User experience (UX) research is the part of product development that tries to answer a simple question: What are people actually doing, and why? It blends interviews, surveys and behavioral data to help teams understand how users move through a product, where they get stuck and what ultimately drives those decisions. This work shows up in everything from how Google turns search behavior to rank results to how social media platforms decide what pops up next on your feed.
UX research is also a fairly young field, with professionals reporting only about five years of experience on average. When it comes to hiring, companies want candidates who can connect user behavior directly to product outcomes, and who can show what users are up to in order to translate those activities into measurable metrics like conversion, retention and engagement rates. These skills are highly sought after by the companies listed below, which frequently hire for UX researcher positions.
Top Companies Hiring UX Researchers
- Microsoft
- Roku
- Esri
- Tripadvisor
Top Companies Hiring UX Researchers
Headquarters: San Jose, California
Founded: 2002
Company size: 3,000+ employees
Industry: Streaming and Connected TV
UX research at Roku involves both the software layer and the streaming device itself, which makes the work more varied than the standard app-only UXR job. Currently, Roku is hiring for roles focused on its full television portfolio, along with quantitative research openings tied to customer sentiment surveys and A/B tests. Candidates here need to think about user onboarding, remote-driven behavior, TV navigation and the physical reality of how streaming products get used in people’s homes.
Headquarters: Mississauga, Canada
Founded: 1992
Company size: 550 - 650 employees
Industry: Customer Experience Management
KUBRA provides companies with customer experience management solutions. Its UX researchers partner closely with product, design and engineering teams to uncover user needs and turn those insights into solutions. They use mixed methods like generative interviews, concept testing, usability studies and surveys to bring clarity to complex issues.
Headquarters: Needham, Massachusetts
Founded: 2000
Company size: 1k - 5k employees
Industry: Travel
Tripadvisor reaches more than 400 monthly million users across 190 countries. It also hosts over one billion reviews, so its research team has a massive amount of decision-making behavior to study. UX researchers here study how people evaluate hotels, restaurants and experiences, what makes them feel confident enough to book and where they drop off along the way when they don’t. Candidates need to show they can connect the dots between user behavior and business metrics.
Headquarters: London, United Kingdom
Founded: 2015
Company size: 500+ employees
Industry: Digital Health
Flo is the world’s most popular female health app, with millions of downloads and monthly active users. UX research roles here are closely tied to growth, so the team studies everything from how users find the app to what keeps them paying and coming back, using interviews, surveys and behavioral data to guide product decisions around highly personal health topics.
Headquarters: Redmond, Washington
Founded: 1975
Company size: 220k+ employees
Industry: Enterprise Software and Cloud Computing
Microsoft’s UX research teams work across products people use every day, from Windows and Microsoft 365 to Azure and its growing suite of AI tools. That means the work often centers on how new features fit into legacy systems users have spent years mastering. To land a spot here, candidates need to have a strong mixed-methods background and be able to run studies end to end. The work is typically conducted using in-house tools, including Microsoft Copilot, Figma, Dovetail and Qualtrics.
Headquarters: New York, New York
Founded: 2004
Company size: 200+ researchers
Industry: UX Research and Experience Strategy
AnswerLab is one of the few names on this list where UX research is the core business rather than one function inside a larger company. The firm describes itself as a research-powered experience strategy company, and it recently said its model is expanding beyond traditional UX research into broader experience strategy and design. Its sizable team of researchers spends its time designing studies, synthesizing evidence and advising clients across industries rather than focusing on a single product.
Headquarters: Redlands, California
Founded: 1969
Company size: 5k - 10k employees
Industry: Geospatial Software
Esri builds geographic information systems and mapping software used in specialized, often mission-critical settings, so its UX research skews technical and workflow heavy. Recent openings show Esri is hiring researchers to study how people use its ArcGIS apps and help guide future product decisions across its SaaS tools.
Headquarters: Mountain View, California
Founded: 1998
Company size: 190k+ employees
Industry: Internet Search, Cloud Computing and Consumer Technology
Google’s UX research team works across one of the world’s largest product suites, from its famous search engine to Android products, Gmail and YouTube. The company processes more than five trillions of searches per year at about 18,000 per second, leaving researchers an enormous volume of real-world behavior to analyze. Candidates for these roles should know how to study behavior across complex systems, pairing mixed-methods research with close, cross-functional collaboration in order to steer product direction.
Headquarters: Fremont, California
Founded: 1998
Company size: 50 - 200 employees
Industry: UX Research, Training and Consulting
The Nielsen Norman Group is not a typical in-house employer, but it remains one of the most impactful names in UX research and training. Offering more than 50 live training courses, the company conducts research, trains and certifies practitioners and advises consultancy clients. For UX researchers who care about methods, usability and the craft itself, NN/g carries outsized influence — even if its hiring pipeline looks different from that of a standard company.
Headquarters: Arlington, Virginia
Founded: 1989
Company size: 10k+ employees
Industry: Federal Consulting and Technology Services
Accenture is a multinational technology consultancy with a federal services arm focused on government work. In that part of the business, UX research tends to center on large systems, compliance requirements and public-sector delivery rather than consumer convenience. Researchers here are likely to do best when they can gather evidence in stakeholder-heavy environments and turn that into changes clients can realistically implement.
Headquarters: Dallas, Texas
Founded: 2009
Company size: 2,500+ employees
Industry: Consumer Internet, Online Dating
Known for its portfolio of dating apps like Tinder and Hinge, Match Group’s research teams study some of the most emotionally charged questions in consumer tech. They’re analyzing metrics tied to trust, attraction, rejection and safety, while also monitoring what keeps people engaged and what pushes them away. Hopeful candidates should be able to handle sensitive behavioral questions, communicate voice-of-customer insights clearly and guide product decisions toward building real-world connections that graduate out of the app.
