UX Researcher

About Retool

Nearly every company in the world runs on custom software:
Gartner estimates that up to 50% of all code is written for internal use. This is the operational software for refunding orders, underwriting loans, onboarding employees, analyzing transactions, and providing customer support. At Retool, we’re on a mission to bring good software to everyone. We’re building a new type of development platform that combines the benefits of traditional software development with a drag-and-drop UI editor and AI, making it dramatically faster to build internal tools.

We believe the future of software development lies in abstracting away tedious tasks and creating reusable components that act as a force multiplier for future projects.

Today, our customers span from small startups building their first operational tools to Fortune 500 companies building mission-critical apps for thousands of users across their business. Interested in joining us? Let us know!

As our first dedicated UX Researcher, you won’t just influence what we build—you’ll define how we build it. You will lay the foundation for a research practice at the heart of one of tech’s most transformative shifts: the fusion of developer tools and AI. Retool is rapidly becoming the application layer for AI—where the power of models meets the flexibility of custom software.

You will lead exploratory research into novel AI-human workflows, ground product decisions in deep user insight, and chart the path forward in a space where few maps exist. Your work will turn ambiguity into clarity—and clarity into action.

You’ll join a tight-knit, high-performing team of designers, engineers, and product thinkers who value curiosity, rigor, and a strong point of view. We’re not just solving for today—we’re reimagining how software gets built in the era of AI. Your research will light the way.

You’ll define and lead the research roadmap in collaboration with product and design leadership, identifying the questions that matter most for shaping strategy and delivering impact. You’ll plan and conduct quantitative, qualitative, and generative research using methods such as interviews, usability testing, field studies, surveys, and logs analysis, and synthesize findings with frameworks from HCI, behavioral science, and design thinking. By triangulating insights from user research, product usage, support, and market signals, you’ll surface patterns that lead to actionable, meaningful change.

You’ll distill complex data into clear, compelling stories for teams across the organization—from product and engineering peers to executive stakeholders. You’ll facilitate workshops, lead design sprints, and partner with cross-functional teams to ensure research informs and accelerates work. As our foundational researcher, you’ll also mentor teammates, evolve processes, and help embed user-centered thinking across the company. You’ll balance multiple projects with thoughtfulness and speed—moving fast and moving smart.

Most importantly, you’ll champion the voice of the user in every room, making research a force multiplier for product excellence at Retool.

• 5+ years of experience in UX research, human-centered design, or a related field, ideally in B2B or technical product environments
• Proven ability to independently lead and execute a wide range of research methods, both qualitative and quantitative
• Strong synthesis and storytelling skills—you can distill ambiguity into clarity and make insights resonate with diverse audiences
• Experience shaping product direction through early-stage generative research and iterative usability testing
• Comfort working in ambiguous problem spaces and a bias toward action—you're as strategic as you are scrappy
• Deep curiosity about how complex systems work, especially technical workflows or developer tools
• Familiarity with interpretive frameworks from HCI, behavioral science, or design thinking
• Excellent collaboration and communication skills—you know how to bring others into the process and rally teams around user insights
• A track record of building research practices, mentoring others, or…