We are looking for a Principal UX Researcher to help us empower giving across the world by building deep understanding of a diverse audience — enterprise non-profits, small charities, individual fundraisers, and donors — and of the increasingly AI-mediated ways they work. You will identify research opportunities and drive strategic research within a capability or solution, adapt and combine methods to answer complex and longer-term questions, and partner with UX leadership on the direction of key initiatives.

As AI becomes embedded in our products — from assistive experiences to more automated workflows — understanding how people perceive, trust, adopt, and are affected by intelligent systems is central to this role. You will lead research that explains not just what users need, but how they experience and respond to intelligent, probabilistic systems, helping teams design AI that is trustworthy and genuinely useful. We are looking for someone who is self-directed, mentors others generously, and drives systematic improvements that raise the quality and impact of research.

What you'll do

• Identify research opportunities and drive strategic research within a capability or solution, coordinating the activities of other researchers or designers where needed.
• Plan and execute research that adapts or combines qualitative and quantitative, generative and evaluative methods to answer multiple, complex, or longer-term questions.
• Research AI behaviours and human–AI interaction: study how users interpret, trust, calibrate reliance on, and recover from AI outputs — including transparency, explain ability, error tolerance, inaccurate or unexpected outputs, and the impact of AI features on confidence and outcomes — using methods suited to probabilistic, non-deterministic systems.
• Leverage AI-assisted tools to accelerate research delivery, improve quality, and actively experiment with emerging capabilities as they evolve.
• Generate and facilitate recommendations, follow through to drive action, and improve research practices and processes.
• Package insights into reusable assets and communicate through storytelling tailored to each audience, and partner with UX leadership on the direction of key initiatives.
• Expertly apply and mentor others in standard and specialized user research techniques, including responsible approaches to studying AI experiences.

What you'll bring

• Extensive user research experience, with a track record of driving strategic research within a product, capability, or solution area.
• Mastery of a wide variety of qualitative methods, and fluency with inferential statistics and quantitative research methods.
• Experience researching AI or intelligent systems and a practical understanding of how AI behaviours affect user trust, comprehension, adoption, and outcomes. Familiarity with responsible AI considerations such as bias, transparency, and over-reliance is a plus.
• A proven track record of partnering with product managers, designers, analytics, engineers, and UX leadership.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and writing skills, with insight-driven storytelling tailored to any audience.
• Case studies of end-to-end research showing design solutions or strategic user understanding across web and/or mobile experiences.

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Blackbaud powers social impact through purpose‑driven technology and responsible AI. Guided by our Intelligence for Good® vision, we’re building a culture where innovation, trust, and human expertise come together to help organizations make a greater difference in the world.

Blackbaud is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and is committed to maintaining an inclusive work environment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, physical or mental disability, age, or veteran status or any other basis protected by federal, state, or local law.