ABOUT US 🚀

Our vision is to be the world’s leading social travel platform.

We are on a mission to help travellers find their people and create unforgettable moments together. Connections matter as much as destinations, and we are building a global ecosystem to enable them.

Since the launch of our social network in the hostelling category in 2022, Hostelworld has experienced transformational growth. We have successfully welcomed over 2.6 million social members to our platform, proving the strong demand for connection in travel. This vibrant community is not just booking trips; they are actively engaging, co-creating, and becoming our most powerful brand advocates. The platform is rich with user-generated content, including a rapidly growing volume of customer testimonials and authentic travel stories that provide powerful social proof.

The growth in engagement is remarkable: the number of messages sent between travellers has grown significantly faster than the number of trips booked by social members, demonstrating the deep social utility of our platform. This momentum is reflected in our robust financial health, underscored by a strong balance sheet powered by an asset-light, cash-generative business model.

We are not just another Online Travel Agent (OTA); we have created a new category of travel altogether: Social Travel. Our singular focus on helping travellers find people to hang out with is the foundation of our strategy. It has allowed us to build a powerful and defensible market position, which attracts highly valuable customers and shifts more of our business onto our mobile-native apps.

While our app and social features create a sticky user experience, our true competitive moat stems from the incredibly rich, proprietary data set generated by our social network. As our community grows, so does the value of this data, creating a compounding network effect that is nearly impossible to replicate. This "social flywheel" allows us to understand traveller behaviour, predict needs, and personalise experiences in ways that generalist OTAs cannot match. It is the engine that will power our long-term, differentiated growth and solidify our position as the sole player in the Social Travel category we created.

At our Capital Markets Day in April 2025, we unveiled our ambitious strategy to build on our success and realise our vision over the next three years. This strategy is organised around five key themes:

• Strengthening the Core OTA Platform: We will continue to enhance our core booking engine, ensuring a seamless and efficient experience for our customers and hostel partners, further solidifying our position as the leading platform for hostel discovery and booking.

• Building 'Pre-Booking' Social Features: We are developing innovative features like 'Travel Plans', designed to engage users much earlier in their travel journey. These features will accelerate the creation of social profiles and drive app downloads, fuelling our social flywheel before a single bed is booked.

• Leveraging AI for an Enhanced Social Experience: We will embed AI into our pre- and post-booking features to deliver unparalleled personalisation and value. This includes AI-powered recommendations for people to meet, places to go, and things to do, making our social network an indispensable travel companion.

• Expanding our Addressable Market: We will expand our reach and product portfolio through targeted partnerships and M&A. This will allow us to cater to a broader segment of the youth travel market and integrate new, complementary services into our social travel ecosystem.

• Building New Revenue Streams: Our social network is more than an engagement tool; it is a new platform for monetisation. We will develop new revenue streams directly from our social features, creating value for our users and our business in ways that traditional OTAs cannot.

Our Culture

At Hostelworld, our culture is a direct reflection of our customers: adventurous, curious, and social. We have a shared love of travel that fuels our work and connects us on a deeper level. It’s a fast-paced environment that blends the agility and "scrappy" resourcefulness of a start-up with the experience and ambition of a global, publicly listed company.

We are a team of pragmatic optimists who are data-obsessed and results-driven. We value a ‘test and learn’ mindset, encouraging experimentation and empowering our teams to take calculated risks. We believe in doing the right thing—for our customers, our partners, and each other. We foster a supportive and collaborative atmosphere where diverse perspectives are celebrated, and where every team member has the opportunity to make a significant impact on our journey. We embrace the journey, not just the destination, and we seek leaders who will thrive in a dynamic environment and inspire their teams to do the same.

LOCATION🌍

This role is based in Portugal. We have an office hub in Porto available for those who prefer a hybrid model where you can spend time with colleagues in-person. You will need to be able to commute to our office hub as required from time to time.

WHO YOU'LL WORK WITH 👨🏽‍🤝‍👨🏼

As a cornerstone of our Product Department, the Senior UX Researcher is responsible for shaping Hostelworld’s product vision and user experience by driving research strategy across multiple products and domains. You will join a dynamic, cross-functional team of User Researchers, Product Designers, Product Managers, and Engineers, collaborating to uncover user needs and drive innovation. Our team operates in agile squads, with a strong emphasis on autonomy, continuous learning, and democratising research insights across the organisation.

What sets this role apart:

• Strategic Ownership: You will own the research agenda, set direction, and ensure research is a key driver of business and product strategy.

• Cross-Product Impact: You will lead research initiatives that span multiple products and domains, synthesising insights to inform company-wide strategy.

