Director of Research

What's the opportunity? 🤔

The Research, Analytics & Data Science team (RAD!) at Intercom use data and insights to drive evidence-based decision-making and inform product innovation. We're a team of data scientists and researchers who use data — both big and small — to unlock actionable insights about our customers, our products and our business. We believe in the power of combining quantitative and qualitative approaches to shape company strategy, build new products that drive tangible value, and gain a holistic understanding of our customers and business. 

We are looking for a passionate, ambitious Research leader to grow and evolve a world-class research team, champion research across the company and help shape the future of the RAD org. This is a high visibility, high-impact cross-functional leadership role reporting to the VP of RAD. We are especially keen to chat to folks who can blur the lines across Research and Data Science, and can take on a holistic Insights Leadership role. 

What will I be doing? 🚀

Leadership

• Lead Intercom Research - build, evolve, grow and motivate our team of 8 Researchers around our vision to lead the AI-first Customer Support category.
• Be a highly engaged member of the RAD Leadership and Product Leadership. Work with peers to help us build a highly engaged, world class RAD function and company at increasing scale. 
• Be sought out as the expert of the Research function. Influence and inform company strategy.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams across the company including Data Science, Product Management, Design, Engineering, Marketing, Biz Ops, Sales, and more to build a holistic understanding of our customers and ensure our insights drive action. 
• Present and communicate to company leadership. Present to the full company. Champion, celebrate and explain your team’s work, and inspire everyone.
• Deeply influence the strategic direction, goals, desired outcomes and success of their broader organization.  
• Present externally, at Intercom events and industry events. Represent Intercom Research and RAD in ways like writing for our blog, speaking, tweeting, community building and outreach, and more

Strategy

• Collaborate with RAD leaders, to ensure we have a unified RAD org and strategy.
• Own and drive our Research strategy
• Own company level customer understanding including areas like Churn Surveys, Sentiment Surveys, Product Satisfaction surveys and more
• Partner with Product leadership to shape and influence product strategy by bringing rich analysis, customer insight and evidence. Debate with product partners on how we use these insights to prioritise and build an impactful product roadmap. 
• Influence GTM strategy by working with Marketing, Sales and Growth leaders and the Exec team.

Execution and Results

• Accountable for strong execution in our Research team and a RAD guild across core product 
• Set the right focus, strategy and priorities across the team.
• Hold high standards across Research and RAD. Drive research excellence by defining quality and establishing best practices.
• Work with urgency and intention, helping the team “ship early and often”, knowing that what matters most is what our customers experience.
• Own, shape and guide impactful, strategic research projects and deliver compelling insights will be used and actioned across the company. 

People management and people engagement

• Directly manage the Research organization - lead, mentor, and grow the people within through actionable feedback and intentional career conversations.
• Evolve the org structure and partnership model as needed
• Maintain high employee engagement scores. Work with peers to evolve and improve how we work, our people policies, etc. 
• Participate in the hiring & inspiring of our team.
• Help us push the boundaries across Research & Data Science and build a truly holistic insights function.

What skills do I need? 📖

• 7+ years of Research experience preferably in B2B SaaS, with a deep understanding of a range of qualitative and quantitative methods.
• 3+ years experience building and leading a research team of individual contributors and managers. Genuinely care about how the people who report to you perform, feel and grow. 
• Experience working closely and/or managing data science or analytics folks.
• Proven track record of driving impact through research and insights. Care about and engage in our research process, insights generation, and in driving outcomes using insights.
• Proven track record of partnering with product orgs and contributing to company-level strategy, product strategy and product roadmaps.
• Very high attention to detail (uphold high standards in execution).
• Experience partnering cross-functionally and at exec levels to drive impact.
• You are genuinely excited by building software products and are passionate about new technology and its impact on the world.
• You are excited about building a very successful commercial business, and how the work of your team impacts the business.
• You are highly impactful in a world of ambiguity. You can bring clarity and simplicity to complex topics. You have an innate desire to make things better. Strong growth mindset and strong ownership of problems.
• Excels at all forms of communication, written, spoken, from 1:1 to large presentations. Can explain topics at any zoom level (highly strategic and abstract to specific and tactical) to employees at any zoom level (Execs to Individual Contributors). Excellent storyteller of insights.
• No tolerance for work/work. Always looking to drive a direct line between the work of the team and customer value and/or business impact.
• Skilled at problem prioritisation and able to ensure RAD function in particular is focused on what truly matters for Intercom

Benefits 😍

We are a well treated bunch, with awesome benefits! If there’s something important to you that’s not on this list, talk to us! :)

• Competitive salary and equity in a fast-growing start-up
• We serve lunch every weekday, plus a variety of snack foods and a fully stocked kitchen
• Regular compensation reviews - we reward great work!
• Pension scheme & match up to 4%
• Peace of mind with life assurance, as well as comprehensive health and dental insurance for you and your dependents
• Flexible paid time off policy
• Paid maternity leave, as well as 6 weeks paternity leave for fathers, to let you spend valuable time with your loved ones
• If you’re cycling, we’ve got you covered on the Cycle-to-Work Scheme. With secure bike storage too 
• MacBooks are our standard, but we’re happy to get you whatever equipment helps you get your job done

Intercom values diversity and is committed to a policy of Equal Employment Opportunity. Intercom will not discriminate against an applicant or employee on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender, age, physical or mental disability, veteran or military status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, or any other legally recognized protected basis under federal, state, or local law. Intercom is currently able to hire if an employee has a permanent residence in the following locations; Australia, Ireland, England and applicable US states. (California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Texas, and Washington).

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