My first UX hire was also the first researcher in our organization’s history. Over nearly five years, she became a core partner in building our research function and steadily grew into a Principal-level contributor through consistent impact. As her manager, it was my responsibility to ensure her role reflected that reality. This case study shows what it means to advocate for your people with rigor, not just instinct.
A high-performing researcher had outgrown her role, but the organization had not yet caught up. Without recognition, there was a risk of losing both the individual and the capability she had built.
Rather than reacting when it became urgent, I built a structured development process. I led with a formal discovery session to understand her goals and motivations, a co-created growth plan with quarterly milestones and success metrics, and a promotion proposal grounded in organizational impact in addition to tenure and likeablity.
As her manager I identified the gap, designed the growth framework, constructed the promotion proposal, tracked progress and built the business case.
There was no established Principal UX Researcher title at ActivTrak, no comp band, no precedent and no organizational template to reference. A straightforward "she deserves it" argument wasn't going to move a CPO who thinks in business outcomes.
Nearly five years of org investment
Built resarch function from nothing
Retention threat and capability gap
Built a three-pillar case that gave the proposal weight on every dimension a CPO cares about: four years of tenure and demonstrated loyalty to the org, exceptional skill and effort in building the research function from nothing, and the organizational risk of leaving her underrecognized — a retention risk and a capability gap in one. No single pillar was enough alone; together they were hard to dismiss.
A case built on merit alone is easy to defer. A case built only on risk can feel like a threat. Balancing all three meant the proposal worked regardless of which lens the CPO applied — and made it harder to find a reason to say no than a reason to say yes.
Strong advocacy for your people isn't about finding the one argument that lands. It's about removing every argument against. When the case is built on tenure, skill and risk equally, the only remaining question is timing.
"A growth plan only works if you're managing the person, not the document"
She hit her milestones that we identified, monthly research shares, ownership of our beta programs and independent leadership of the navigation taxonomy project, one the highest-impact research efforts we ran that year. The promotion was approved. Her scope expanded from execution-focused research to org-wide strategic research leadership.
