Senior UX Researcher II

About Handshake

Handshake is building the career network for the AI economy, backed by the largest and most trusted job network on the internet. As the only three-sided job marketplace connecting 18 million knowledge workers, 1,500 educational institutions, and 1 million employers, Handshake powers career discovery, hiring, and upskilling—from first internships to full-time roles, freelance work to gig work, and beyond.

Founded in 2014, we’ve built the most trusted platform for early talent—owning the college-to-career market and powering nearly every career center. Today we’re building on that foundation to help students and early professionals upskill or reskill for the future.

Now’s a great time to join Handshake. Here’s why:

• Category Leader: Over 92% coverage across US universities & 77% of total US university student population.

• Proven Market Demand: Deep employer partnerships across Fortune 500s and the world’s leading AI research labs.

• World-Class Team: Leadership from Scale AI, Open AI, xAI, Notion, Coinbase, and Palantir, just to name a few.

• Capitalized & Scaling: $434M raised with a $175M+ run rate.
  

About the Role

• Develop and monitor key user growth segments

• Extract quantitative data from external and internal sources

• Deliver insights from content trends that inform content strategy for the feed

• Plan and run evaluative research on design concepts pre and post launch

• Deliver fast actionable insights to the team that lead to measurable outcomes

• Recruit their own participants for research

• Deliver timely reports and maintain a repository of insights and recommendations

• Track recommendations and how those recommendations ladder up to OKRs, MAU, DAU, and revenue

• Develop and maintain strong partnerships with key stakeholders across the company by bridging user needs with measurable meaningful business outcomes

• Lead and help drive user-centered practices across the company by helping teams stay centered on user needs and user goals
  

Desired Capabilities

• Previous experience conducting user research on consumer-facing products, including social media platforms

• Previous experience developing user archetypes or personas

• Previous experience using user research to inform content strategy

• Well-versed in conducting speedy UX research and helping teams speed up their development process

• Well-versed in design and understand how ux research impacts design

• Ability to produce quick actionable insights from research; Insights in days not weeks

• Ability to work well with various cross-functional teams including product management, design, engineering, and marketing

• Ability to understand product analytics and marry that with qualitative UX research insights

• Proven track record of developing and maintaining key business partnerships that lead to growth

• Proven track record of working with stakeholders to help ground teams in user needs, user problems, and design principles backed by research

Perks

Handshake delivers benefits that help you feel supported—and thrive at work and in life.

The below benefits are for full-time US employees.

🎯 Ownership: Equity in a fast-growing company

💰 Financial Wellness: 401(k) match, competitive compensation, financial coaching

🍼 Family Support: Paid parental leave, fertility benefits, parental coaching

💝 Wellbeing: Medical, dental, and vision, mental health support, $500 wellness stipend

📚 Growth: $2,000 learning stipend, ongoing development

💻 Remote & Office: Stipends for home office setup, internet, commuting, and free lunch/gym in our SF office

🏝 Time Off: Flexible PTO, 15 holidays + 2 flex days, winter #ShakeBreak where our whole office closes for a week!

🤝 Connection: Team outings & referral bonuses

Explore our mission, values, and comprehensive US benefits at joinhandshake.com/careers.