User Research and Insights Lead

Overview:

The
User Research & Insights Lead
uses their skills and knowledge in a wide range of research methods (incl. qualitative and quantitative methods) to understand Maya's existing and potential customers' mindsets, their behaviors and expectations, and how they use our products. This person also knows how to make use of various research methodologies to inspire and shape company-wide strategy for product development.

In this role, you are expected to have a track record of conducting user and market research, analyzing data, and developing actionable insights that inform our business decisions. You will be responsible for a wide range of research activities, including designing and executing surveys, analyzing secondary data, and preparing research reports.

It is expected that you will create understanding and empathy around user needs, stated and unstated, for the entire team including designers, product managers, business units, engineers, marketers, and banking professionals. You must be able to go beyond surveys and prototype testing, and be expected to conduct primary and secondary research, explore behaviors and motivations of our users through a range of research methods like concept evaluation, field visits, ethnography, in-person interviews, and log analysis.

You should have at least 3 years' experience in user and/or market research. This is a hands-on individual contributor role. We have a hybrid setup, so you need to be on-site at our office.

What you will do:

• Set up research initiatives
  – You will identify emerging opportunities for improving the customer experience by working closely with stakeholders to find important research questions that are aligned with the business objectives. You'll also be helping to grow the research capability within the team.
• Execute research and generate insights
  – You will design and execute user/market research studies, including surveys, focus groups, and interviews. You will identify the methodologies needed to extract insights and your objective is to elicit actionable insights through the lens of UX, HCI, social and behavioral sciences. You'll be conducting both formative (discovery) and evaluative research based on the research question.
• Collaborate with stakeholders
  – You are expected to be able to collaborate with stakeholders from project start to finish. From being able to assess the best methodology to being able to communicate the insights in creative and compelling ways to stakeholders in a way that is most relevant to them. In Maya, you will be working with designers, product managers, developers, marketers, banking professionals and more.
• Communicate findings -
  You are expected to be able to write comprehensive research reports that effectively communicate findings and recommendations.
  You'll also take your insights to shape how product teams think about medium and long-term product strategy as well as help teams tackle the root causes of wider customer experience issues.
• Act as a subject matter expert
  in the domain of customer experience and user research by consulting and advising on market trends, competitor analysis, product usability, research best practices and other customer experience standards. Using your holistic view of the whole product and customers' expectations, you will help build bridges between different parts of the business to advocate for the customer.

What we are looking for:

• Degree in Human-Computer Interaction, Cognitive Science, Experimental Psychology, Anthropology, Sociology, Statistics, Data Analytics, Marketing or a related field.
• At least 3 years of experience in an applied research setting, including experience integrating customer research into product designs, strategy, and policy
• Excellent research skills, and familiarity with a wide range of methods and proven ability to triangulate to establish an impactful insights narrative, with the ability to work up to peer review standards
• Fluency with visual storytelling and other communication tools that enable persuasive communicate findings to a non-technical audience
• Proficiency in creating various research reporting artefacts such as but not limited to, customer journey maps, personas, research reports, design workshops
• Track record of collaborating with multidisciplinary UX and product teams on technical implementation
• Experience in research for credit-related products, including credit cards, secured and unsecured loans
• Experience in mixedmethods user research is preferred
• Experience in digital banking, financial services, investments or financial education is a plus
• Experience in accessibility is a plus.