Strategic Researcher

Join Udemy. Help define the future of learning.

Udemy is an AI-powered reskilling platform built to help people and teams grow. It’s personalized, practical, and focused on real-world impact.

Our mission is simple: to transform lives through learning. Your work helps people around the world build skills they can use, whether they’re picking up something new or leveling up to stay ahead.

Over 80 million learners and 17,000 businesses already learn with Udemy. If you’re excited by change, energized by learning, and ready to have a real impact, you’ll feel right at home. 

Learn more about us on our company page.

Where we work

Udemy is a global company headquartered in San Francisco, with additional U.S. offices in Denver and Austin, and international hubs in Australia, India, Ireland, Mexico, and Türkiye. This is an in-office position, requiring three days a week in the office (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) and flexibility on Mondays and Fridays.

About this role

As a Strategic Researcher, you will provide insights that drive the strategy and execution for Udemy's global consumer and B2B learning products. You will be integral in uncovering the mental models, mindsets and behaviors of our customers and communicating that to our partners so that we can create the best learning products for our learners.  You will also play a critical role in guiding and mentoring fellow researchers in applying a strategic lens across all research efforts. You will be responsible for contributing to processes and programs for advancing strategic UX research methods and the impact the team has in defining our product strategy.  You will work closely with other researchers to socialize a strategic approach for delivering impactful and actionable insights. Most importantly, you will serve as a bridge between product, product design and business-focused partners to ensure that user goals and needs are at the forefront of the organization’s business decisions. As a user advocate, you will play a critical role in guiding and influencing the short and long-term product strategy. You have a deep passion for uncovering user needs and jobs and use them to create user empathy within the organization. As a staff strategic user researcher you are comfortable defining and conducting rigorous research efforts that translate into impactful insights and strategic solutions for the organization. Working within a product design organization you will determine the best approach for translating research findings into actionable outputs.

What you'll be doing

• Conduct design research (contextual inquiries, ethnographic studies, co-creation workshops) to uncover deep insights about learners, educators, and digital education experiences.

• Apply strategic design methodologies to frame problems, map ecosystems, and identify opportunities for innovation.

• Synthesize research into strategic frameworks, journey maps, service blueprints and inspiring narratives to inform design and business strategy.

• Facilitate design thinking workshops and collaborative strategy sessions with cross-functional teams.

• Translate research findings into compelling narratives, visual storytelling, and actionable recommendations for Product, UX, and Strategy teams.

• Advocate for human-centered, insight-driven design within the organization.

• Build trust and effective relationships with cross-functional teams by always seeking alignment via stakeholder interviews, workshops or other alignment activities

What you'll have

• Experience in qualitative research, facilitation, and systems mapping.

• Experience with design strategy frameworks (e.g., double diamond, speculative design, future scenarios).

• Ability to synthesize complex information into clear, actionable insights and design recommendations.

• A strong visual communicator, storyteller, and presenter, able to clearly articulate research insights in unique ways that meet the needs of different audiences.

• A relentless user advocate on a mission to create deep user empathy across the organization

• Able to synthesize qualitative and quantitative insights into strategic recommendations.

• A strong collaborator with great facilitation skills.

• Preferred: Background in design or research strategy, innovation strategy, or design consulting. Experience working in complex, cross-functional environments.

• Familiar with design research tools (e.g., Miro, Figma, Notion, Adobe CC, visualization software).

• Expert in a range of strategic and generative design research methods, including but not limited to ethnographic field studies, contextual inquiries, diary studies, survey design, and qualitative concept testing

• Familiar with quantitative concept testing, card sorting, A/B testing, usability, benchmarking, competitive analysis, etc.

• Excellent English oral and written communication skills, including the ability to articulate and present rationale behind your design decisions

• An ambassador for design & research who brings diverse stakeholders together to align and work together to solve problems.

Our ideal researcher has

• 3+ years in strategic design research, service design, or innovation consulting, ideally in EdTech, learning experiences, or digital products, or equivalent education.

• Ability to navigate ambiguity, and drive clarity that brings the user, technology, and business together

• Fluency in English and Spanish

Why work here?

You’ll grow here.
Learning is part of the job. You’ll get full access to Udemy courses, a monthly UDay to invest in yourself, and a budget to spend on whatever helps you improve. Many people are diving into AI lately, but what you focus on is up to you.

AI is real here.
We use it in the way we learn and the way we work. You’ll have the space and tools to experiment, apply, and get better at using AI in practical ways.

You’ll own your work.
We trust people to lead, make decisions, and follow through. You don’t need to wait for permission or layers of approval to have an impact.

You’ll build with others.
We collaborate openly and shape ideas together. Everyone has a voice, and good thinking is welcomed from any direction.

You’ll see your impact.
What you build helps people grow their skills, change their careers, or find a path forward. You’ve got the experience, why not use it to help others gain theirs?

Bring your curiosity. We’ll bring the platform and the support. Let’s LEARN together. 

Our Benefits Start with U

Our benefits start with you and were built to provide you and your family with the protection and care you need, making it easy to access the right coverage when you need it most. Benefits vary by region, and we encourage applicants to review our US Benefits,  Ireland Benefits & Turkiye Benefits pages to get an understanding of some of the benefits we offer. For details on region-specific benefits, please refer to the information provided during the hiring process. 

Information regarding data privacy is available within the Udemy Careers Privacy Notice.