Senior Digital Strategist & UX Researcher

As a Senior Digital Strategist & UX Researcher at Interactive Strategies, you'll shape the digital direction for mission-driven organizations that are making a true impact in the world. You'll join a team partnering with some of the largest and most influential nonprofits and associations in the country - organizations advancing health, serving veterans, protecting wildlife, and preserving our planet.

In this role, research is your superpower. You'll plan and run the user research that grounds our strategies in real human behavior - then translate what you find into clear strategic direction for clients and teams. You'll own client engagements end to end, with the support of senior strategists when the work calls for it.

Day to day, you'll take complex challenges and turn them into clear, actionable strategies. You'll guide clients toward research-driven decisions and serve as a trusted digital advisor to senior stakeholders - all while leading multidisciplinary teams from discovery through delivery. If designing research, uncovering insights, and translating findings into strategies that move organizations forward excites you, we'd love to meet you.

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

In your first year, you'll have run research programs that directly shaped the strategic direction of client projects - and clients will know you as the person who asks the right questions and delivers clarity from complexity. Over time, you'll deepen those relationships into true partnerships, using your strategic instincts to identify new opportunities and grow accounts in ways that reflect what clients actually need next.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

Leadership & Client Relationships

• Own client engagements end to end - serving as the primary strategic and research contact for your accounts, with senior strategy support available for complex engagements.
• Serve as a trusted digital advisor to senior stakeholders, balancing big picture vision with practical, results-driven recommendations.
• Guide clients toward confident decision-making, especially when the path forward is unclear or complex.
• Act as both a visual and verbal storyteller - communicating insights with clarity, empathy, and strategic depth.
• Contribute to new business efforts by bringing research credibility and methodology to pitch narratives, proposals, and strategic frameworks, and by providing subject-matter expertise in presentations.

User Research & Digital Strategy

• Plan, design, and execute user research programs - including stakeholder interviews, user interviews, usability testing, surveys, and synthesis - from screener to final findings.
• Lead and facilitate discovery activities - including audience research, competitive analysis, and opportunity assessments - with research rigor as the throughline.
• Translate research findings into clear, compelling strategic direction that clients and cross-functional teams can act on.
• Produce actionable strategic deliverables - roadmaps, personas, user journeys, value propositions, information architecture, and experience direction - grounded in what research surfaces.
• Define strategies for websites, digital products, and experiences that align customer needs with business goals and technology capabilities.
• Develop high-impact presentations and strategic deliverables that inspire clients and equip cross-functional teams with clear direction.

Collaboration & Research Advocacy

• Partner closely with designers, creatives, technologists, and content strategists to ensure research informs - and stays connected to - design and build decisions.
• Champion the value of research within IS and with clients - helping teams and stakeholders understand what good research makes possible.

Requirements

Experience & Expertise

• 7-10+ years of experience in UX research, digital strategy, experience design, consulting, or a related field; digital agency experience preferred.
• Hands-on experience planning and running user research - interviews, usability testing, surveys, and synthesis - not just directing or interpreting others' research.
• Strong understanding of websites, UX design, IA, and product strategy.
• Experience leveraging AI and emerging tools to support digital growth and impact.
• Outstanding strategic thinking with strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Exceptional storytelling, presentation, and communication abilities (visual and verbal).
• Exceptional ability to synthesize research findings into strategic direction - moving fluidly from raw data to actionable insight.
• Comfortable working in ambiguous, fast-paced environments.

Mindset & Approach

This matters to us as much as your resume.

• Genuinely curious about people - you design research to find real answers, not to confirm assumptions.
• Naturally curious and energized by figuring things out.
• Collaborative and human-centered in your approach to solving problems.
• Confident under pressure and skilled at bringing teams together.
• Grounded, values-driven, and able to build trust quickly.

NICE TO HAVE

• Experience developing brand positioning, value propositions, or messaging frameworks.
• Experience facilitating workshops for brand, messaging, or creative development.
• Experience with research tools such as UserTesting, Optimal Workshop, Dovetail, or similar platforms.
• Familiarity with accessibility standards and inclusive research practices.

A LITTLE ABOUT US

We have a simple motto when it comes to company culture: "Everyone deserves to come to work and be happy." This means we care as much about quality as we do about budgets, we find the strengths in each employee and nurture them, and we encourage a culture that values innovation and creative freedom. We want you to have fun - and we understand that you have a life outside of work.

We're a DC-based digital agency with a national reach and a strategy-first mindset. We partner with nonprofits, associations, and mission-driven companies to help them connect more meaningfully with their audiences. We're proud to be a certified LGBTBE business and an equal opportunity employer. We believe diverse voices lead to stronger work - and stronger impact.

WHAT WE OFFER

• Salary range $90,000-$120,000 per year (dependent upon experience and skills).
• A collaborative, supportive team environment.
• Flexible work schedule, including remote work options.
• A beautiful office in Washington D.C., where local staff go to the office 2x/week.
• Opportunities for professional growth and skill development.
• Exposure to a variety of industries, with a strong focus on nonprofits.
• Access to training, conferences, and networking opportunities.

HOW TO APPLY

Send us your resume and select deliverable examples that showcase your ability to frame recommendations, roadmaps, proposed website IA, or other digital strategy or website elements.

We don't need a boilerplate cover letter. Instead, tell us about a research project you're proud of - what you set out to learn, how you ran it, and what it changed.

Benefits

We allow our employees creative freedom. We treat them with respect. We value their opinions. In that spirit, we offer the following benefits:

• Company-sponsored health, vision and dental insurance
• Pre-tax Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
• 4 weeks of PTO to start, 5 weeks at year 3
• Company-paid short-term and long-term disability
• Company-paid life and AD&D insurance
• 11 paid holidays
• Profit sharing and 401k with company match.
• New business referral bonus
• Professional development opportunities
• Flexible work schedule
• Pre-tax DC Metro SmartBenefits