Staff User Researcher

Details

Coinbase is a remote-first, but not remote-only company. Employees are expected to meet quarterly for in-person working sessions called “surges.”

As a Staff Design Researcher on the Platform Design and Research team within the Platform group, you will set the research vision and practice across the systems, tools, and infrastructure that power Coinbase. The team works across Identity, Payments, Developer Experience, Financial Infrastructure, Compliance, and other foundational areas. You will define how Platform understands its customers, combining deep research with hands-on design to translate ambiguous problem spaces into clear product opportunities, high-quality deliverables, and shipped solutions.

Responsibilities

• Define and own the research practice for Platform, setting the vision, strategy, prioritization, and engagement models that connect customer insight to product and design decisions across the organization.
• Own and run Platform's recurring internal CSAT program, including survey design, cadence setting, analysis, and leadership reporting to track how internal teams experience Platform tools and identify actionable opportunities.
• Conduct and lead generative, evaluative, and mixed-methods research with engineers, technical leads, product managers, and end customers.
• Uplevel existing research methods and identify new approaches to address ambiguous research problems across Identity, Payments, Developer Experience, internal tooling, and compliance.
• Drive processes and execution that result in high-quality design deliverables, including polished prototypes, interaction flows, and visual storytelling.
• Partner with senior product, design, and engineering leaders as a cross-functional lead throughout strategy planning, influencing roadmaps and investment decisions through evidence-based research and well-crafted design presentations.
• Improve design consistency and integrity across the product area, contribute to existing design systems, and create new solutions when needed.
• Build research repositories and frameworks that scale research impact across the broader Design and Research organization.
• Coach and mentor designers and product partners on research rigor and design craft.

Requirements

• 10+ years of professional experience in user research and product design, including setting research vision and leading research for complex, technical, or platform-scale products and systems.
• Demonstrated ability to operate strategically, shape product direction, and influence senior cross-functional and executive stakeholders through research-driven insights and compelling design presentations.
• Expert-level proficiency in design and prototyping tools such as Figma or equivalent, with the ability to produce polished, high-quality deliverables that communicate customer experience and product direction to leadership.
• Strong command of qualitative research methods, with sound judgment about which methods fit different questions and the ability to introduce new approaches for ambiguous problems.
• Experience building research practices, operating models, or measurement programs such as recurring CSAT or voice-of-customer programs that scale impact beyond a single team.
• Experience driving design system adoption and contribution across a product area.
• Ability to use generative AI responsibly, maintaining human oversight to deliver business-ready outputs and improve workflow efficiency, cost, and quality.

Compensation

• Annual base salary: $216,790–$228,200 USD, excluding equity and bonus.
• Total compensation may also include equity and bonus eligibility.
• Benefits include medical, dental, vision, and 401(k).

Candidates may submit a maximum of three applications within a six-month period. Coinbase is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Reasonable accommodations are available for applicants with disabilities.