Staff User Experience Researcher, Foundations and Enablement

Notice to applicants:

We have seen a rise in recruitment scams. Please note that outreach from Khan Academy recruiters will only come from the @ domain. Our team does not use Gmail or other personal accounts for contacting potential candidates. Khan Academy will never solicit money equipment fees or sensitive financial information at any stage of the hiring process. We also do not work with external recruiting agencies so outreach from headhunters presenting opportunities on behalf of Khan Academy is illegitimate. Please always check the email domain and cross-reference the position with the official Khan Academy Careers page to confirm an opening is valid.

ABOUT KHAN ACADEMY

Khan Academy is a nonprofit with the mission to deliver a free world-class education to anyone anywhere. Our proven learning platform offers free high-quality supplemental learning content and practice that cover Pre-K - 12th grade and early college core academic subjects focusing on math and science. We have over 181 million registered learners globally and are committed to improving learning outcomes for students worldwide focusing on learners in historically under-resourced communities.

OUR COMMUNITY

Our students teachers and parents come from all walks of life and so do team includes people from academia traditional/non-traditional education big tech companies and tiny startups. We hire great people from diverse backgrounds and experiences because it makes our company value diversity equity inclusion and belonging as necessary to achieve our mission and impact the communities we know that transforming education starts in-house with learning about ourselves and our colleagues. We strive to be world-class in investing in our people and commit to developing you as a professional.

THE ROLE

Were looking for a Staff UX Researcher to join our Design team. The heart of this role is not just conducting research but building the high-performance engine that powers user understanding across our entire product. You will be the architect of our People Who Do Research (PWDR) program empowering our Design team to conduct their own tactical research while you provide the methodological rigor technical guardrails and strategic oversight. We are looking for an expert who can lead our transition into AI-enhanced research operationsacting as the essential Human-in-the-Loop to ensure that as we accelerate our workflows our insights remain grounded ethical and highly actionable.

You will play a vital role in scaling our impact serving as a coach and consultant to product teams as they navigate the complexities of U.S. school districts. By building the playbooks and knowledge systems that turn raw data into institutional wisdom you will help us fulfill the mission of the organization: to provide a free world-class education to anyone anywhere.

WHAT YOULL DO

• PWDR Program leadership and enablement: Refine and scale our People Who Do Research program. You will empower designers and product triads to conduct high-quality tactical UXR research (both qual and quant) by providing the playbooks training and mentorship necessary to maintain rigorous standards across the team.
• AI strategy and research operations: Design propose and manage a research tech stack (including Dovetail) powered by responsible AI. You will implement automated workflows for recruiting synthesis and insight distribution serving as the UXR Human-in-the-Loop authority to ensure AI-generated outputs are grounded ethical and accurate.
• Cross-product research synthesis and leadership: Act as the Design Leadership Teams expert on customer and user profiles end-to-end user journeys and forward-looking research. You will synthesize insights that span multiple product surface areas to identify connective tissue strategic gaps and opportunities that go beyond the scope of individual embedded researchers or designers on product teams.
• Strategic advisory and methodological governance: Serve as a high-level internal consultant guiding teams on the selection of lean vs. rigorous methodologies. You will lead or co-facilitate complex mixed-method studies when business needs require providing the foundational frameworks (blueprints journey maps) that keep teams aligned with the big picture.
• Support the design team with on-site research in schools providing guidance and ethical scaffolding and ensuring legal compliance. U.S. based travel up to 20%.

Responsibilities may change as business and team needs evolve.

WHAT YOU BRING

• Mastery of research methods and rigor: 12 years of UX research experience in complex enterprise software or SaaS environments. You have a deep command of the craft that allows you to spot flaws in research design or AI-generated summaries.
• Coaching skills: Proven experience in mentorship coaching or building Research Ops programs. You find as much professional fulfillment in enabling others to do great as you do in conducting the research yourself.
• Responsible AI fluency: Deep technical curiosity regarding GenAI and LLMs with a practical understanding of their limitations. You know how to leverage AI for speed while acting as the ultimate guardrail for quality and ethics.
• Operational architecture: A track record of building scalable systems templates and workflows that have successfully improved the velocity and quality of a design organization.
• Design and product fluency: A sophisticated understanding of the product development lifecycle (PDLC) and software development lifecycle (SDLC) enabling you to integrate research checkpoints into the existing workflows of designers and engineers seamlessly.
• Communication and influence: Exceptional communication skills and executive presence with the ability to convince cross-functional leaders of the value of democratized (yet governed) research.
• Motivated by the Khan Academy mission to provide a free world-class education for anyone anywhere.
• Proven cross-cultural competency skills demonstrating self-awareness awareness of other and the ability to adopt inclusive perspectives attitudes and behaviors to drive inclusion and belonging throughout the organization.

