The First 90 Days as a UX Research Leader

Philip Burgess
Aug 19
2 min read

Updated: Oct 26

By Philip Burgess - UX Research Leader

Stepping into a UX Research leadership role is exciting—and daunting. The first 90 days can set the tone for your credibility, influence, and the impact your team delivers. Here’s a roadmap for making those early months count.

The First 90 Days as a UX Research Leader

Day 1–30: Listen, Learn, Build Trust

Goals:

Understand the business context and product strategy.
Build relationships with key stakeholders (product, design, engineering, execs).
Assess the maturity of the research function and current team dynamics.

Tactics:

Run a “listening tour” with product and design leaders—ask what’s working, what’s missing, what’s urgent.
Audit past research deliverables. Look for gaps in rigor, storytelling, and influence.
Hold 1:1s with your team to learn about strengths, frustrations, and career aspirations.

Watchouts: Resist the urge to change everything immediately. Early credibility comes from showing you get it, not from big swings.

Day 31–60: Shape Direction and Quick Wins

Goals:

Translate business goals into a clear research vision.
Identify high-impact, low-lift opportunities to prove value.
Start clarifying roles, responsibilities, and processes.

Tactics:

Draft a lightweight research strategy—connect top company bets with areas where research can accelerate decisions.
Land one or two “quick win” studies that unblock a high-visibility product team.
Introduce simple but effective rituals (e.g., research readouts tied to product milestones).

Watchouts: Avoid overcommitting. Leaders gain trust by delivering a few things well rather than spreading too thin.

Day 61–90: Solidify Vision, Scale Influence

Goals:

Align your research roadmap with product and design planning cycles.
Begin operational improvements (tools, templates, recruiting pipelines).
Elevate the team’s visibility and influence.

Tactics:

Present a research roadmap to product/design leadership—frame it in terms of business outcomes, not just methods.
Start shaping a research ops foundation (study intake, participant management, asset library).
Share success stories—package early wins into executive-friendly briefs that show ROI.

Watchouts: Don’t get stuck in ops or delivery only. Keep reinforcing the strategic narrative of research as a decision-making engine.

Key Principles for Success

Anchor in the business. Speak the language of revenue, retention, risk mitigation—not just usability.
Balance quick wins with long-term vision. Early credibility fuels your ability to push for bigger bets later.
Invest in people. Your team’s growth and trust in you will multiply your impact more than any single study.

The bottom line: The first 90 days as a UX Research Leader aren’t about proving you know research—they’re about proving you know how to create impact. Listen deeply, deliver strategically, and make research indispensable.

Call to action: If you’ve recently stepped into a leadership role, what helped you most in your first 90 days? What do you wish you had done differently?

Philip Burgess | philipburgess.net | phil@philipburgess.net