Senior UX Researcher

Job Description:

LOCATION: This role can be based in San Francisco, CA, San Mateo, CA or NYC offices

WHAT IS RAKUTEN REWARDS?

Rakuten Rewards helps people shop smarter and save money by earning Cash Back on everyday purchases. To date, our 13+ million members across the US have earned over $3.7 billion in Cash Back at 3,500+ of our partner stores by shopping via the Rakuten app, browser extension and rakuten.com.

About the position:

We're looking for a Senior UX Researcher to join the small-but-mighty Research team at Rakuten. You will be in great company working alongside designers, researchers and UX writers to help build great experiences that our members and merchants will love. We're looking for someone who has experience running end-to-end research, leveraging mixed methods, and delivering insights that that drive business goals and delight end-users. You'll take on meaningful research projects that will have a lasting impact on our business and our members' experiences. This UX Researcher will report to the Director of Research and will sit within our Product Design team where, in very close partnership with Product, Design, and Engineering, they will shape the way members engage with the entire product ecosystem.

• Lead research planning and execution, effectively building alignment with cross-functional peers and stakeholders throughout the research process from ideation to insights
• Clearly communicate insights and learnings, tying directly to actionable next steps and impact on product direction
• Connect insights and approaches across multiple squads and data sources to encourage a holistic view that is biased towards action.
• Shape User Research capabilities and processes, playing a key role in scaling methods, tools and activities that deliver value.
• Evangelize research methodologies and approaches across project teams to empower every team member to increase their awareness of user needs
• Partner with the Product Design team to support total team research efforts through mentorship and coaching
• Facilitate workshops and brainstorms in collaboration with the project team, and actively contribute to elevate the Design team's culture and profile across the organization

• Experience leveraging a broad range of research methodologies across the various stages of product development: Experience with both qualitative and quantitative research methods such as interviews, moderated and unmoderated tests, heuristic evaluations, benchmark studies, contextual inquiries, and surveys
• Proven ability to think strategically about customer needs, market dynamics, and business impact
• Ability to thrive in ambiguity, with a proven track record of setting and executing research roadmaps leading to meaningful product direction
• Ability to collaborate closely with cross-functional partners, driving alignment around user needs and incorporating peers into the research process

• 5+ years of leading high-impact user research efforts
• Excellent communication skills, an engaging presentation style, and strong visual storytelling
• Familiarity with Figma, Tableau, Amplitude is a plus
• Ecommerce experience is a plus
• Experience with market research/analysis is a plus