have the skills, curiosity and an adaptable mindset but don't meet every responsibility or qualification listed in this advertisement, please still get in touch with us. Should you require any specific support or adjustments throughout the recruitment process and beyond, please advise us and we will be happy to assist.

For this role, only those with eligible right to work will be considered.

SEEK kindly requests no unsolicited resumes or approaches from recruitment agencies and will not be responsible for any associated fees.