Lead User Researcher

TrustedHousesitters is a global pet care travel exchange; a double sided digital marketplace of owners and sitters that’s growing rapidly through our unique combination of product, proposition, marketing and community building.

We've just recently been named as one of the Escape the City's top organisations to work for 2023 Also joining the 2024 edition of the Future Fifty program.

Our team has a collaborative and supportive culture. We’re passionate about pets, people and travel; continuously searching for the win, win, win that makes everyone’s lives easier, travel kinder on the pet and enables a more sustainable travel footprint.

We're fully in scale-up mode and have grown to be the only global platform of its kind. In the last few years, we’ve consistently achieved high year-on-year growth. Thanks to strong tailwinds in the pet and travel industry in the post-Covid world, 2022 has been our strongest year so far. At our marketplace we facilitate the perfect match between pet owners who want to leave their pets in safe hands and pet sitters looking to enjoy the companionship of pets whilst they travel.

We're a remote-first business, however we've retained a HQ in central Brighton which is available for collaborative working and in-person meet-ups.

About the Role

As the Lead User Researcher at TrustedHousesitters, you will drive our understanding of customer motivations, behaviours, and needs, acting as the key advocate for user-centred decision-making. In this strategic role, you will lead research initiatives, guide our customer insights across multiple teams, and act as the go-to expert for all design-related customer insights. Your work will ensure that product, design, and marketing teams are aligned with a deep, actionable understanding of our customer base, contributing directly to our growth and retention strategies.

Responsibilities

• Key Responsibilities:Guide and Oversee Research Strategy : Lead the development and execution of a comprehensive user research strategy that addresses the needs of both new and existing members. Define research priorities, and ensure alignment with company goals.

• Advocate for Customer Understanding : Act as the primary voice of the customer within TrustedHousesitters, guiding cross-functional teams—including Product, Marketing, and Customer Experience—toward user-centred approaches that improve the customer journey.

• Mentor and Collaborate with Design : Serve as the main point of contact for the design team, ensuring that design decisions are informed by rigorous research. Mentor junior researchers and designers in best practices, fostering a culture of research excellence.

• Develop and Enhance Personas and JTBD : Lead the creation of detailed customer personas and “Jobs to be Done” (JTBD) based on quantitative and qualitative insights. Ensure these tools are used effectively across teams to align on customer needs and lifecycle stages.

• Drive Data-Driven Segmentation and Lifecycle Insights : Partner with data scientists to create data-driven customer segmentation models, mapping the end-to-end customer experience lifecycle and providing insights for product and CRM initiatives.

• Cross-Functional Leadership : Collaborate closely with product, design, and marketing leads to embed user insights throughout all phases of product development, from ideation to launch.

• Plan and Run Research Studies: Use appropriate mixed research methods (attitudinal, behavioural, quant and qual) to uncover actionable insights.

• Evangeline Research Insights : Present research findings and insights regularly to stakeholders, influencing strategic decisions across the organisation. Ensure that insights are translated into actionable outcomes.

Requirements

• 7+ years in user research, with demonstrated leadership in conducting and applying user research within a B2C marketplace or similar environment.

• Portfolio of relevant case studies or research projects that match this job description.

• Research and Analytical Skills : Highly skilled in both qualitative and quantitative research methods, with a proven ability to translate findings into strategic guidance.

• Leadership and Mentoring : Experience leading or mentoring research teams or individuals, fostering a collaborative environment focused on customer insights.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration : Strong track record of working closely with design, product, and marketing teams to implement user-centric strategies.

• Communication : Strong storytelling and presentation skills, capable of conveying complex insights to diverse audiences.

Nice to Have

• Experience with data-driven customer segmentation, lifecycle mapping, JTBD, and persona development.

• Experience with research operations: research strategy, repository, customer advisory board creation and customer community building for research purposes.

• Familiarity with CRM systems and the integration of user insights into marketing for personalisation.

• Experience working with advanced research methods, data clustering, quantitative analysis methods.

If you’re interested in this opportunity, please apply through this LinkedIn advert rather than via direct message. We want to ensure that every person receives fair consideration and a consistent experience. Unfortunately, we can’t guarantee this if inquiries are made through email or LinkedIn messages, as that falls outside our established process. Thank you for your understanding

Benefits

In addition to a competitive salary and bonus, we offer a range of benefits, including:

Fully remote work

Discretionary 10% annual bonus scheme

Generous equity options

25 days holiday annually plus bank holidays and Christmas to New Year closure

Pension scheme: 5% from you as an employee and 3% from TrustedHousesitters

Premium TrustedHousesitters pet owner and sitter membership. This includes benefits like airport lounge passes, sit cancellation insurance, and home and contents insurance for sits for you

X5 premium memberships for your friends and family each year

Our team have an unlimited housesitting allowance, can work remotely from their sits, and are eligible to £500 per year towards travel costs

£200 annually towards home office equipment

Access to Spaces (co-working) Locations across the globe

Monthly working from home stipend

Macbook

Find a rescue pet to join your family and we’ll cover the adoption fees, as well as paternity to help any pet settle into their new home.

We host a quarterly all-expenses paid meet-up and will fund team events (remote or in person) throughout the year

We can cover costs of personal development resources, and have a regular time set aside for personal development

Bupa Health Insurance and Dental Insurance plan

SimplyHealth Healthcare Cash plan

Trusted Giving scheme - employee volunteering via On-hand and employee giving via Tyve

Weekly virtual yoga sessions

Brighton Bikeshare

Recruitment Referral Bonus

If you're ready to join us on our mission to become the most loved pet travel solution, we'd love to hear from you

In your application, please feel free to note which pronouns you use (For example- she/her/hers, he/him/his, they/them/theirs, etc).

At the heart of our team are a mix of diverse backgrounds. Here at TrustedHousesitters, we’re committed to the equal opportunities policy throughout the interview process and selection. Offers of employment into TrustedHousesitters are based solely on individual merit, qualifications, and the person's professional suitability.

Gender identity, sexual orientation, marital or civil partnership status, colour, race, nationality, ethnic or national origins, religion or beliefs, age, mental or physical disability, medical condition, pregnancy or maternity status, or any other protected characteristics do not enter into our decision-making process.

If you have a medical condition or an individual need for an adjustment to our process, and you believe this may affect your ability to be at your best - please let us know so we can talk about how we can best support you and make any adjustments that may be needed. person's professional suitability.