Director, UX Research & Customer Insight

Position Overview

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Headway's mission is to build a new mental health care system everyone can access. We have developed technology that assists individuals in finding excellent therapists through the first software-enabled national network of providers who accept insurance. A significant portion of the population experiences treatable mental health conditions, but the majority of providers do not accept insurance, making therapy prohibitively expensive for most. Headway aims to create an accessible mental healthcare system by simplifying the process for therapists to accept insurance and expand their practices.

Founded in 2019, Headway has grown into a diverse, national network of over 45,000 mental healthcare providers across all 50 states. These providers utilize our software to manage their practices and have served over 1 million patients. We are a Series D company, having secured over $325 million in funding from prominent investors including a16z (Andreessen Horowitz), Accel, GV (formerly Google Ventures), Spark Capital, Thrive Capital, Forerunner Ventures, and Health Care Service Corporation.

We are committed to making your time here the most meaningful experience of your career. Join us in improving mental healthcare.

About the Role:

As the Director of UX Research and Insight at Headway, you will spearhead our efforts to deeply understand the needs of mental health providers and their patients. Your role will involve transforming these insights into strategic decisions across all facets of our business. This is a critical leadership position where you will address complex challenges related to product development, marketing strategy, sales enablement, and customer experience. You will collaborate with executives and cross-functional leaders to influence company-wide strategy and roadmaps. You will establish scalable research programs leveraging modern tools and methodologies. The work of your team will directly impact thousands of providers and millions of patients seeking accessible mental healthcare, delivering insights with both speed and accuracy.

About the Research Team at Headway:

Research at Headway is not merely a support function; it is a strategic driver of our business. Our lean team has established credibility through consistent contributions to product development. With an explicit executive mandate to build a customer-centric company, we are seeking a leader capable of expanding our influence throughout the organization. This involves accelerating how we gather, share, and act upon customer insights, while also transforming how leadership engages in discovery efforts. You will have the opportunity to build a research function that not only answers questions but also shapes the questions we ask, ensuring that every significant decision is informed by a deep understanding of the customer.

Core Responsibilities:

Team & Organizational Impact

• Lead and develop a high-caliber team of researchers with diverse expertise, including qualitative and quantitative research, UX research, market research, and clinical research, as well as program managers.
• Provide cross-functional leadership to foster a customer-centric culture and implement related programs, such as Voice of Customers, Touch Grass, and Dogfooding.
• Drive operational excellence by establishing repeatable team processes and forums to facilitate insight sharing.

Research Excellence

• Utilize a balance of research and experiment methodologies to meet business needs.
• Implement and manage a centralized research repository for knowledge sharing.
• Establish scalable and foundational customer insight artifacts, including personas, jobs-to-be-done (JTBD), and customer journeys.
• Select and manage key research tools and platforms (e.g., UserTesting, Qualtrics).

Strategic Research Leadership

• Drive research initiatives that inform executive decision-making and product strategy with senior individual contributors.
• Translate business questions into actionable research plans.
• Present impactful insights to leadership, emphasizing strategic implications.

Ideal Candidate Profile:

• You possess 5+ years of experience in people management with a proven track record of