Hybrid Senior Manager, User Research – Core Experience

at Spotify

• Job title: Senior Manager, User Research – Core Experience
• Job type: Full Time
• Experience level: Senior
• Salary: Not specified
• Degree requirement: Bachelor's Degree
• Location requirements: Hybrid, London, United Kingdom

About the role

• Senior Manager leading User Researchers for Spotify's core mobile experience, guiding strategy and ensuring impactful research. Driving user-centered decisions across Spotify's products and experiences.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop a team of User Researchers setting clear direction, coaching and supporting their career development, and collaborating with with your fellow UR leads on our discipline’s strategy
• Define and drive the user research strategic agenda for the studio by identifying the most important knowledge gaps, prioritizing work in partnership with Design and Product leaders, and ensuring research is connected to the decisions that matter most
• Co-create user experience and product strategy with senior stakeholders across the studio, translating user insights into strategic recommendations that influence company/strategic-level decisions
• Act as a senior partner to Design, Product, and Data Science leads building strong collaborative relationships at all levels and representing user needs with clarity and conviction, supporting your team in doing the same
• Lead the team's approach to AI-augmented research: model what excellent orchestration of AI tools looks like, guide the team through responsible adoption across the research workflow, and hold the line on the quality and trust standards that keep our work credible
• Steward a high bar for user research craft ensuring the team's output is timely, trustworthy, and genuinely impactful, not just fast
• Drive the communication and activation of foundational insights, including how findings are structured to be discoverable and usable by both human and AI stakeholders
• Partner with User Research leads across the Mission on shared strategy, standards, tooling, and discipline development

Requirements

• An experienced people manager with a strong user researcher background, you know what excellent research looks like and you know how to help others get there
• You can co-create a research roadmap tied to product initiatives, translate ambiguous problem spaces into clear research questions, and connect findings to strategic decisions with confidence
• You understand how AI is transforming user research workflows and what it means for the discipline's identity and value. You’re active in leading your current team through this encouraging experimentation, moving tools from exploration to standardization thoughtfully, all while maintaining and honing your and their human judgment
• You’re a master of your craft with a broad and deep methodology range, strong judgment about when to go fast and when to go deep, and a track record of research that has moved the needle on real decisions
• You can tell a story that lands regardless of the audience, from a product team to a senior leadership forum, and in artifacts that live in an AI-accessible knowledge environment
• You invest in your people's growth, take team health seriously, and lead with transparency and trust
• You build buy-in, navigate competing priorities with grace, and are known as a collaborative and honest partner at every level of the organization

Benefits

• flexibility to work where you work best!
• In-person meetings, but still allows for flexibility to work from home