Senior Product/User Researcher (Contract)

📋 Description

• • Are you a seasoned Product/User Researcher with a passion for building impactful research programs from the ground up? Tilt is seeking a highly autonomous and experienced Senior Product/User Researcher to join our team on a contract basis. This is a unique opportunity to establish and lead research practices that will fundamentally inform our product development lifecycle. Currently, our research efforts are conducted inconsistently and lack formal methodology. This role is critical in defining the philosophy, standards, and operating model necessary to infuse rigor, clarity, and deep user insight into every product decision we make.
• • Reporting directly to product and design leadership, you will be a key partner to the Head of Design and the broader product design team. Your primary responsibility will be to act as a hands-on practitioner while simultaneously architecting a scalable and sustainable research program. This is a true product research role, focused on understanding user needs, behaviors, and mental models to drive product innovation, rather than market or consumer marketing research.
• • Your impact will be profound. You will be instrumental in developing our research program by establishing a clear research philosophy, setting organizational standards, and defining best practices. This includes creating robust frameworks, templates, and governance structures to enhance research rigor and actively mitigate bias throughout the research execution process. A significant part of your role will involve educating our product, design, and Product Management (PM) teams on research methodologies, how to interpret findings effectively, and the appropriate application of research insights. Furthermore, you will build the essential research infrastructure, encompassing participant recruitment strategies, efficient insight synthesis processes, and a comprehensive knowledge management system to ensure learnings are captured and disseminated.
• • You will own and operate a continuous rolling research program, providing a constant stream of user feedback that directly influences product development. This involves partnering closely with various teams to understand their research needs and translating these requirements into meticulously planned, methodologically sound test plans. You will be responsible for recruiting and facilitating participant sessions on an ongoing basis, dynamically adjusting the research cadence to align with product priorities and the complexity of the research questions. Synthesizing findings into actionable insights that clearly inform product direction and design decisions will be a core function. You will maintain a sustainable research rhythm that expertly balances the need for responsiveness with the imperative for depth and methodological rigor.
• • Your expertise in mixed-methods research execution will be paramount. You will be responsible for determining and applying the most appropriate qualitative and quantitative methodologies across both discovery and evaluative research phases. This includes conducting in-depth interviews, usability testing, concept validation studies, surveys, diary studies, and experiments. A key aspect of your work will be ensuring the highest standards of research rigor, proactive bias mitigation, and methodological clarity across all studies undertaken.
• • Beyond the day-to-day, you will define and lead strategic research initiatives. These longer-term programs will aim to deepen our understanding of our users, their behaviors, and their underlying mental models. You will also manage external research agencies for larger-scoped studies (approximately 1-2 per quarter or half-year), subject to leadership approval. A critical outcome of your work will be driving synthesis across multiple studies to develop durable user insights and profiles that will serve as foundational guides for our overall product strategy. This role is about building a world-class research function that empowers Tilt to create exceptional financial products that truly serve our customers.
• • This is a contract position with an indefinite duration, offering the potential for extension and conversion to a full-time role. The position is remote-friendly within the US. We encourage individuals who may not meet every single qualification to apply; we value potential, ambition, and drive above all else.