Lead User Researcher (Remote in United States)

Who we are

Nivoda is an extremely fast growing B2B marketplace revolutionizing the way the global diamond industry operates. Nivoda connects buyers and sellers of diamonds on its online platform and facilitates the most transparent, efficient, and cost-effective way to sell and buy diamonds.

Since launch in 2017, Nivoda has grown to a team of 400+ employees worldwide and has remained true to its founding mission: build the trusted global marketplace for the jewellery industry by delivering modern tools and quantitative ROI.

Who we need

We’re looking for a highly capable US-based practitioner to lead the research team at Nivoda. This role will require regular in-person visits to our American retail partners to deeply understand their experience of buying and selling diamonds and jewellery. This includes learning what it’s like to use Nivoda and identifying new areas where we can help jewellers to become more efficient and increase sales. 

The role will involve building a small team to carry out all research for the company. This includes strategic generative/discovery work and concept testing, through to usability testing and reviewing analytics, as well as gathering and analysing customer feedback via our ‘Voice of customer’ programme.

As well as using a range of research methodologies, you’ll bring a deep knowledge of the Jobs to be Done (JTBD) framework to the team. This will lead to new products that will support Nivoda’s retail partners in achieving their goals.

You’ll need excellent stakeholder management skills as you work closely with senior leadership to de-risk strategic business decisions, and with product managers, designers, engineers and the sales/commercial teams to ensure market fit for new products while optimising those that already exist. 

As well as including the Product and Engineering teams in every step of the research process, you’ll consistently socialise the research team’s findings throughout the company to generate empathy for our customers.

The role will particularly appeal to those who are comfortable with ambiguity and enjoy using their initiative to solve problems in a very fast-growing company.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Creating a small, first class research function 

• Working directly with leadership, proactively supplying customer data to de-risk strategic decisions and guiding them on research’s strengths and limitations

• Collaborating with experienced engineers, product managers, senior designers and commercial teams to inform the direction and execution of digital products, including SaaS

• Demonstrating the ROI of research to the leadership team

• Creating OKRs for the research team that align with the business’ strategic objectives

• Upskilling the research team to apply the Jobs to be Done framework to deeply understand Nivoda’s customers, including mapping out their goals and communicating this effectively to Product team and wider business through goal-based archetypes

• Providing training and support to direct reports so they can conduct high quality qualitative and quantitative user research (including mixed methods) using a variety of methodologies such as:

• field studies

• one-to-one interviews

• journey maps

• surveys (including ODI)

• diary studies

• remote and in person usability testing (moderated and unmoderated)

• using analytics to drive decision making

• Socialising research findings across the business to drive customer empathy

• Gathering and analysing customer feedback via our ‘Voice of customer’ programme and turning it into actionable tasks

• Creating a research democratisation programme that empowers customer-facing teams to get reliable data from basic research 

• Improving all aspects of user research projects including recruitment, session scheduling, session moderation, presentation of findings and organising incentives

• Ensuring the team communicates findings and recommendations by writing and presenting persuasive and authoritative reports

• Significantly increasing the research maturity at Nivoda

What you'll need

• 5+ years’ experience, ideally with experience of working in the B2B tech/e-commerce/SaaS sectors. Whilst not required, start up/scale up experience is highly desirable.

• The ability to regularly visit US retailers to carry out field research

• A deep understanding of the theory that underpins user research, including relevant principles of psychology. This could be from a university degree or Masters in a related field (e.g., Human-Computer Interaction, Psychology, Sociology), or training at a well-respected boot camp

• Experience of building a high quality research team in a fast-growing company 

• A track record of managing senior leadership and an ability to build relationships with people across all cultures and levels of seniority 

• Practical experience of the JTBD framework, field research, diary studies, depth interviews, surveys, usability testing

• Adaptability and resilience: you can make decisions with incomplete information, remain calm under pressure and enjoy working in a dynamic environment

What we offer

• A dynamic working environment in an extremely fast-growing company

• Fully remote working

• An opportunity to build your own team and shape the future of research at Nivoda

• Cross-team collaboration with teams around the world

• Unlimited holiday

Important Information

• This role is offering a salary of between $90k - $110k, depending on experience and location.

• This role reports into our Chief Product Officer

• This role will involve frequent travel to meet with customers and conduct research in person