Qualities we value in ourselves and those who join our team:

• Introspective mature low-ego and emotionally intelligent
• Growth mindset willingness to learn and to teach others
• Proactively seek out the people and info you need to move work forward and unblock yourself
• High comfort level working within a strong top-down product vision led by our CEO Sal Khan
• Able to balance the immediate tactical needs of helping deliver and ship features with scouting ahead for whats next
• Comfortable with ever-shifting priorities and ambiguous situations like youd experience in a startup
• Willing to roll your sleeves up and pitch in when a project goes off-script
• Excited about education and engaging learning experiences deeply curious about how and why people learn

NOTE: Submitting a portfolio with your application is required. Were looking for a portfolio that highlights the parts of your background and experience that are relevant to the job description. Applications without a portfolio link or attachment (plus password if required) will not be considered.

PERKS AND BENEFITS

We may be a non-profit but we reward our talented team extremely well! We offer:

• Competitive salaries
• Ample paid time off as needed Your well-being is a priority
• 8 pre-scheduled Wellness Days in 2026 occurring on a Monday or a Friday for a 3-day weekend boost
• Remote-first culture - that caters to your time zone with open flexibility as needed at times
• Generous parental leave
• An exceptional team that trusts you and gives you the freedom to do your best
• The chance to put your talents towards a deeply meaningful mission and the opportunity to work on high-impact products that are already defining the future of education
• Opportunities to connect through affinity ally and social groups
• And we offer all those other typical benefits as well: 401(k) 4% matching & comprehensive insurance including medical dental vision and life

At Khan Academy we are committed to fair and equitable compensation practices the well-being of our employees and our Khan community. This belief is why we have built out a robust Total Rewards package that includes competitive base salaries and extensive benefits and perks to support physical mental and financial well-being.

The compensation band for this role is $152908 - $172022 USD annually for candidates based in the United States and $206626 - $232455 CAD annually for candidates based in Canada.

The pay range for this position is a general guideline only. The salary offered will depend on internal pay equity and the candidates relevant skills experience qualifications and job market data.

MORE ABOUT US

• Sals TED talk from 2011
• Sals TED talk from 2015
• Sals TED talk from 2023
• Our team: COMPANY VALUES

  Live & breathe learners

  We deeply understand and empathize with our users. We leverage user insights research and experience to build content products services and experiences that our users trust and love. Our success is defined by the success of our learners and educators.

  Take a stand

  As a company we have conviction in our aspirational point of view of how education will evolve. The work we do is in service to moving towards that point of view. However we also listen learn and flex in the face of new data and commit to evolving this point of view as the industry and our users evolve.

  Embrace diverse perspectives

  We are a diverse community. We seek out and embrace a diversity of voices perspectives and life experiences leading to stronger more inclusive teams and better outcomes. As individuals we are committed to bringing up tough topics and leaning into different points of view with curiosity. We actively listen learn and collaborate to gain a shared understanding. When a decision is made we commit to moving forward as a united team.

  Work responsibly and sustainably

  We understand that achieving our audacious mission is a marathon so we set realistic timelines and we focus on delivery that also links to the bigger picture. As a non-profit we are supported by the generosity of donors as well as strategic partners and understand our responsibility to our finite resources. We spend every dollar as though it were our own. We are responsible for the impact we have on the world and to each other. We ensure our team and company stay healthy and financially sustainable.

  Bring out the joy

  We are committed to making learning a joyful process. This informs what we build for our users and the culture we co-create with our teammates partners and donors.

  Cultivate learning mindset

  We believe in the power of growth for learners and for ourselves. We constantly learn and teach to improve our offerings ourselves and our organization. We learn from our mistakes and arent afraid to fail. We dont let past failures or successes stop us from taking future bold action and achieving our goals.

  Deliver wow

  We insist on high standards and deliver delightful effective end-to-end experiences that our users can rely on. We choose to focus on fewer things each of which aligns to our ambitious vision so we can deliver high-quality experiences that accelerate positive measurable learning with our strategic partners.

  We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race color ancestry religion sex gender gender identity or expression national origin sexual orientation age citizenship marital status disability or Veteran status. We value diversity equity and inclusion and we encourage candidates from historically underrepresented groups to apply.
  
  As part of this commitment Khan Academy will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations for the hiring process. If reasonable accommodation is needed please contact