Job Description

Introduction

We are a small but mighty design research practice in San Francisco looking for a Principal Researcher and HCI specialist to join our smart, creative and warm team. This role is an opportunity to make your mark on a key disciplinary area with a growing practice.

The Role

Principal Researchers take responsibility for our most complex engagements, ranging from one-off studies to programs of research. Principals help shape the development of our practice, nurturing team growth and expanding our methodological toolkit. They are trusted by our sophisticated clients to recommend research solutions to fit their evolving needs.

Key Responsibilities

Relationship Management

• Develop and manage key relationships, from lead generation to post-delivery feedback
• Help to frame engagement strategy, proposal content, and the definition and positioning of our research value proposition
• Creatively develop bids, scope projects, and configure engagements to optimize results for clients with varying budget and timeline requirements

Project Leadership

• Confidently lead and manage multiple engagements simultaneously
• Create engaging learning experiences for client teams throughout the research process, from senior executives and product leaders to junior researcher partners
• Recommend and deliver polished and compelling deliverables that enable action to realize organizational goals. These may include insights reports, journey maps, service blueprints, and video reels (with support from our in-house creative team). Where appropriate, reimagine traditional deliverables
• Facilitate client meetings and workshops to achieve consensus or clarity
• Evangelize and grow expertise in HCI within our San Francisco practice

Team Mentorship

• Participate in building and evolving the research methodology, codifying and improving existing processes, and aid in the growth of our research design practice’s maturity
• Provide mentoring, and support professional development of team members, especially in research design and analysis
• Advocate for the team and our work, e.g. publishing papers, attending industry events, writing blogs, activity on social media
• Champion human-centered innovation across our broader organization, Sutherland Global, through leading, educating and collaborating with business development colleagues

Education and Experience

• Academic qualifications in Cognitive Psychology, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Interaction Design, Design Strategy or a related field are useful, with a Masters or PhD preferred; however exceptional candidates may instead have experience that serves as an equivalent
• 6+ years of experience leading research engagements in an agency or in-house setting Experience in a fast-moving agency, startup or innovation lab setting is strongly preferred
• Experience leading research in the consumer financial services domain is highly desirable
• Advanced skills in project management, research and experiment design, crafting and writing of deliverables. Mixed-methods research skills desirable
• Strong business development experience, from developing new client relationships through to account management
• Demonstrable experience tackling complex projects that involve simultaneous stakeholders and/or research sites or segments

Job Requirements

• Eligibility to work in the US. Unfortunately, visa sponsorship is not available
• Occasional global and domestic travel may be required
• Role is located in downtown San Francisco on a hybrid basis. For exceptional candidates, a fully remote role in NYC may be possible
• Ability to carve out goals as well as the plan to reach them, and is comfortable with ambiguity.
• willingness to get scrappy and roll up your sleeves on occasion
• Excellent communication skills and a willingness to work in close collaboration with colleagues

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