Design Research Manager - Innovation

Visa is a world leader in digital payments, facilitating more than 215 billion payments transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions and government entities across more than 200 countries and territories each year. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, convenient, reliable and secure payments network, enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive.

When you join Visa, you join a culture of purpose and belonging – where your growth is priority, your identity is embraced, and the work you do matters. We believe that economies that include everyone everywhere, uplift everyone everywhere. Your work will have a direct impact on billions of people around the world – helping unlock financial access to enable the future of money movement.

Join Visa: A Network Working for Everyone.

Visa Global Product Design is seeking an experienced, hands-on Design Research Manager with expertise in both user research that drives leading-edge Product Design. All of our team members are innovative thinkers and strategic problem solvers who are as analytical as they are creative. We value hard work, accountability and collaboration.In this role, you will lead full scale research projects delivering compelling research insights that distill the complexity of client challenges. This person will play a vital role in developing new Products & Services directly for Visa’s clients and partners, as well as helping inform critical Human Insights employed by internal Product, Consulting and Account teams. 

• Execute all phases of qualitative research (scoping, research strategy, conducting, synthesizing and reporting). Go deep on every project to deliver results
• Be a team expert in the fields of design research, insights, storytelling and design research
• Evangelize and promote design research and insights throughout the organization
• Demonstrate a strong understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of different research methods, including when and how to apply them during each product phase, and ability to justify research and design decisions.
• You’ll be responsible for working across multiple clients to execute research delivering actionable and timely insights
• Create personas, journey maps, user flows and other research artifacts
• Support and help facilitate design thinking workshops with clients and stakeholders
• Identify how to frame complex research problems, as well as evaluate agencies and vendors to support projects (when needed)
• Act as a change agent, sparking fresh ideas that elevate the research practice and are infused within our culture and products
• Foster collaboration between Design, Research, Design Operations & Product teams, in addition to establishing relationships with other partners throughout Visa
• Represent the team successfully with all types of stakeholders including Visa clients and partners
• Mentor other design researchers and lead by example in delivering excellent individual work

Essential Functions

• Experience combining qualitative and quantitative research methodologies to form holistic approaches to problem solving
• Experience managing participant recruitment and associated privacy and data considerations
• Knowledgeable of accessibility guidelines and best practices
• Ability to support design thinking workshops, including leading sessions and engaging with high-profile clients
• Must be results-oriented, and have the ability to work independently, prioritize many competing needs including multiple urgent tasks, and effectively deal with ambiguity
• Innate desire to share credit and support one’s colleagues, putting the success of the team and the company ahead of personal gain
• Refusal to compromise on commitments, quality and the truth
• Ability to build strong relationships while navigating multiple complex organizations, sometimes with competing agendas and differing values
• Successful track record developing relationships and engaging with colleagues across functions, levels and geographies, including within a virtual environment
• Excellent analytical abilities and attention to detail — no cutting corners
• Top notch client management/people skills, with experience managing multiple stakeholder relationships
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, problem solving skills, customer service and interpersonal skills
• Knowledge of and experience with Visa products a plus
• Experience with tools like Mural, Airtable, dScout, UserTesting.com, InVision, Figma
• Experience managing legal and privacy considerations and processes for user research

• Basic Qualifications
  
  5 or more years of relevant work experience with a Bachelor’s Degree or at least 2 years of work experience with an Advanced degree (e.g. Masters, MBA, JD, MD) or 0 years of work experience with a PhD
  
  Preferred Qualifications
  
  • 6 or more years of work experience with a Bachelor’s Degree or 4 or more years of relevant experience with an Advanced Degree (e.g. Masters, MBA, JD, MD) or up to 3 years of relevant experience with a PhD
  • Minimum 10+ years of work experience, including significant experience in a role with responsibility for design research, product design and design research planning, as well as execution and client management for complex UX research projects
  • Experience and understanding of Product Management and Innovation in the payments space a plus
  • Qualitative expertise a must; quantitative skills a plus.

Work Hours: Varies upon the needs of the department.

Travel Requirements: This position requires travel 5-10% of the time.

Mental/Physical Requirements: This position will be performed in an office setting.The position will require the incumbent to sit and stand at a desk, communicate in person and by telephone, frequently operate standard office equipment, such as telephones and computers.

Visa is an EEO Employer.Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or protected veteran status.Visa will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with EEOC guidelines and applicable local law.

Visa will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with applicable local law, including the requirements of Article 49 of the San Francisco Police Code.