Principal User Researcher

Job Requisition ID #

26WD98004

Position Overview
At Autodesk, we do what no other company can: we help our customers design and make anything. The Experience Foundations team at Autodesk plays a critical role in designing the experiences that make that mission a reality, especially in this transformative moment where seamless digital experiences and AI-powered innovation will empower customers and teams to achieve meaningful outcomes faster.

As a Principal User Researcher at Autodesk, you will play a critical leadership role, as an individual contributor, driving high-impact research, shaping product strategy, and delivering user-centered insights that inform and elevate our products and services.

Reporting to the Sr. Manager, User Experience Research, this role acts as a strategic partner supporting Autodesk's Infrastructure and Transportation initiatives with user-driven insights, helping define the future of connected experiences in Autodesk's Forma - the AECO Industry Cloud. You will be part of the broader AEC User Success organization working alongside research, experience analytics, product growth, and operations while collaborating with global teams to develop innovative solutions for the AEC industry. Your work will directly influence next-generation software that makes designing and building more collaborative, efficient, and sustainable.

Location: Portland, Atlanta, Novi, Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal with a preference for those located near our offices.

Travel: light travel across North America for team meetings and conferences.

Responsibilities

• Lead strategic partnerships with product, data, and experience leaders to shape product vision, design direction, and key business decisions
• Define and drive mixed-methods research programs aligned to core business objectives, supporting the full product lifecycle-from early strategy and discovery through post-release evaluation and optimization
• Design, conduct, and oversee complex qualitative and quantitative research using advanced empirical and statistical methods
• Synthesize and integrate insights from research, analytics, and business data into clear, actionable recommendations that influence strategy and execution
• Lead cross-disciplinary teams in translating insights into future experience principles, end-to-end user journeys, and actionable implementation roadmaps
• Own and evolve Critical User Journeys for key domains, ensuring insights continuously inform prioritization, experience strategy, and investment decisions
• Partner closely with product and analytics teams to measure the impact of research-informed decisions, closing the loop between insight, action, and outcomes
• Collaborate with product growth teams to identify opportunities and execute research-informed strategies that drive adoption and long-term value
• Establish and promote research best practices, frameworks, and standards that strengthen a culture of user-centered product development
• Create compelling narratives, case studies, and artifacts that clearly communicate insights and elevate decision-making across the organization
• Design and facilitate workshops that support ideation, alignment, strategic decision-making, and co-creation with stakeholders
• Serve as a bridge between AIR (AutoCAD, Infrastructure, and Reality Capture) teams and the rest of the Autodesk AEC family of products and teams
• Shape and evolve research operating models, frameworks, and standards that help us scale insight impact across products and regions

• 8+ years of professional experience conducting and leading user experience research in complex product environments
• Proven ability to analyze and synthesize complex qualitative and quantitative data into clear, actionable, and strategic insights
• Demonstrated ability to build trusted partnerships and influence decisions across product, design, data, and engineering teams at multiple levels of the organization
• Experience collaborating with product analytics and growth functions to define, measure, and refine data-informed strategies
• A strong, current toolkit of qualitative and quantitative research methods and tools-including AI-powered approaches-and the judgment to select and adapt methods for complex and ambiguous problem spaces
• Comfort experimenting with, adopting, and teaching emerging research methodologies, particularly those leveraging AI and automation
• Deep knowledge of human-centered design principles and their application across the end-to-end product development lifecycle
• Strong analytical and systems-thinking skills, with a holistic and structured approach to complex problem solving

• Experience conducting research within the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry or adjacent complex domains
• Experience working with early-stage products to define and validate product-market fit
• Experience working with data scientists to combine behavioral, attitudinal, and usage data into cohesive, insight-driven narratives
• Experience with journey mapping and leveraging end-to-end user journeys to inform and drive experience strategy
• Familiarity with longitudinal research approaches, such as diary studies, and co-creation or participatory research techniques
• Experience facilitating workshops and working sessions with cross-functional partners and customers to drive alignment and decision-making
• Demonstrated strength in communication and storytelling, with the ability to build credibility, trust, and influence at multiple organizational levels
• Experience iterating on and evolving research practices, processes, and operating models within a research organization
• Ability to identify market and product opportunities by connecting research insights to strategic priorities and potential business impact
• University degree in a related field such as Human-Computer Interaction, Interaction Design, Psychology, related or equivalent practical experience