Senior User Research Manager

📍London | 💰£90,000-£125,000 + Benefits | Research at Monzo 

About us: 

We’re here to make money work for everyone and we're doing things differently. For too long, banking has been obtuse, complex and opaque.

We want to change that and build a bank with everyone, for everyone. Our amazing community suggests features, test the app and give us constant feedback so we can build something everyone loves.

We're focused on solving problems, rather than selling financial products. We want to make the world a better place and change people's lives through Monzo.

About our User Research Team: We are currently a team of more than 20 individual contributors, who are embedded into collectives i.e Core Banking, Business Banking etc, working cross functionally with Product Design, Product Management and Engineering teams. Our research organisation is led by Katherine Vaughan, our Director of User Research. 

What you’ll be working on: 

• Managing a team of user researchers across 1-3 “collectives” (these are product verticals like Payments or Wealth) 
• Working closely with with your collective leadership to shape our product strategies and ensure the teams are solving the right customer problems in the right ways
• Scaling the impact research has on our strategies across the organisation.
• Increasing visibility of key research insights and making sure action is taken as a result
• Working in partnership with the Director of Research to make sure everyone in the research team is working on the highest impact areas, and individuals have autonomy to make those decisions where possible. 
• Understanding your direct reports well, so you can place them where they fit, for impact, growth and happiness. 
• Developing sustainable ways of nurturing all talent within the Research team. 
• Leading forums that allow the whole research team to feed into decisions and shape the team. 
• Working with Research Operations and the Research Director to scale team systems and processes as we grow. 
• Continually raising the standard of research through timely feedback, and improved processes and rituals. 
• Hiring brilliant, diverse User Researchers, and ensuring a smooth onboarding process for them. 
• Making sure the team has an active presence in the external community and is appealing to a diverse set of hiring prospects. 

Your day-to-day:

• Work within 1-3 critical business areas to develop and deliver a product strategy, including building a deep understanding of customer needs and market opportunities, and how we’ll differentiate ourselves and grow. 
• Providing support for around 5-10 direct reports, through clear development goals, timely updates and feedback, and regular 1:1s. 
• Collaborate with and influence key stakeholders across the organisation, including the wider product teams, company leadership, marketing, compliance, legal, regulatory affairs and more to get alignment and support for the strategy
• Work closely with design, product, marketing data and engineering leadership in your areas to set the right conditions for the teams to do their best work and problem solve our key customer needs
• Shaping development practices, like progression frameworks, across the wider team. 
• Taking an active role in our Design Leadership team, alongside our Chief Design Officer, Research Director, Design Directors, and Senior Design Managers. 
• Continually educating everyone at Monzo, including senior stakeholders, on what research can and can’t be used for.

You should apply if:

• You have experience working as an IC User Researcher in a high growth product or technology organisation before moving into people management
• You have experience managing a team of experienced User Researchers in a high growth product or technology organisation (not just agency or consultancy experience)
• You’re an experienced coach, mentor and leader of seasoned User Researchers with at least 5 years experience
• You’ve worked collaboratively with other disciplines like Data, Product and Design 
• You enjoy bringing momentum to projects, unblocking progress and focusing on achieving the most exciting outcomes (not the fanciest outputs)
• You care about the quality of the product that sits in our users’ hands, and the overall experience they have with Monzo
• You’re happiest when the people in your teams feel supported, are growing, and can work effectively 
• You have an approachable and supportive leadership style when you’re needed, but you also empower direct reports to work autonomously 
• You’ve managed a team of at least 3 high performers, and resolved performance issues 
• You have experience teaching and coaching non-researchers about research
• You have demonstrable experience making decisions that promote diversity and inclusion 
• You have experience making use of marketing insights, quantitative user research, product data and a range of other insights for better decision making

The Interview Process: 

Our interview process involves 3 main stages: 

1. Recruiter call (30 minutes). A video chat with Natalie who is part of our hiring team. This focuses on general suitability for Monzo. 
2. Research Leadership Ways of Working (60 minutes). You will be sent a pre-interview task by the hiring team, which you will discuss in the interview, followed by situation questions.
3. Final loop (Total 1hr 30-2 hours). Split into 2 interviews - Managing teams & People + Teamwork & Impact

Our average process takes around 2-3 weeks but we will always work around your availability. 

What’s in it for you: 

💰 £90,000-£125,000 base salary (depending on experience) ➕ plus stock options 

📍This role can be based in our London office, but we're open to distributed working within the UK (with ad hoc meetings in London). 

⏰ We offer flexible working hours and trust you to work enough hours to do your job well, at times that suit you and your team. 

📚Learning budget of £1,000 a year for books, training courses and conferences 

➕And much more, see our full list of benefits here 

If you prefer to work part-time, we'll make this happen whenever we can - whether this is to help you meet other commitments or strike a great work-life balance. 

#LI-NH1