Senior UX Researcher (Internal Tools)

**Overview:**

We're seeking a Senior UX Researcher to lead research into the systems, stakeholders, and processes that power how sports trading cards are planned, designed, manufactured, and sold. This role will not only uncover pain points but also map opportunities across one of the most intricate ecosystems in collectibles. **Responsibilities:**

• Drive Discovery & Mapping: Lead deep-dive research into the end-to-end lifecycle of sports trading cards, map internal processes, stakeholders, roles, and pain points, and collaborate with product managers to frame the right problems and validate solution spaces. * Bring Service & Systems Design Thinking: Apply service design and system design methods to clarify complex workflows and dependencies, develop journey maps, service blueprints, and stakeholder diagrams, and translate findings into actionable frameworks that guide product and operations strategy. * Execute High-Impact Research: Conduct interviews, workshops, contextual inquiries, and observational research with internal stakeholders, use mixed methods to synthesize insights, and create artifacts that clarify complexity and inspire confidence in decision-making. * Enable Collaboration & Alignment: Partner with product, design, engineering, and operations teams to ensure insights translate into action, facilitate workshops to align stakeholders and build consensus around priorities, and evangelize research through clear storytelling. **Qualifications:**
• Thrive on making sense of complexity and ambiguity
• Bring expertise in service design and systems thinking, with experience applying these in real-world contexts
• Have led research in operational or enterprise settings (manufacturing, supply chain, B2B tools, or other complex ecosystems)
• Be fluent in both strategic discovery (framing problems, mapping systems) and tactical evaluation (testing concepts, validating solutions)
• Be skilled in facilitating cross-functional workshops and building shared understanding
• Care deeply about empowering teams, not just delivering insights
• *Benefits:**
• Competitive salary range: $140,000 - $175,000 (Los Angeles) or $155,000 - $193,000 (New York City)
• Opportunity to work with a high-impact team operating with ownership, creativity, and speed
• Collaborative and dynamic work environment with a shared mission to simplify complexity and enable innovation
• Access to cutting-edge tools and methods, including service design tools, mixed methods, and collaboration & visualization tools
• Opportunity to build the future of collectibles and make a meaningful impact on the sports trading card and collectibles industry