Manager Experience Research

Our Purpose
Mastercard powers economies and empowers people in 200+ countries and territories worldwide. Together with our customers, we're helping build a sustainable economy where everyone can prosper. We support a wide range of digital payments choices, making transactions secure, simple, smart and accessible. Our technology and innovation, partnerships and networks combine to deliver a unique set of products and services that help people, businesses and governments realize their greatest potential.
Title and Summary
Manager Experience Research
Overview
We are excited to announce a new opportunity for an Experience Research Manager in our Experience Strategy and Research team, within the Customer Experience and Design team within Mastercard Foundry.
The Mastercard Foundry - an interdisciplinary group, including CXD (customer experience & design) teams, data scientists, technologists and more - is the new product development group of Mastercard, focused on de-risking and delivering new and differentiated customer-centric solutions.
Our Experience Strategy and Research team, within Foundry, leads early-stage product innovation by uncovering customer needs, identifying opportunities, and translating insights into strategic direction for product and business teams. We operate across discovery, problem definition, and concept development, ensuring that new products and experiences are grounded in customer needs, market dynamics, and organizational objectives.
We focus on de-risking key customer, product, and business assumptions throughout the product innovation lifecycle, while fostering a continuous learning culture that drives more informed decisions and accelerates innovation.
Role
The Experience Research Manager is a key member of the team responsible for leading research initiatives that reveal deep customer understanding and de-risk emerging assumptions. This role partners closely with experience strategists, designers, product managers, and technologists to uncover evidence-based insights that guide product innovation from early discovery through validation of MVP and roadmap assumptions.
The Experience Research Manager is an individual contributor who will be expected to lead, drive and manage the design, execution and synthesis of research across diverse methodologies, including exploratory, generative, and evaluative research. These aim to uncover actionable insights to inform strategic decisions and derisk critical assumptions across the product development lifecycle.
Key Responsibilities
Research Planning and Execution
o Collaborate in identifying and prioritizing the riskiest assumptions to subsequently de-risk
o Identify the optimal research approach and methodology to de-risk priority assumptions, taking into consideration business needs and project phase
o Design and conduct rigorous, mixed-methods research studies to uncover customer needs, motivations, behaviours, and pain points, across all phases of the product development lifecycle -- from framing the problem to testing and iterating concepts.
o Define research plans, goals and objectives, and develop recruitment screeners, discussion guides and surveys focused on testing assumptions, and informing actionable product and business decisions
o Partner with third-party vendors to execute and scale research plans as needed.
Analysis and Presenting Insights/Recommendations
o Synthesize qualitative and quantitative data into clear insights, opportunity areas, and actionable recommendations that inform product and business strategy.
o Communicate research findings through compelling storytelling, presentations, and reports to senior stakeholders.
Informing strategic outputs and outcomes
o Collaborate closely with experience strategy to translate insights into strategic frameworks, value propositions, and MVP hypotheses.
o Support the planning and facilitation of cross-functional design thinking workshops
Collaboration and Inclusivity
o Collaborate with CX team to design optimal testing stimuli based
o Foster a collaborative and inclusive environment, where diverse perspectives shape research questions
o Champion a research-driven culture within the organization by sharing knowledge and advocating for user-centred decision making.
Adaptability and Organization
o Anticipate and adapt research approaches and plans based on new learnings and business constraints
o Manage multiple research projects simultaneously in a fast paced, dynamic environment
o Continuously learn, experiment with new tools and methodologies, and contribute to evolving best practices.
Curiosity for Cultural, Tech, Research Trends
o Utilize your curiosity for cultural and technology trends to identify opportunities for innovation and stay ahead of industry shifts.
o Stay ahead of emerging research methodologies, tools, and best practices to continuously improve research rigor and impact.
All About You
You are observant, curious, and passionate about collaborating with others to build customer-centric solutions. You combine analytical rigor with empathy for customers and thrive on turning complexity into clarity. You are a practitioner and a thought partner who helps teams make smarter, faster, and more informed product decisions.
o Degree in a research-related field, for example, Human-Computer Interaction, Psychology, Anthropology, Sociology, Behavioral Economics, Marketing, etc.
o 6-years experience in user experience research, market research, behavioral research, or related fields within innovation-driven organizations.
o Proven expertise in a broad range of qualitative and quantitative research methods including ethnography, contextual inquiry, usability testing, surveys, analytics interpretation, and experimental design.
o Strong experience in synthesizing complex data sets and translating research findings into clear, actionable insights that influence product and business strategy.
o Familiarity with product development lifecycles, MVP concept testing, and iterative design processes.
o Strong storytelling and communication skills, with experience presenting research findings to senior executives and diverse audiences.
o Ability to thrive in ambiguity and balance multiple priorities across global, cross-functional teams.
o Curious about the global evolution of consumer experiences - across payments, small business, digital identity, marketplaces, loyalty, and beyond.
o A collaborative and inclusive team player, who can build relationships and ensure connections across silos.
o Passionate about improving the world through "doing well by doing good".
Some practicalities:
o This is a hybrid role and you must be able to attend the local office (Angel Lane, London) an average of 3 days a week.
Corporate Security Responsibility
All activities involving access to Mastercard assets, information, and networks comes with an inherent risk to the organization and, therefore, it is expected that every person working for, or on behalf of, Mastercard is responsible for information security and must:

• Abide by Mastercard's security policies and practices;
• Ensure the confidentiality and integrity of the information being accessed;
• Report any suspected information security violation or breach, and
• Complete all periodic mandatory security trainings in accordance with Mastercard's guidelines.