Director of User Research, AEC

26WD97084

Job Description for Director, AEC User Research

Job Description

Position Overview

The Director, AEC User Research will lead the User Research function within the AEC User Success organization, part of the broader Experience Foundations team. This role is responsible for advancing research excellence, defining the research operating model, and embedding a journey-centric, mixed-methods approach across AEC.

This leader will manage a team of research managers and senior individual contributors, ensuring high-quality, scalable research that integrates qualitative and quantitative insights. Working closely with cross-functional partners across product, analytics, growth, and design, this role ensures that user insights are clearly understood, effectively communicated, and translated into impactful decisions.

The Director plays a critical role in helping AEC evolve from fragmented research practices to a mature, AI-enabled product insights function—ensuring the voice of the user is consistently represented, understood, and acted on across the organization, while enabling the shift toward more intelligent, automated, and agentic user experiences. 

This position reports to the Senior Director, AEC User Success.

Location

East Coast Preferred (US & Canada)

Responsibilities

Team Leadership & Research Excellence

• Lead, mentor, and grow a team of research managers and senior ICs, building a high-performing and scalable organization
• Establish and uphold high standards for research quality, rigor, and craft across all work
• Develop team capability in mixed-methods research and journey-centric practices

Research Strategy & Integration

• Define and evolve the AEC research operating model, including methodologies, standards, and prioritization
• Embed journey-centric approaches (e.g., Critical User Journeys) to connect insights to end-to-end user experiences
• Partner with Product, Analytics, Growth, and Strategy to deliver integrated, cross-functional insights

Insight Storytelling, Activation & Impact

• Ensure insights are communicated through clear, compelling storytelling that drives understanding and action
• Drive activation of research into product decisions, innovation, and experience design outcomes
• Establish and track how research influences decisions and business impact, communicating that impact across the organization

Strategic Execution & Operational Leadership

• Lead high-impact, cross-AEC initiatives where research drives key business outcomes
• Oversee research prioritization, resourcing, and delivery across multiple business units
• Advance adoption of AI-enabled tools and workflows to scale research speed, quality, and impact

Future Readiness & AI-Literacy

• Stay informed on emerging technologies, particularly AI and agentic systems, and translate their implications into research strategy and practice
• Enable the team to research and inform AI-enabled, automated, and agentic user experiences, ensuring they are grounded in real user needs and behaviors
• Partner with Product, Design, Engineering, and Content Strategy to ensure research effectively shapes human–AI interaction models, trust, and experience quality at scale

Minimum Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in user research, product insights, or a related field
• 5+ years of experience leading research teams, including second-line leadership
• Deep expertise in qualitative and quantitative research methods
• Experience working in complex, cross-functional environments
• Strong ability to translate insights into strategic recommendations and business impact
• Excellent communication, storytelling, and stakeholder influence skills
• Familiarity with AI-enabled product development and its implications for user experience and research

At this level, business acumen and the ability to connect insights to outcomes are as important as subject-matter expertise. This role requires interpreting complex business challenges and influencing decisions across multiple teams and leadership levels.

About Autodesk

Welcome to Autodesk! Amazing things are created every day with our software – from the greenest buildings and cleanest cars to the smartest factories and biggest hit movies. We help innovators turn their ideas into reality, transforming not only how things are made, but what can be made.

We take great pride in our culture here at Autodesk – it’s at the core of everything we do. Our culture guides the way we work and treat each other, informs how we connect with customers and partners, and defines how we show up in the world.

When you’re an Autodesker, you can do meaningful work that helps build a better world designed and made for all. Ready to shape the world and your future? Join us!

Benefits

From health and financial benefits to time away and everyday wellness, we give Autodeskers the best, so they can do their best work. Learn more about our benefits in the U.S. by visiting https://benefits.autodesk.com/

Salary is one part of Autodesk’s competitive compensation package. For U.S.-based roles, we expect a starting base salary between $184,000 and $329,120. Offers are based on the candidate’s experience and geographic location, and may exceed this range. In addition to base salaries, our compensation package may include annual cash bonuses, commissions for sales roles, stock grants, and a comprehensive benefits package.

Equal Employment Opportunity

At Autodesk, we're building a diverse workplace and an inclusive culture to give more people the chance to imagine, design, and make a better world. Autodesk is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and considers all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status or any other legally protected characteristic. We also consider for employment all qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with applicable law.

Diversity & Belonging

We take pride in cultivating a culture of belonging where everyone can thrive. Learn more here: https://www.autodesk.com/company/diversity-and-belonging

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