Principal UX Researcher

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As the recognized global standard for project-based businesses, Deltek delivers software and information solutions to help organizations achieve their purpose. Our market leadership stems from the work of our diverse employees who are united by a passion for learning, growing and making a difference. At Deltek, we take immense pride in creating a balanced, values-driven environment, where every employee feels included and empowered to do their best work. Our employees put our core values into action daily, creating a one-of-a-kind culture that has been recognized globally. Thanks to our incredible team, Deltek has been named one of America's Best Midsize Employers by Forbes, a Best Place to Work by Glassdoor, a Top Workplace by The Washington Post and a Best Place to Work in Asia by World HRD Congress. www.deltek.com

Business Summary

Deltek Product Strategy is a team with a passion for delivering solutions to power success for project-based businesses. We use research and innovation to build products and experiences that connect processes across the entire project lifecycle. We are thought leaders who have a deep understanding of our customers, their industries and the challenges they face. Join us as we bring Deltek solutions to the market to help our customers achieve operational excellence.

Position Responsibilities

As Deltek’s Principal UX Researcher in India, you will architect research capabilities that power AI‑first product development across a global portfolio. You’ll shift the organization from episodic research to continuous intelligence—building systems, frameworks, and processes that accelerate product decisions while deepening user understanding. This high‑visibility individual contributor role partners closely with India‑ and US‑based teams (3–4 hours overlap) and senior product leadership.

What You’ll Do

Continuous Intelligence & Validation

Build behavioral monitoring frameworks to reveal adoption patterns, friction points, and success indicators.
Design hypothesis‑driven validation cycles using both synthetic users and targeted human research.
Partner with Product to implement features for continuous feedback and define meaningful metrics.
Create validation frameworks that match research rigor to decision risk.
Synthesize insights across analytics, research, telemetry, and support to identify strategic opportunities.

Research Execution & Strategic Synthesis

Lead studies that uncover workflow complexity, mental models, decision dynamics, and organizational context.
Select methods aligned to questions: contextual inquiry, usability tests, interviews, etc.
Guide Product Managers on when to use human research vs. AI‑augmented validation.
Translate behavioral signals into research hypotheses and targeted investigations.
Deliver strategic insights that influence roadmaps, not just issue lists.

AI‑Enabled Research Innovation

Evaluate and implement AI tools for transcript analysis, pattern detection, and early usability validation.
Create synthetic user profiles based on real data to accelerate early‑stage concept testing.
Define appropriate use cases for synthetic vs. human validation.
Train product teams to run AI‑augmented validation while maintaining research quality.
Document AI capabilities, limitations, and comparative accuracy across methods.
Contribute to Deltek’s emerging AI research practice through shared standards and knowledge building.

Research Operations & Strategic Leadership

Build research repositories that make insights discoverable and actionable across teams.
Develop participant recruitment systems supporting both deep studies and lightweight validation.
Create frameworks linking insights to business outcomes and product metrics.
Establish processes balancing rigor with speed for evidence‑based decisions.
Shape long‑term research strategies across product domains to inform multi‑year roadmaps.
Proactively identify research needs aligned with business priorities.
Influence leadership with compelling evidence that bridges user needs and strategy.

What You Bring
Strategic Impact & Vision: Ability to identify high‑impact research opportunities, connect insights across products, and anticipate emerging needs. Turn findings into recommendations that shape product direction.
Leadership Through Influence: Build trust across distributed teams, influence senior leaders, and provide clarity in ambiguous situations.
Innovation & Process Excellence: Drive AI‑enhanced research methodologies, improve efficiency, and create scalable frameworks that others adopt.
Global Collaboration: Communicate complex insights across cultures and time zones; align diverse teams around shared goals.
Adaptability & Learning Agility: Thrive in ambiguity, rapidly learn new domains, and maintain research quality through organizational change.

Qualifications

Experience

7–10 years conducting UX research in B2B software, SaaS platforms, enterprise tools, or complex technical products.
Demonstrated expertise across methods: user interviews, usability testing, workflow analysis, survey design, and behavioral data interpretation.
Portfolio showing research impact on product strategy, roadmap decisions, and business outcomes.
Embedded within Product and Design teams in agile or continuous delivery environments.
Proven ability to manage multiple strategic research initiatives simultaneously.

Analytical & Synthesis Skills

Synthesizes insights from qualitative research, behavioral data, support feedback, and market signals into strategic recommendations.
Interprets analytics, designs measurement frameworks, and links behavioral patterns to user needs.
Uses systems thinking to identify patterns across features, user groups, and workflows.

Communication & Influence

Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.
Proven track record presenting research to senior leadership in ways that drive decisions.
Clearly explains complex findings to audiences with varying levels of research literacy.

Working Style

Self‑directed, proactive, and able to identify research priorities and drive projects with minimal supervision.
Comfortable with ambiguity and building new processes where no playbooks exist.
Experienced collaborating across time zones with strong asynchronous communication and documentation habits.

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Cognitive Science, Psychology, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field. Master’s degree valued but not required.

AI & Analytics Experience

Experience with or strong curiosity about AI‑powered research tools.
Proficient with analytics platforms such as Gainsight, Pendo, Mixpanel, LogRocket, and Amplitude.
Combines behavioral analytics with qualitative research to measure feature success and inform strategy.

Research Operations

Experience building participant databases, insight repositories, documentation systems, and operations frameworks.
Demonstrated ability to establish research practices within scaling or transforming product organizations.
Proficient in tools such as Dovetail, Airtable, Notion, UserTesting, Lyssna, Figma, and Miro.

Domain Knowledge

Experience researching ERP systems, financial software, project management tools, or enterprise workflow applications.
Understanding of professional services industries including architecture, engineering, consulting, construction, and government contracting.
Strong knowledge of information architecture and complex multi‑role system design.

Travel Requirements

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