Rapid User Researcher

Job description

WHO WE ARE Notion is the collaborative AI workspace where teams and agents think together https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkpYpWfEK5s. We're building one place where your knowledge, projects, meetings, and AI tools live side by side, so work is faster, clearer, and less fragmented. Millions of individuals, small teams, and large companies run their work on Notion. Notinos (our employees) are customer zero in bringing this future of work to life. We care about craft, building things that last, and the belief that great work is still fundamentally human. Our goal isn’t to ship the next feature. Each and every team of Notinos is working to set the standard for how humans work together in the AI era. From building a business’s system of record to making and managing AI agents to automating away the busy work, we care deeply about giving our customers more time for their life’s work. ABOUT THE ROLE: We’re seeking a Rolling User Researcher (Rolling UXR) to deliver fast, high-signal insights that improve Notion’s product experiences across Product, Design, and Engineering (EPD)—including AI-powered workflows like Notion custom agents and chat. This is a tactical, high-velocity role: you’ll run lightweight usability and concept tests on a steady cadence, identify what’s not working, and help teams translate feedback into concrete product changes. Besides conducting research, you’ll also build and scale a program that makes it easy for product teams to submit testing requests and easy for you to recruit participants, along with a prioritization framework that helps you focus on the most important work. This role is ideal for a researcher who loves the craft of moderated testing, can context-switch across many teams, and thrives in a “many small studies” model. This role can be based in either San Francisco or New York City. We work from our offices on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays (our Anchor Days) because we do our best thinking and building together in person. We’re looking for someone who’s excited to work alongside the team during those days. WHAT YOU'LL ACHIEVE: - End-to-end tactical research: Scope, design, and execute quick-turn research across the product lifecycle—delivering clear recommendations that drive product decisions, including - Rolling usability testing: Plan and moderate rapid usability tests on prototypes and in-product flows; identify friction, comprehension gaps, and failure points; recommend practical fixes and prototype them with AI. - Concept testing: Help teams evaluate early ideas (storyboards, low/high-fidelity prototypes, new IA) to understand desirability, comprehension, and expected workflows—before teams invest heavily in build. - Research pipeline ownership: Keep an always-on motion healthy by managing intake/prioritization, study cadence, participant recruitment, and consistent output formats so partners know what to expect and can act quickly. - Communication: Deliver crisp, actionable recommendation (severity, confidence, recommended next steps) in the right format for the audience—async write-ups, clips, or working sessions. - Business-minded impact: Connect findings to outcomes—why an issue matters, what to change, and what to watch—then follow through with teams to ensure improvements land. SKILLS YOU'LL NEED TO BRING: - Research craft: You can independently run usability and/or concept tests end-to-end (scoping → protocol → moderation → synthesis → readout), and you know how to keep scope tight while preserving rigor. You’re also comfortable using AI thoughtfully to speed up prep/synthesis while maintaining quality and traceability to evidence. - AI fluency: You’re curious and hands-on with AI products and can translate concepts, like trust, usefulness, tone, safety, and clarity, into observable behaviors and research questions. - Pragmatism + speed: You excel at prioritizing in fast-moving environments, are comfortable with ambiguity, and can deliver quality research quickly with transparent limitations. - Systems thinking: You can quickly understand complex user journeys and identify where experiences break down across the system—from inputs, to product behavior, to UI patterns. - Communication: You write clearly, facilitate effectively, and can translate messy data into decisions and next steps for busy EPD partners. - Collaboration: You’re comfortable working across many stakeholders and switching context quickly without dropping details. - Experience: 3+ years of hands-on UX research experience (industry, agency, or equivalent) NICE TO HAVES: - Familiarity with AI-enabled product experiences (e.g., assistants/agents) and how to evaluate workflow success, user expectations, and trust. - Comfort collaborating on research-operations basics (recruiting, scheduling, etc.) to keep a rolling cadence healthy. - Background in UX design, engineering, or similar. Notion is committed to providing highly competitive cash compensation, equity, and benefits. The compensation offered for this role will be based on multiple factors such as location, the role’s scope and complexity, and the candidate’s experience and expertise, and may vary from the range provided below. For roles based in San Francisco or New York City, the estimated base salary range for this role is $164,000-$190,000 per year. By clicking “Submit Application”, I understand and agree that Notion and its affiliates and subsidiaries will collect and process my information in accordance with Notion’s Global Recruiting Privacy Policy https://notion.notion.site/Notion-Global-Recruiting-Privacy-Policy-fc3eb4e829354a26a2bb6fd5e289b550?pvs=74 and NYLL 144 https://notion.notion.site/Ashby-AI-Bias-Audit-2b0efdeead05803bbbfae159ec86c528. #LI-Onsite A NOTE ON AI You don’t need deep AI expertise for every role, but we do expect every Notino to be intellectually curious, drawn to tinkering and discovery, and excited to use AI as a real collaborator in their work. For some roles, AI fluency is a core requirement — when that’s the case, we'll say so explicitly in the qualifications. People who thrive here don’t treat AI as a novelty. They use it to think better, and make their work easier for others to build on. EQUAL OPPORTUNITY & ACCOMMODATIONS We hire talented people from a wide range of backgrounds. If you’re excited about this role but don’t meet every bullet, we still encourage you to apply. Notion is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of any legally protected characteristic. Consistent with applicable law, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. Notion provides reasonable accommodations during the application process; if you need one, please let your recruiter know. Notion is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate in hiring or any employment decision based on race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, genetic information, veteran status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or other applicable legally protected characteristic. Notion considers qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law. Notion is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application procedures. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, please let your recruiter know.