Senior UX Researcher

About Rafeeq

Rafeeq is a fast-growing on-demand marketplace operating across Qatar — connecting buyers, sellers, and delivery couriers in real time. We're building a platform that works for a diverse, multicultural audience in one of the world's most dynamic markets. Our success depends on deeply understanding the people who use our product — and designing experiences they actually love.

The Role

We're looking for a Senior UX Researcher to be the first dedicated researcher at Rafeeq. You'll build our research practice from scratch — and make it the foundation of how we make product decisions.

This is a high-ownership role where you'll:

• Conduct research across the full spectrum of methods — from generative discovery to evaluative testing

• Build and maintain a living knowledge base of user insights

• Scale research culture across the product and design teams

• Embed qualitative discovery into how we work — sprints, roadmaps, and strategy alike

• Be the voice of the user in every important conversation

You'll work hand-in-hand with the product and design teams and report directly to the Head of Product.

What You'll Do

Discovery & User Research

• Plan and run research: Conduct in-depth interviews, usability tests, diary studies, card sorting, Jobs-to-be-Done sessions, and contextual inquiry — with buyers, sellers, and other platform participants

• Go beyond sessions: Use surveys, analytics, heatmaps, and session replays to complement qualitative findings with quantitative signal

• Cover both sides of the marketplace: Understand the needs, motivations, and pain points of both buyers and merchant-sellers — they often have conflicting goals

• Bridge time zones and cultures: Run remote research over Zoom as your primary mode, with periodic travel to Qatar for immersive field research and in-person interviews

Research Operations & Knowledge Management

• Build the repository: Design and own a living, structured knowledge base — not a folder of old decks, but an actual system where insights are tagged, searchable, linked to product areas, and regularly refreshed. This is one of your most important deliverables.

• Keep it alive: Establish a clear process for adding new research, retiring outdated findings, and surfacing relevant insights when the team needs them — so the knowledge base becomes a habit, not a graveyard

• Define research standards: Create templates, screeners, consent flows, and documentation practices so research is consistent and replicable regardless of who runs it

• Pick the right tools: Assess and introduce tools for recruiting, note-taking, synthesis, and knowledge sharing — we don't have a preset stack, we want you to own the decision

• Track what we don't know: Maintain an open questions log and flag knowledge gaps to the product team proactively

Discovery Process & Culture

• Co-design discovery with product and design leadership: Work closely with the Head of Product and Head of Design to define what good discovery looks like at Rafeeq — what questions we ask before building, what evidence we need, how research plugs into sprints and roadmap cycles

• Make discovery a team habit: Train PMs and designers to run lightweight research themselves — interviews, assumption tests, prototype feedback — so research scales beyond one person

• Embed research into the rhythm: Ensure discovery is built into how the team works, not bolted on at the end. Help establish recurring touchpoints — research reviews, insight shares, discovery sprints

• Champion the user in the room: When the team debates priorities or solutions, be the one who brings the evidence — and the one who flags when we're building on assumptions instead of data

• Make insights actionable: Translate research into formats the team actually uses — opportunity maps, user need statements, design principles — not just reports that get filed away

What We're Looking For

Required:

• 3+ years of experience as a UX Researcher or User Researcher in a product company

• Proficiency in a wide range of research methods — both qualitative (interviews, usability testing, ethnography) and quantitative (surveys, tree testing, first-click studies)

• Experience operating as a solo or founding researcher — you've built processes, not just followed them

• Strong ability to synthesize complex findings into clear, prioritized, actionable insights

• Excellent communication skills in English — written and verbal; you can speak to engineers, designers, and executives equally well

• Experience running remote research sessions effectively — recruiting, moderation, synthesis

• Comfort working in fast-moving environments with short iteration cycles

Strongly Preferred:

• Experience in e-commerce, marketplace, or foodtech — understanding two-sided platforms is a big plus

• Experience building or scaling a research repository or knowledge base

• Ability to facilitate workshops and teach research methods to non-researchers

• Exposure to diverse or multicultural user audiences, or research in emerging markets

• Experience connecting qualitative findings with quantitative data (analytics, funnels, surveys)

• Familiarity with product discovery frameworks (Continuous Discovery, JTBD, Double Diamond)

Nice to Have:

• Arabic language skills — even conversational level opens doors in the Qatari market

• Experience with MENA or GCC audiences

• Background in B2B or seller-facing research

• Contributions to the UX research community (talks, writing, mentorship)

Why Join Rafeeq?

🔬 Build from zero: You'll be the first researcher — which means you design the practice, choose the tools, and set the culture. Rare opportunity to own this entirely.

🤝 Real product influence: Research at Rafeeq isn't a checkbox — it's how we decide what to build. You'll be in the room when roadmap decisions are made.

🌍 Fascinating market: Qatar is a high-density, multicultural, fast-adopting market. Researching it is genuinely interesting — and the insights don't exist in any playbook yet.

🎯 Cross-functional collaboration: Work closely with product and design teams who actually want your input — not just your reports.

💰 Competitive compensation: Market-rate salary in USD

⚡ Remote-first: Work from anywhere, travel to Qatar periodically for field research

🚀 Room to grow: As we scale, you'll have the opportunity to build and lead a research team

Hiring Process

1. Application Review: HR screens applications — quick initial response

2. Intro Call: 30-minute conversation with the Head of Product about your background and approach

3. Team Interview: Deeper discussion with product and design leads — we'll talk about how you've worked in the past and how you think about research

4. Final Interview: Covering research philosophy, collaboration style, and how you'd build the practice here

5. Offer: Fast turnaround — typically 2–3 weeks from application to offer

We move quickly for strong candidates. International talent is very welcome.

What Success Looks Like — First 90 Days

• Understand the users: Complete at least 10–15 exploratory interviews with buyers and sellers; document key mental models and friction points

• Audit what we know: Map existing research, data, and assumptions — identify the biggest gaps and open questions

• Launch the knowledge base: Design and ship the first version of the research repository; establish the process for keeping it alive and useful over time

• Co-design discovery with leadership: Work with the Head of Product and Head of Design to agree on what discovery looks like at Rafeeq — cadence, triggers, how research connects to roadmap decisions

• Run the first discovery cycle: Partner with a PM on an active initiative — from problem framing through insight delivery

• Establish research presence: Hold a team research readout; run one internal workshop to get designers and PMs doing lightweight research themselves

• Propose the toolkit: Evaluate and recommend the research toolstack — from recruiting to synthesis to knowledge management