Associate Director — AI UX Researcher

Enterprise AI has moved faster in the last two years than any technology wave AstraZeneca has adopted. We’ve gone from single-turn chat assistants to agentic systems that take actions on a user’s behalf, from novelty to daily-use tooling, and from “does it work” to “do people trust it, adopt it, and get real value from it.” Traditional UX research methods weren’t built for products that are non-deterministic, conversational, and constantly changing. This role exists to lead the measurement and research practice that answers the questions those products raise — and to be the voice of the user in enterprise AI decisions.

Work Modality: Hybrid (60% in office monthly)

What you’ll do

You’ll own a portfolio of evaluative and foundational research across our enterprise AI products — our Everyday AI ecosystem, agent experiences, and the tooling that helps people choose the right AI for the job. You’ll set the direction for how we measure trust, adoption, and value in AI products, not just usability.

Concretely, you will build and own the measurement frameworks that tell us whether our AI products are working — adoption, retention, task success, reliance, and value realised — and connect those signals to product decisions.

You’ll design and run experiments (A/B and quasi-experimental) and longitudinal studies on how people adopt, rely on, and calibrate trust in AI systems, and where they over- or under-rely on them. You’ll lead research at the scale enterprise AI generates, using AI-assisted analysis (topic modelling, product-feedback synthesis) to turn large volumes of behavioural and feedback data into direction. You’ll pair that quantitative backbone with targeted qualitative work — generative and evaluative studies on agentic interfaces, where hand-off, oversight, correction, and delegation break down — so that scale and depth reinforce each other. And you’ll partner with design, engineering, product, and data-science leaders to embed research into how AI products are built, mature the practice’s methods and standards, and mentor researchers across the group.

What you’ll bring

You’re an experienced UX/product researcher with a strong quantitative and behavioural core. You lead with evidence and are quick to separate what the data shows from what people assume. Your strengths are experimental and quasi-experimental design, survey design and analysis, behavioural analytics, and building adoption and value-measurement frameworks for live products — ideally including AI, conversational, or other emerging-technology interfaces. You’re fluent enough in foundational qualitative methods (generative interviewing, contextual enquiry, usability and concept evaluation) to run them yourself and to know when a question needs depth rather than scale — you choose the method that fits the question rather than defaulting to a favourite.

You’re comfortable working with data-science and analytics partners, and you can work hands-on with research and analysis tooling. You’re at home in the ambiguity of a fast-moving space — you can research products that change under your feet, and you’re very pragmatic about rigour versus speed. You influence senior stakeholders with a clear, user’s-eye point of view, and you communicate findings in a way that drives decisions and ownership rather than sitting in a report. You care about doing AI research the right way — ethically, honestly, and with the user’s interests genuinely represented.

Qualifications Essential

• Master’s and/or PhD in a quantitative or research-intensive discipline — e.g. HCI, cognitive or experimental psychology, human factors, behavioural or data science, statistics, or a related field.

• Min 10 years of Substantial UX/product research experience, including leading mixed-methods research on live software products, with demonstrable depth in quantitative and behavioral methods.

• Proven experience designing and analysing experiments and surveys, and building measurement frameworks that shaped product decisions.

Desirable

• Experience researching or measuring AI, agentic, or conversational systems, and familiarity with AI evaluation approaches.

• Working knowledge of analysis tooling and languages (e.g. R, Python, SQL) and research-ops/analytics platforms.

• Experience using AI tools to scale research and analysis.

• Experience in a regulated or enterprise environment; line-management or mentoring experience.

The annual base pay for this position ranges from $127,209.60 - $190,814.40 USD annually. Our positions offer eligibility for various incentives—an opportunity to receive short-term incentive bonuses, equity-based awards for salaried roles and commissions for sales roles. Benefits offered include qualified retirement programs, paid time off (i.e., vacation, holiday, and leaves), as well as health, dental, and vision coverage in accordance with the terms of the applicable plans.

Date Posted

Closing Date

Our mission is to build an inclusive environment where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants and employees. In furtherance of that mission, we welcome and consider applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of their protected characteristics. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please complete the corresponding section in the application form.

About Us

AstraZeneca is a global, science-led, patient-focused biopharmaceutical company. We

focus on discovering, developing and commercialising prescription medicines for some

of the world’s most serious diseases. But we are more than one of the world’s leading

pharmaceutical companies.

At AstraZeneca, we’re dedicated to being a Great Place to Work. Where you are empowered

to push the boundaries of science, challenge convention and unleash your entrepreneurial

spirit. To embrace differences and take bold actions to drive the change needed to meet

global healthcare and sustainability challenges.

There is no better place to make a difference in medicine, patients, and society. An inclusive

culture where you will connect different thinking to generate new and valuable opportunities.

Where you will find a commitment to lifelong learning, growth and development for all.

Championing Inclusion and Diversity

Our Inclusion & Diversity (I&D) mission is to create an inclusive and equitable environment where people belong, using the power of our diversity to push the boundaries of science to deliver life-changing medicines to patients.

Inclusion and diversity are fundamental to the success of our company, because innovation requires breakthrough ideas that only come from a diverse workforce empowered to challenge conventional thinking.

Life at AstraZeneca

We’re curious about science and the advancement of knowledge. We find creative ways to approach new challenges. We’re driven to make the right choices and be accountable for our actions.

As an organisation centred around what makes us human, we put a big focus on people. Across our business, we want colleagues to wake up excited about their day at the office, in the field, or in the lab. Along with our purpose to bring life-changing medicines to people across the globe, we have a promise to you: to help you realise the full breadth of your potential.

Here, you’ll do work that has the potential to change your life and improve countless others. And, together with your team, you’ll shape a culture that unites and inspires us every day. This is your life at AstraZeneca.