Lead Product Researcher, Wall Street Journal Newsroom Technology

Job Description:About the Team:

The Wall Street Journal is a global news organization that provides leading news, information, commentary and analysis. The Wall Street Journal engages readers across print, digital, mobile, social, podcast and video. Building on its heritage as the preeminent source of global business and financial news, the Journal includes coverage of U.S. & world news, politics, arts, culture, lifestyle, sports, and health. It holds 38 Pulitzer Prizes for outstanding journalism. The Wall Street Journal is published by Dow Jones, a division of News Corp (Nasdaq: NWS, NWSA; ASX: NWS, NWSLV).

About the Role:

As the Wall Street Journal’s Lead Product Researcher, you will drive research for a new team that places the evolution of the reader experience at the heart of our newsroom. This role is in a cross-functional team embedded directly in the WSJ Newsroom, bridging technology and editorial to accelerate innovation in digital journalism. You will report to cross functional leadership within Dow Jones while being embedded within the newsroom.

You will shape how we understand and serve our audiences; conducting rapid research that informs new storytelling formats, AI-powered experiences, and innovative publishing capabilities. You will establish research practices that move at the speed of news while maintaining methodological rigor and creating tight feedback loops between readers, journalists, and technologists.

This is a unique opportunity to pioneer research methods for the future of journalism, understanding how readers engage with news and translating those insights into transformative product experiences. Your research will directly influence how millions consume and interact with WSJ content.

You Will:

• Lead research that bridges newsroom and reader needs, establishing methods to rapidly test new storytelling formats, AI applications and content experiences

• Create research programs that move at the pace of news while maintaining the rigor needed to inform strategic decisions

• Pioneer rapid experimentation methods that enable quick validation of new concepts

• Design research sprints that deliver actionable insights within newsroom timelines.

• Establish reader feedback loops that inform editorial and product decisions in near real-time

• Create systems for continuous learning about reader behavior, comprehension and engagement with different content formats.

• Synthesize reader insights across platforms and formats, identifying patterns in how audiences consume news across text, audio, video and interactive experiences; your frameworks will guide how we evolve storytelling for modern readers

• Partner directly with journalists and editors to understand editorial workflows and translate their vision into research questions, helping newsroom stakeholders understand reader data and make evidence-based decisions about content strategy

• Influence product strategy through compelling research narratives that resonate with both editorial and technology leadership; translating complex findings into actionable insights that shape the WSJ roadmap.

• Build research operations for newsroom innovation, creating lightweight but rigorous methods that work within editorial constraints: establishing practices that other newsroom-embedded teams can adopt

• Measure the impact of innovation on reader engagement, comprehension and trust, establishing metrics that balance editorial goals with business objectives

You Have:

• 7+ years’ product research experience, with significant time spent researching content experiences, media consumption, or reader behavior at scale

• Proven track record of rapid research methods, including experience with design sprints, guerrilla research and quick-turn studies that inform immediate decisions

• Deep expertise in content and media research, understanding how people consume, comprehend and share information across different formats and platforms

• Experience bridging different organizational cultures, particularly between creative/editorial teams and product/technology groups, with ability to translate insights for diverse stakeholders

• Strong mixed-methods expertise, combining qualitative insights about reader motivation with quantitative data about behavior and engagement

• Excellence in research on emerging technologies, particularly AI/ML applications in content, with understanding of user trust and adoption patterns

• Track record of influencing content strategy through research, with examples of how insights shaped editorial or product decisions

• Experience with multimedia research, understanding how readers engage with video, audio, interactive graphics and other rich media formats

• Passion for journalism and media, with understanding of news cycles, editorial processes and researching news consumption

• Outstanding storytelling abilities, translating research findings into narratives that resonate with journalists, technologists and executives

• Bachelor's degree -OR- equivalent work experience in Psychology, Human-Computer Interaction, Journalism, Communications, or related field

LI-JA1-WSJ

Our Benefits

• Comprehensive Healthcare Plans

• Paid Time Off

• Retirement Plans

• Comprehensive Insurance Plans

• Lifestyle programs & Wellness Resources

• Education Benefits

• Family Care Benefits & Caregiving Support

• Commuter Transit Program

• Subscription Discounts

• Employee Referral Program

Learn more about all our US benefits

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*LI-JA1-WSJ

Reasonable accommodation: Dow Jones, Making Careers Newsworthy - We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, age, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. EEO/Disabled/Vets. Dow Jones is committed to providing reasonable accommodation for qualified individuals with disabilities, in our job application and/or interview process. If you need assistance or accommodation in completing your application, due to a disability, email us at [email protected]. Please put "Reasonable Accommodation" in the subject line and provide a brief description of the type of assistance you need. This inbox will not be monitored for application status updates.

Business Area:

Dow Jones - Technology

Job Category:

Software Product Engineering

Union Status:

Non-Union role

Pay Range: $110,000 - $135,000

We recognize that attracting the best talent is key to our strategy and success as a company. As a result, we aim for flexibility in structuring competitive compensation offers to ensure we are able to attract the best candidates. The quoted salary range represents our good faith estimate as to what our ideal candidates are likely to expect, and we tailor our offers within the range based on the selected candidate's experience, industry knowledge, location, technical and communication skills, and other factors that may prove relevant during the interview process.

Pay-for-performance is a key element in our strategy to attract, engage, and motivate talented people to do their best work. Similarly to salary, for bonus eligible roles, targets are set based on a variety of factors including competitive market practice.

For benefits eligible roles, in addition to cash compensation, the company provides a comprehensive and highly competitive benefits package, with a variety of physical health, retirement and savings, caregiving, emotional wellbeing, transportation, and other benefits, including "elective" benefits employees may select to best fit the needs and personal situations of our diverse workforce..