Job Description
Position Overview
The Design UX Researcher will drive strategic and operational research efforts to enhance customer experience (CX) and product design. This seasoned researcher will generate deep customer and user insights that inform business strategy, digital experiences, and service innovation — ensuring customer needs remain at the heart of all decision-making across product, design, and engineering teams.
What will you do?
Strategic Research Leadership
- Define and drive the CX and product design research strategy aligned to business goals.
- Identify key research questions and priorities based on impact and feasibility.
- Develop research frameworks to uncover customer insights, pain points and innovation opportunities.
End-to-End Research Execution
- Design and conduct qualitative and quantitative research studies including interviews, usability testing and surveys.
- Analyse and synthesise research data to generate actionable insights that drive customer-centric outcomes.
- Create compelling deliverables to communicate findings to stakeholders at all levels.
- Lead usability and experience testing across digital touchpoints to enhance user satisfaction.
Cross-Functional Collaboration and Insight Integration
- Collaborate with CX strategy teams to integrate findings into experience improvements.
- Partner with product managers and designers to embed insights into product development.
- Align survey and feedback insights with behavioural research across channel and operational heads.
- Identify emerging trends and market dynamics to inform CX innovation.
- Support market research efforts to help business teams understand customer expectations.
- Facilitate workshops to translate research insights into design and product strategies.
Mentorship and Thought Leadership
- Mentor and guide junior team members fostering a culture of learning.
- Stay current with industry trends and methodologies in design research, CX and UX.
- Contribute to the refinement of research processes, tools and best practices.
Qualification and Experience
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Bachelor's or Master's degree in Psychology, Design, Anthropology, Sociology, Marketing or a related field.
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7+ years of experience in design research, UX research, or service design research, with a proven ability to conduct research at scale.
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Background in financial services, insurance, or a similarly regulated industry is a plus.
What will make you successful in this role?
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Expertise in qualitative and quantitative research methods, including ethnographic research, interviews, usability testing, surveys, and A/B testing.
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Strong ability to synthesise and integrate insights into strategic recommendations that drive customer and business value.
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Excellent communication, storytelling, facilitation, and stakeholder management skills.
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Experience working in cross-functional teams and collaborating with CX strategy, product, design, and business stakeholders.
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Knowledge of service design principles and human-centered design methodologies.
Knowledge and Skills
Personal Attributes
Build a successful career with us
We’re all about building strong, lasting relationships with our employees. We know that you have hopes for your future – your career, your personal development and of achieving great things. We pride ourselves in helping our employees to realise their worth. Through its five business clusters – Sanlam Fintech, Sanlam Life and Savings, Sanlam Investment Group, Sanlam Allianz, Santam, as well as MiWay and the Group Office – the group provides many opportunities for growth and development.
Core Competencies
Turnaround time
The shortlisting process will only start once the application due date has been reached. The time taken to complete this process will depend on how far you progress and the availability of managers.