Senior Research Lead - Grow

Job description

Your mission As Senior Research Lead for Grow, you’ll own research’s strategic contribution across the entire business area. You’ll identify and initiate the research programmes that matter most, connecting questions and opportunities across multiple teams. Your focus will be on where Grow needs to go, what it needs to learn to move forward and driving change. You’ll ensure research anticipates hurdles, identifies future opportunities and helps the organisation make confident decisions.

You’ll work with the cross-functional teams that make up Grow. Together, they’re rethinking how people can earn a return on all their money, regardless of currency, goal or risk appetite. You’ll initially lead one or two researchers, supporting their performance, development and progression while setting clear direction for the team’s work. Alongside this leadership, you’ll continue to plan and deliver strategically important research yourself.

Success at this level means research is integral to how Grow sets direction and prioritises opportunities. Here’s how you’ll make an impact Defining research direction: Set clear direction across teams, connecting customer evidence to Grow’s product and business goals Raising research quality and maturity: Set and uphold high standards, champion user-centred decision-making and improve research capability across teams

Strengthening research practice: Bring together people, processes, tools and standards so research is focused, efficient and consistently high quality Leading through people: Develop researchers and future research leaders, cultivate a strong leadership culture and take responsibility for performance and impact Using evidence to influence: Use evidence to shape core product features, multi-team roadmaps and senior stakeholder decisions

Building compelling narratives: Create a clear picture of the future that aligns teams and inspires Wise’s senior leaders to act Managing interdependencies: Align research priorities across teams, resolve dependencies and create clarity around shared decisions Using modern tools thoughtfully: Set direction for the responsible use of AI and emerging tools where they improve speed, quality or impact without weakening research rigour or judgement

About you You have 10+ years’ research experience, including leading researchers across multiple teams or complex product areas You have a track record of raising research quality and maturity across teams by improving craft, processes, tools and standards You can shape research and product strategy across a business area and influence senior stakeholders through compelling evidence and storytelling

You can connect customer evidence to business outcomes and identify opportunities for research to create new value You can lead diverse teams through change, complexity and ambiguity while maintaining clear direction and high standards You can develop strong researchers and future leaders through clear expectations, thoughtful coaching and accountable performance management

You can navigate competing priorities and resolve complex people and stakeholder challenges while maintaining trust and cohesion And as a heads up, this role probably isn't for you if: Your experience is primarily in market research or academia, without demonstrable experience leading user research in technology or product teams You want a management-only role and no longer want to plan or deliver research yourself