Head of Customer Research

Cash App is looking for an innovative leader to grow and expand our Customer Research team. Customer Research, composed of UX Research and Customer Insights, delivers quantitative and qualitative customer insights, shapes strategies, informs and influences roadmaps and supports customer centricity across the organization. Customer Research is part of the Design organization, which takes a holistic view to drive the end to end customer experience.

You are an experienced leader who will oversee a growing team of highly skilled researchers, and be a force in evolving and scaling the discipline. You will evangelize customer insights, balancing an understanding of rigorous data methods with qualitative studies, forging connections and collaboration points across the org and serving as a supportive layer to Cash App work streams. You excel at driving impact from insights and making research actionable. You can direct complex research at scale and demonstrate the use of a variety of research methods, and build strong partnerships and working models with teams and stakeholders across the org. 

Reporting to the Head of Creative and Design, this role will support our Product, Business and Design organizations and partner closely with Market Insights and Data Science teams. You will be empowered to lead and shape the next era of the Research discipline, partnering with Cash App leadership to innovate and build new solutions that allow us to scale effectively. 

In this role, you will:

• Lead, mentor and coach a team of exceptional qualitative and quantitative researchers and managers
• Become an evangelist, advocate, and educator on behalf of our research team, elevating the team’s presence within the organization
• Establish and drive a vision for the Customer Research organization and the growth of the team, establish and define research strategy, OKRs and roadmaps
• Actively recruit and build a multifaceted group, bringing a global mindset to the research team as we hire. 
• Adapt the team structure and processes to support changing needs and organizational growth 
• Drive and deliver broad insights about our customers to the organization at large
• Partner with Cash App Leads to identify meaningful customer segments, broad opportunity spaces, and support overarching business strategy and goals
• Support Product and Design leadership to drive strategy, roadmaps and execution
• Partner closely and collaborate with Market Research and Analytics leaders to drive connected and comprehensive insights across the org to improve product awareness, conversion and engagement
• Develop deep partnerships with cross-functional peers and leaders to deliver insights that inform product and business strategy, drive prioritization, remove blockers and ensure the customer is at the heart of the discussion
• Develop programs that disseminate research broadly across Cash App and ensure our customer remains at the forefront of key strategic initiatives
• Advocate customer needs through storytelling, including writing, visual, and verbal communication that helps other teams build empathy for our customers

• 15+ years of experience as a researcher
• 6+ years of direct management experience
• Proven track record of leading multifaceted research teams and delivering impactful work 
• Experience translating established brands and businesses into new expressions and spaces
• In depth experience with marketing and product development processes
• Extreme empathy for the customer, your teammates, and the company mission
• Deep knowledge of and applied experience with diverse research methods, when to apply them and how to analyze trade offs
• Excellent working knowledge of statistics and the principles of UX/product design
• Familiarity with a wide range of qualitative research methodologies such as one-on-one interviews, panels and immersion programs, ethnographic field research, usability testing (lab and remote), heuristic evaluations, survey science, social listening, natural language processing, etc
• Understanding and awareness of:
  • Quantitative survey design such as sampling, weighting and stratification.
  • Statistical methods such as multivariate analysis regression, classification, experimental design, conjoint or MaxDiff analysis, latent class or drivers analysis
  • Awareness of modern statistical programming languages and tools such as R, Python, SQL
• Clear point of view on research and an openness to new ideas
• Ability to oversee multiple, simultaneous research projects
• Understanding of performance marketing and brand marketing strategies
• Passion for recruiting, motivating, and managing a team of multidisciplinary researchers
• Composure in the face of ambiguity and an ability to effectively work with multiple leadership styles
• An action bias and intense desire to solve problems
• Unmatched attention to detail and due diligence
• A bias towards transparency and communication
• A generous dose of humility

We’re working to build a more inclusive economy where our customers have equal access to opportunity, and we strive to live by these same values in building our workplace. Square is a proud equal opportunity employer. We work hard to evaluate all employees and job applicants consistently, without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, pregnancy, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, citizenship, or any other legally protected class. 

We believe in being fair, and are committed to an inclusive interview experience, including providing reasonable accommodations to disabled applicants throughout the recruitment process. We encourage applicants to share any needed accommodations with their recruiter, who will treat these requests as confidentially as possible. Want to learn more about what we’re doing to build a workplace that is fair and square? Check out our I+D page. 

Additionally, we consider qualified applicants with criminal histories for employment on our team, and always assess candidates on an individualized basis.

Square, Inc. (NYSE: SQ) builds tools to empower businesses and individuals to participate in the economy. Sellers use Square to reach buyers online and in person, manage their business, and access financing. Individuals use Cash App to spend, send, store, and invest money. And TIDAL is a global music and entertainment platform that expands Square's purpose of economic empowerment to artists. Square, Inc. has offices in the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, Ireland, Spain, Norway, and the UK.