Principal Researcher
Hybrid · Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Job Summary
Principal Design Researcher to lead the research practice for a global Health industry client. Define and own the research agenda and multi-horizon roadmap; champion a human-centered lens across the product lifecycle; lead, mentor, and develop a cross-functional team of design researchers embedded across product squads; apply mixed methods (ethnographic, contextual, participatory, evaluative) suited to each challenge; ensure regulatory and ethical compliance; translate research into actionable strategic insights and recommendations for senior stakeholders; partner with product management, design, clinical affairs and marketing to embed research throughout discovery and development; define shared research frameworks and artefacts; build and steward a living research repository with standards and templates for the team.
Required Qualifications
- 5-8 years of design research or UX research experience
- at least 3 years in a principal, lead or staff-level role
- demonstrated ability to define and execute strategic research programmes in complex, regulated environments—healthcare, medtech or diagnostics experience strongly preferred
- deep expertise across qualitative methods, comfortable integrating quantitative signals and working with data science partners
- proven track record of leading and growing research teams, with strong coaching and mentoring skills
- ability to navigate clinical and hospital environments; familiarity with care workflows, patient safety and regulatory frameworks (IVD, MDR) is a plus
- exceptional communication and storytelling skills—able to make research compelling for executive audiences and product teams alike
- fluency in English; additional European languages are a plus
- proven experience operating at the nexus of diagnostics, chronic care management or acute clinical environments
- deep familiarity with systems thinking, service design frameworks or strategic foresight methodologies
- a track record of establishing and scaling organisational research maturity from the ground up
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