Principal Design Researcher

We’re currently looking for a Principal Design Researcher to lead the research practice for one of our top‑tier clients – a general leader in the Health industry – shaping the products and services that empower clinicians, patients and care teams at the moments that matter most.

This is not a coordination role – it is a leadership role. You will define how we understand the people we design for, orchestrate a portfolio of research initiatives, and ensure that human insight drives decisions from discovery through to delivery.

What will your day‑to‑day be like?

You will:
- Define and own the research agenda, aligned with product and business priorities.
- Establish a multi‑horizon research roadmap spanning generative, evaluative and strategic studies.
- Champion a human‑centred lens across the entire product lifecycle.
- Lead, mentor and develop a team of design researchers embedded across product squads – coordinating capacity and prioritisation across concurrent initiatives.
- Foster a culture of rigour,



curiosity and inclusive research practice.
- Lead complex, ambiguous research programmes from brief to insight, applying mixed methods (ethnographic, contextual, participatory, evaluative) appropriate to each challenge.
- Ensure regulatory and ethical compliance in all research activities.
- Translate research into actionable insights that shape strategy – not just design – presenting findings and recommendations to senior stakeholders and leadership.
- Partner with product management, design, clinical affairs and marketing to embed research throughout discovery and development.
- Define shared research frameworks and artefacts (personas, journey maps, opportunity spaces).
- Build and steward a living research repository, developing standards, templates and methodological guidance for the team.

What are we looking for?
- 5‑8 years of design research or UX research experience, with at least 3 years in a principal, lead or staff‑level r

📌 Principal Researcher (Barcelona)
🏢 Nacardesign
📍 Barcelona