IPEX is one of the North American leading providers of advanced plastic piping systems. Our mission is to shape a better tomorrow by connecting people with water and energy.

We currently have an exciting opportunity as a UX Research Lead! This role is a hybrid position working out of our office in Oakville, ON 3 days a week.

Job Summary

The UX Research Lead is responsible for establishing and leading IPEX's UX Research function, ensuring customer and user insights are embedded throughout the innovation lifecycle—from opportunity assessment through product launch. The role provides strategic leadership to the UX Research team while serving as the organization's subject matter expert on research methodologies, enabling evidence-based product and portfolio decisions.

By combining advanced qualitative and quantitative research with strong people leadership, the UX Research Lead helps reduce product development risk, validate customer needs, optimize product usability, and identify new innovation opportunities. The role champions a customer-centered approach to innovation by ensuring the right research is conducted at the right time, using the appropriate methods and level of investment to support business decisions.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design, lead and conduct user research initiatives to evaluate early-stage concepts, working prototypes, and digital solutions for end users across our product lines, platforms, and tools, translating findings into actionable recommendations for design and product teams.

• Design and execute mixed methods research approaches that combine qualitative and quantitative methodologies (usability testing, interviews, surveys, A/B testing, card sorting, tree testing, and more) to answer specific design and product questions.

• Manage UX Researcher reports: direct their day-to-day activities, review and approve their work, coach them to improve their skills, evaluate their performance.

• Define the scope of research projects before they are assigned to a researcher; recommend project resourcing assignments to manager.

• Coordinate research recruitment, identify target participant groups, manage outreach, schedule sessions, and track participation.

• Proactively identify when Research can help Innovation Group initiatives and support IPEX’s strategic goals; contribute to development portfolio management decisions with other senior teammates

Qualifications & Experience

• 5+ years of hands-on experience doing qualitative and quantitative research projects from start-to-finish (i.e. usability/ux research, social research, market research, “VoC,” prototypes research)

• Master-level degree in a social science (sociology, anthropology, psychology), human factors engineering, or similar.

• 3-5 years’ experience in a similar role

• Qualitative Research Expertise: qualitative and quantitative research methods; expert at selecting and combining research methods, research design, sampling, recruitment of research participants, fieldwork (interviewing, observation, usability techniques, ethnography), survey design, statistical analysis, qualitative data analysis, report writing.

• Proficiency in QDA (qualitative data analysis) survey platforms (e.g. Alchemer, Qualtrics, SurveyMonkey, MS Forms etc.)

• Research Planning & Execution: Demonstrated ability to design and lead multi-month research projects that inform product development.

• User-Centered Design Application: Experience translating user insights into actionable design recommendations.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Proven ability to work effectively with Innovation, Sales, R&D, and Product Management teams.

• Analytical Thinking: Skilled in selecting appropriate research methodologies, with a strong understanding of when to apply qualitative versus quantitative approaches.

• Software Proficiency: Working knowledge of Microsoft PowerPoint, Word, and Excel.

• Experience with research repositories or knowledge management systems.

• Research Ops - Knowledge of scaling research processes