Sr Principal UX Researcher

About the Role

Disney Streaming is reimagining the future of entertainment, bringing together Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ and more into a unified streaming experience for millions of fans worldwide. As a Sr. Principal User Experience Researcher (UXR), you will be a senior thought leader embedded within our Streaming organization. You will champion the voice of the user across product, design, and engineering ensuring that every decision we make is grounded in deep human understanding and rich storytelling.

This role is both highly strategic and hands-on. You will shape vision work that defines the future of streaming, conduct generative and evaluative research on our most critical initiatives, and guide executives with evidence-based insights. Your work will influence everything from how we personalize Disney+ for GenAlpha, to how we create seamless experiences across live sports, entertainment, and commerce.

Responsibilities

● Set Research Strategy: Define and own the long-term research agenda for Streaming. Ensure both generative and evaluative insights inform product decisions. Partner with Product, Design, and Engineering leaders to anticipate user needs and guide the future of Disney’s streaming ecosystem.

● Lead Generative Research: Personally drive generative research in the most ambiguous and high-stakes areas. Uncover unmet needs and opportunities that shape long-term vision and inspire bold product directions.

● Stand Up Evaluative Practice: Establish the evaluative research practice by setting standards, frameworks, and measures of success. Hire and mentor specialists to run ongoing evaluative programs, ensuring results are trusted and actionable across the org.

● Executive Influence: Translate complex insights into clear narratives and frameworks that drive alignment with senior leadership. Use research to shape vision, strategy, and prioritization.

● Elevate Craft and Scale Impact: Model best-in-class methods and mixed-method rigor. Mentor other researchers and create connective tissue across qualitative, quantitative, and behavioral science practices.

● Cross-Functional Partnership: Work closely with product managers, designers, engineers, and data scientists to embed research throughout the product lifecycle. Ensure insights flow from discovery to execution.

● Thought Leadership: Represent Disney Streaming as a senior voice on human-centered innovation. Shape product vision internally and contribute externally to the broader research community.

Basic Qualifications

● 12+ years of applied product or design research in consumer-facing digital products at scale

● Proven success influencing executives and shaping business-critical decisions through research

● Deep expertise in generative research, with focus in either qualitative or quantitative methods

● Strong fluency across complementary methods (e.g., a qualitative lead who can frame and interpret quant, or a quant lead who can design and integrate qual)

● Ability to connect generative and evaluative insights to guide product strategy and decision-making

● Exceptional communication and storytelling skills to make complex insights clear and actionable

Preferred Qualifications

● Prior experience working in streaming, gaming, social platforms, or other high-engagement consumer ecosystems.

● Familiarity with behavioral science, human-computer interaction, and AI-driven personalization.

● Experience building research practices or frameworks at the Principal+ level.

Education

● Master’s or Ph.D. in Human-Computer Interaction, Cognitive Psychology, Anthropology, Behavioral Science, or related field (or equivalent practical experience).

The hiring range for this position in Santa Monica, CA is $184,300.00 to $247,100.00 per year and in New York, NY is $193,100.00 - $258,900.00 per year and in San Francisco, CA is $201,900.00 - $270,700.00. The base pay actually offered will take into account internal equity and also may vary depending on the candidate’s geographic region, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience among other factors. A bonus and/or long-term incentive units may be provided as part of the compensation package, in addition to the full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, dependent on the level and position offered.