Staff User Researcher

About the Role

We’re looking for a Staff User Researcher to lead strategic research across Nourish’s patient and provider ecosystems. You’ll uncover insights that guide product direction, improve clinical and patient experiences, and shape how nutrition care is delivered at scale.

This is a senior individual contributor role for someone who’s comfortable working autonomously on ambiguous, high‑impact questions—equally strong at fieldwork and at influencing senior stakeholders. You’ll partner closely with design, product, and clinical leadership to ensure every decision is grounded in a deep understanding of both sides of our marketplace: patients seeking help and dietitians providing care.

This person will join our small design team and report directly to our Head of Design.

The role is full‑time in NYC (in‑person candidates only), with flexibility for some remote work. Nourish has an NYC office in the heart of Silicon Alley.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead research strategy across patient, provider, and internal tooling experiences, defining the learning agenda that informs company‑level priorities.
• Conduct generative and evaluative research to explore user needs, motivations, and friction points across the full care journey, from onboarding through long‑term engagement.
• Shape product direction by translating research insights into clear, actionable opportunities for product, design, and clinical operations.
• Develop frameworks and mental models that clarify how patients and dietitians interact, and where Nourish can deliver differentiated value.
• Mentor and guide cross‑functional partners (designers, PMs, data analysts, clinical, marketing, PPM) on research best practices, helping to scale the research mindset across the org.
• Partner with data science and clinical ops to triangulate qualitative and quantitative insights, surfacing patterns in behavior, retention, and outcomes.
• Tell compelling stories that bring our constituents to life through artifacts, workshops, and strategic narratives that influence at the leadership level.
• Champion an inclusive approach to research that represents diverse users and ensures accessibility and equity in the patient experience.

Key Qualifications

• 8–12+ years of applied user research experience in high‑growth product organizations (consumer, health tech, telehealth, or two‑sided marketplaces strongly preferred).
• Mastery of core qualitative methods (interviews, field studies, concept testing, journey mapping, usability testing) and strong fluency with complementary quantitative methods.
• Demonstrated success driving strategic impact—influencing product or business direction, not just validating existing ideas.
• Experience researching service‑oriented or clinical workflows, ideally in healthcare, wellness, or B2C/B2B2C contexts.
• Exceptional communication and storytelling ability; you make insights tangible and drive alignment through clarity and empathy.
• A track record of mentoring or coaching researchers or designers, elevating the overall craft bar.
• Fluency in research tooling (Dovetail, Airtable, UserTesting, Maze, Amplitude, etc.).
• Graduate degree in Human‑Computer Interaction, Cognitive Psychology, Anthropology, or related field (or equivalent hands‑on experience).

Nice to Have

• Experience working in a regulated or clinical domain, navigating privacy and compliance constraints with creativity.
• Familiarity with insurance and healthcare systems in the US.
• Comfort balancing speed and rigor in a startup environment.
• Experience with remote, asynchronous collaboration.

What Success Looks Like

• Research insights directly inform Nourish’s product roadmap and care model evolution.
• Leadership looks to you as a thought partner for framing the big questions.
• Product teams consistently rely on research to shape what they build and why.
• The organization develops a shared, evidence‑based understanding of its users: patients, providers, and internal stakeholders.
• You help make “user understanding” part of Nourish’s DNA.