UX Researcher, Principal

# About Blackbaud / UX Team

Blackbaud is the world’s leading provider of AI-powered solutions for social impact, supporting nonprofits, K-12 schools, higher education, arts and cultural organizations, healthcare, corporate impact teams, and individual changemakers with solutions for giving, connecting, and engaging. Our work helps mission-driven organizations better understand their communities, strengthen relationships, and move resources where they are needed most.

As part of the UX team, you will help shape thoughtful, trustworthy, and human-centered product experiences for a wide range of users, including enterprise nonprofits, small charities, individual fundraisers, and donors. You will work closely with product, design, engineering, analytics, and UX leadership to uncover user needs, guide product strategy, and ensure our AI-powered experiences are useful, responsible, and easy to trust.

# Job Summary

We are looking for a Principal UX Researcher to lead strategic research that builds a deep understanding of how people engage with Blackbaud’s products, especially as AI becomes more embedded in their day-to-day workflows.

In this role, you will identify high-impact research opportunities, lead complex research across a capability or solution area, and help teams understand not only what users need, but how they think, decide, trust, and respond when working with intelligent systems. You will play a key role in shaping AI-assisted experiences that feel transparent, reliable, and genuinely helpful.

This role is ideal for someone who is self-directed, strong in both qualitative and quantitative research, comfortable with ambiguity, and passionate about mentoring others while raising the quality and impact of research across teams.

# Key Responsibilities

· Identify research opportunities and lead strategic research within a product capability or solution area.

· Plan and execute research using the right mix of qualitative, quantitative, generative, and evaluative methods to answer complex and longer-term questions.

· Study human-AI interaction, including how users interpret, trust, rely on, recover from, and respond to AI outputs.

· Explore topics such as transparency, explainability, error tolerance, unexpected AI behavior, user confidence, and responsible AI experiences.

· Use AI-assisted tools to improve research speed, quality, synthesis, and delivery while staying curious about emerging research capabilities.

· Turn research findings into clear, actionable recommendations and work with teams to drive meaningful product decisions.

· Package insights into reusable assets and communicate findings through strong storytelling tailored to different audiences.

· Mentor researchers, designers, and cross-functional partners on user research methods, including responsible approaches to studying AI-enabled experiences.

# What You’ll Bring

· 10+ years of overall experience in the UX field, including 7+ years of relevant experience in UX Research.

· Strong experience leading strategic research within a product, capability, or solution area.

· Deep knowledge of qualitative research methods, along with strong comfort in inferential statistics and quantitative research methods.

· Experience researching AI, intelligent systems, or complex digital experiences where trust, adoption, comprehension, and user confidence are important.

· Practical understanding of responsible AI considerations such as bias, transparency, over-reliance, explainability, and user impact.

· A strong track record of partnering with product managers, designers, engineers, analytics teams, and UX leadership.

· Excellent communication, presentation, and writing skills, with the ability to turn complex insights into clear stories that influence decisions.

· Case studies that show end-to-end research impact, design direction, or strategic understanding across web and/or mobile experiences.

· A collaborative mindset, with the ability to mentor others and improve research practices across teams.

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Blackbaud powers social impact through purpose‑driven technology and responsible AI. Guided by our Intelligence for Good® vision, we’re building a culture where innovation, trust, and human expertise come together to help organizations make a greater difference in the world.

Blackbaud is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and is committed to maintaining an inclusive work environment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, physical or mental disability, age, or veteran status or any other basis protected by federal, state, or local law.