Principal UX Researcher

About Upstart

At Upstart, we’re united by a mission that matters: to radically reduce the cost and complexity of borrowing for all Americans. Every day, we bring creativity, experimentation, and advanced AI to reshape access to credit, helping millions move forward financially with clarity and confidence.

As the leading AI lending marketplace, we partner with banks and credit unions to expand access to affordable credit through technology that’s both radically intelligent and deeply human. Our platform runs over one million predictions per borrower using more than 1,800 signals, powering smarter, fairer decisions for millions of customers. But the numbers only hint at the impact. Every idea, every voice, and every contribution moves us closer to a world where credit never stands between people and their financial progress.

We’re proudly digital-first, giving most Upstarters the flexibility to do their best work from wherever they thrive, alongside teammates across 80+ cities in the US and Canada. Digital-first doesn’t mean distant. We’re intentional about in-person connection through team onsites, planning sessions, and moments that spark creativity and trust. And whether you choose to work primarily from home or collaborate in-person from one of our offices in Columbus, Austin, the Bay Area, or New York City (opening Summer 2026), you’ll have the support to work in the way that works best for you.

The Team

Upstart's Product Experience team brings together product design, research, and content strategy to shape the future of lending. We focus on high-craft execution, deep customer insight, and measurable business impact, partnering across product areas to build experiences that are clear, trustworthy, and human. Content Design and User Research are cross-cutting craft specialties that serve every pillar — essential to journey quality and informed decision-making across the team.

As the Principal UX Researcher reporting to the VP of Product Design, you will establish Upstart's dedicated UX research practice. Today, product designers conduct their own research as needed and the Consumer Insights team provides market and customer intelligence — but there's no shared UX research methodology or consistent way to connect customer behavior insights to product design decisions. You'll bridge that gap: defining how UX research gets done, equipping designers and PMs to conduct foundational research well, and leading the strategic studies that influence decisions across Upstart's lending products.

How you’ll make an impact

• Establish and scale a UX research practice, including methodologies, standards, and tools used across product teams
• Lead high-impact, cross-functional research initiatives that inform product strategy and roadmap decisions
• Enable designers and product managers to conduct effective day-to-day research through toolkits, templates, and best practices
• Build and maintain research infrastructure — participant recruiting pipelines, research repositories, and insight-sharing systems that make findings accessible and actionable across teams
• Partner with Product, Engineering, and Consumer Insights leaders to ensure research has an informed and influential voice in product decisions — bridging horizontal insights across a multi-product lending portfolio
• Define and promote best practices for conducting research