• Mentorship & Leadership: You will be a role model and coach for other researchers, raising the bar for research quality and impact.

• Collaborative Operations: You will work closely with the research team and leadership to ensure research operations, repository management, analytics, and NPS are effective and scalable.

• Thought Leadership: You will help establish frameworks, advocate for a user-centric culture, and represent Hostelworld externally.

WHAT YOU'LL DO 👩‍💻

• Own and drive research strategy across multiple products and domains, directly influencing product vision, roadmaps, and broader business decisions.

• Lead cross-product research initiatives: Identify and drive research programmes that span multiple products or business areas, ensuring insights are synthesised and leveraged across teams to inform company-wide strategy.

• Plan and execute advanced, mixed-method research: Tailor methodologies for complex, ambiguous scenarios and high-impact problems, delivering actionable insights that shape product direction.

• Mentor and develop researchers: Actively coach junior and mid-level researchers, set standards for research quality, and foster a culture of learning and growth.

• Build strong relationships with executives, product managers, and cross-functional leaders: Drive alignment and buy-in for research-driven decisions.

• Craft compelling stories from research findings: Influence decision-making at the leadership level through clear, impactful communication.

• Collaborate on operational and strategic initiatives: Work with the research team and Senior UX Manager to develop and improve Research Ops processes, manage the research repository (Dovetail), implement analytics tooling (e.g., screen recording, heatmaps), and run NPS measurement programmes for key journeys.

• Support brand and marketing research: Partner with the Brand team on targeted research projects that inform positioning, messaging, and user experience for major strategic initiatives.

• Represent Hostelworld externally: Advocate for a user-centric culture and share research insights at conferences or in publications, as appropriate.

• Stay ahead of industry trends: Synthesise market and competitor insights to inform strategy and maintain Hostelworld’s leadership in UX research.

WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR 👀

Experience & Qualifications:

• A portfolio showcasing strategic UX leadership, innovative research, and measurable business impact.

• 5+ years of experience in UX research, with a strong record of impact across digital products and platforms.

• Proven expertise in both qualitative and quantitative research methods, with advanced skills in planning, executing, and analysing usability studies.

• Demonstrated experience leading research in fast-paced, agile environments, and influencing product strategy and design through research.

• Excellent collaboration and communication skills across disciplines, with the ability to manage multiple projects and priorities independently.

• Strong analytical skills, attention to detail, and a proactive, growth-oriented mindset.

• Proactive and autonomous, capable of driving strategic initiatives with minimal oversight.

• Strong communication skills across all mediums, with fluency in English (speaking and writing).

Knowledge & Skills:

• Experience in travel, e-commerce, or social/community-based products.

• Familiarity with research repository tools (e.g., Dovetail, Condens) and integrating insights into stakeholder workflows.

• Understanding of engineering principles and ability to communicate with technical teams.

• Experience mentoring or managing other researchers.

• Background in UX writing or content strategy.

• Experience working in global, multicultural teams.

• Familiarity with gen-AI tools applied to research.

WHAT WE OFFER 💯

• Competitive salary & benefits 

• Enhanced annual leave plus 3 Wellbeing Days per year 

• Paid family leave (maternity, paternity, surrogacy & adoption) 

• Agile working (plus a Working from Abroad Policy!) 

• Support for your ongoing growth & development 

• Inclusive people policies (sickness, menopause, compassionate and fertility leave) 

• A chance to give back to your local community with 5 paid volunteering days

OUR BEHAVIOURS 🏆

• Grow others - We fundamentally believe that investing in growing others benefits everyone, whether it's helping them develop hard or soft skills. We want learning and growing to be part of our DNA to help makes us a better team, together.

• Master it - We are obsessed with our area of expertise and enjoy developing our skills. We rarely take things at face value; we investigate, interrogate, and always look for ‘the why,’ and wherever possible, we use data to find the best solution.

• Collaborate - We are in it together, for the tough stuff and the celebrations too. To achieve the best results, we need expertise from all areas of the organisation, and we wholeheartedly welcome diverse thinking.

• Adapt - We work fluidly, adapting to new information and the evolving environment while staying committed to our goals. Innovation and experimentation fuel our projects and we’re never afraid to pivot.

• Deliver - Our focus is always on the end result; we value outcomes over activity. We collaborate to deliver work at speed without dropping any of our other behaviours.
  

We believe in talented and diverse teams that reflect the diversity of our customers and the communities in which we operate. Everyone brings different perspectives and experiences. We lay out the above requirements to guide applicants to the experiences that we believe will allow you to be successful in the role. If you don’t meet them all, please consider applying if you think you can still perform the role as described.