Principal Strategic Researcher

Overview

Principal Strategic Researcher on Zillow Customer Research, focused on high-risk, ambiguous product and business opportunities, working in close partnership with senior product, design, engineering and business leaders.

What you'll do

• Identify the customer-focused questions that matter most in ambiguous spaces.
• Design and execute mixed-methods research approaches, choosing the rigor and speed needed to influence decision-making.
• Shape product strategy through close partnership with senior product, design, engineering and business leaders.
• Build and refresh Zillow's foundational customer understanding by turning strategic research into durable, reusable knowledge.
• Raise the bar for research craft and customer judgment alongside Zillow Customer Research colleagues.
• Use AI tools to amplify your strengths and land learnings and influence partners.

What you'll need

• Extensive experience (10+ years) executing research in a product-focused environment.
• A comprehensive mixed-methods research toolkit and the judgment to choose the right approach for the problem, the risk, and the decision at hand.
• Experience leading strategic research that shaped product or business direction, with decisions your work has changed.
• Demonstrated success influencing senior leaders and executives through clear storytelling, strong points of view, and trusted relationships built over time.
• Ability to thrive in ambiguity and define a path forward when the problem, audience, and approach are still taking shape.
• Experience creating frameworks and models to codify, communicate, and land findings with partners.
• An ownership mindset, acting as a strategic operator rather than just a researcher.
• Hands-on experience experimenting with AI tools in your research workflow and curiosity to push what's possible.

Nice to have

• Experience drawing on behavioral science, psychology, or decision science frameworks to explain customer behavior or frame problems.
• Experience partnering with data science or product teams to design or interpret experiments, combining attitudinal and behavioral evidence.

Details

• Remote position; employees work from a physical location of their choice, which must be identified to the Company. U.S. employees may live in any of the 50 United States, with limited exceptions.
• Base pay range of $182,100.00 - $290,900.00 annually in California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Washington state, and Washington DC.
• Base pay range of $173,000.00 - $276,400.00 annually in Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia.
• Also eligible for equity awards based on experience, performance and location.