Staff UX Researcher at Pleo

Messy spend management is tricky business. And tedious processes are a lose-lose situation for all involved, not just finance. At Pleo, we're changing that. We build spend solutions that make managing money seamless, empowering, and surprisingly effective for finance teams and employees alike—with a vision to help all businesses ‘go beyond’. The word ‘Pleo’ actually means ‘more than you’d expect’, and living by that mantra has been the secret to our success over the last 10 years. Now, we’re at a pivotal moment in our journey; every move we make has a direct impact on our 40,000+ customers, our business, and our collective success. We need people who take pride in uncovering customer needs, who turn complex problems into simple solutions, challenge the way things are done (respectfully), and always aim high. With great ambitions driving us forward, we can’t say we’ve got this whole thing figured out. And frankly, that’s half the fun! What we can say is that we’re a driven, progressive, and, importantly, a kind bunch of 850+ people from over 100 nationalities, all committed to delivering the future of business spending, together. About the role We're looking for a Staff UX Researcher to join our Design Team at Pleo. This is more than just a validation role; we need a strategic partner to help shape the future of our product. In this role, you will sit at the intersection of user empathy and business strategy. We value team members who bring strong, evidence-based perspectives to the table, and who collaborate openly to test and refine those ideas. You will partner with product leadership to turn broad, exploratory business questions into focused research strategies, ensuring that the customer voice is a key part of every roadmap discussion. You won't just be executing requests; your role is key to define the right problems to solve. Please note: We can hire on a remote, hybrid, or in-person basis in any of the locations listed on the advert. You will need to be physically based in the country of your choice with a valid right to work. We are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role in any of the listed locations. What you’ll be doing As a Staff-level Researcher, you will operate with a high degree of autonomy and impact. You'll help guide decisions with insights, using research to influence investment choices and ensure we build with confidence, not assumption. • Elevate research craft: Help raise the bar on synthesis and how we share what we learn. Support product managers and designers in understanding when to pursue discovery vs. validation work, so the whole team can interpret and apply insights effectively. • Shape strategic direction: Partner with product leadership to explore future opportunities. Translate broad, open-ended business questions into actionable research plans that directly inform roadmap priorities and strategic bets. • Connect insights to impact: Look beyond usability. Bring together insights from multiple sources- including Amplitude dashboards, ProductBoard, and competitive analysis - to help connect user behaviors to key business metrics like retention and engagement. • Influence with evidence: Be a strong advocate for the customer in strategic conversations. Use clear, compelling storytelling to help keep customer needs at the center of decision-making, even as we balance technical and business considerations. • Support research operations: Help maintain and improve our research toolkit, keeping our repository (Dovetail) organized, supporting participant recruitment, and helping streamline our tools so research is accessible and easy to build upon. • Enable the organization: Help others across the company conduct quality research by sharing frameworks, participating in rituals, and offering guidance. You'll support teams in running their own studies with confidence. • Mentor and contribute to growth: Help grow the broader research and design community by mentoring peers and sharing practices that support strong, ethical research. You’ll thrive in this role if you have • Experience: Around 5-7 years of Product/UX Research experience, ideally in an in-house role within a B2B or B2C SaaS environment. Experience in fintech is a nice-to-have, but we're especially interested in your experience working within complex product ecosystems. • Mixed-methods experience: You have a strong track of working with both qualitative and quantitative approaches. You're curious about what analytics dashboards (like Amplitude) can show, and you enjoy weaving together data from interviews, support insights, and market trends to build a fuller picture. • Strategic orientation: You're interested in working as a partner to product teams, not just as a service provider. You enjoy helping shape product direction and are comfortable contributing perspectives on customer needs in leadership conversations. • Translational skills: You’re driven by turning open-ended, sometimes ambiguous questions into clear, thoughtful research plans. You're able to help others see how research connects to broader business goals. • Operational comfort: You're comfortable with the organizational side of research- keeping a repository tidy, thinking about participant recruitment, and helping make our tools work well for the whole team. • Communication and facilitation: You're a strong communicator and a thoughtful workshop facilitator. You get motivated by helping align different perspectives and building shared understanding across Product, Design, and Engineering. Who you’ll be working with and reporting to You’ll report to our Design Director and work closely with our User Research & Product Research team. The Research function is part of a broader Design Function that includes Localisation, Product, and Content design. Our team values collaboration, and we have regular touch-points to share insights and support each other's growth. You'll have the opportunity to help shape how our research practice evolves. A quick heads-up: this role will close on March 16th (End of the day). We're keeping the application window short to ensure we can give every candidate the attention they deserve. So if you're even slightly tempted, don't overthink it, apply today!! The interview process We want to ensure you are set-up for success and understand what will be expected of you. If your application is successful, our interview process is as follows: • Intro Call (30 min) – Chat with a Talent Partner to discuss the role and your background. • Hiring Manager Interview (60 min) – Meet your future manager to dive deeper into your domain experience, research approaches, and how you’ve partnered with product teams in the past. • Portfolio Review Session – Please come prepared to walk us through 1-2 projects that showcase your end-to-end research process, strategic impact, and how you've influenced product decisions. • Executive Interview (30 min) – A conversation with our Chief Product Officer about product strategy and vision. We’ll also discuss your experience with leadership, influencing roadmaps, and driving impact through research. Application care: every single application we receive is reviewed by a human (yes, hundreds of them) because we believe that candidates' efforts should be matched by an equal level of human care. This means that we expect a similar level of attention put into your application. Read and answer the application questions carefully, they make a huge difference in our decision-making process. Profile to role fit: highlight most important aspects of the role, points that might get misunderstood, any specific industry requirements etc. Show me the benefits! • 💳 Your own Pleo card (no more out-of-pocket spending!) • 🍜 Lunch is on us for your work days - enjoy catered meals or receive a lunch allowance based on your local office • 🏥 Comprehensive private healthcare - depending on your location, coverage options include Vitality, Alan or Médis • 🌴 We offer 25 days of holiday + your public holidays • 🏠 For our Team, we offer both hybrid and fully remote working options • 🏖️ Option to purchase 5 additional days of holiday through a salary sacrifice • ❤️‍🩹 We use MyndUp to give our employees access to free mental health and well-being support with great success so far • 👶 Paid parental leave - we want to make sure that we're supportive of families and help you feel that you don't have to compromise your family due to work About your application • Please submit your application in English; it’s our company language so you’ll be speaking lots of it if you join 💕 • We treat all candidates equally: If you are interested please apply through our application system - any correspondence should come from there! Our lovely support team isn't able to pass on any calls/ emails our way - and this makes sure that the candidate experience is smooth and fair to everyone 😊 • We can only achieve our goals if our team reflects the diversity of the world around us - and that starts with you, hitting apply, even if you are worried you might not tick all the boxes. We embrace and encourage people from all backgrounds to apply - regardless of race/ethnicity, colour, religion, nationality, gender, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, neurodiversity, socio-economic status, culture or beliefs. • When you submit an application we process your personal data as a data processor. Find out more about how your data is used in the FAQs section at the bottom of our jobs page.