Head, Product and User Research at Interswitch

Job Summary:

• At Interswitch, design is more than aesthetics — it’s a strategic engine driving innovation, growth, and impact across Africa. As the Head of Product Research, you will lead the charge in embedding insight-driven decision-making into the heart of our product, marketing, and design practices.
• This role blends UX research, product analytics, customer insights, and strategic influence to shape how we build and evolve our digital products and experiences. You will own the research vision, build a world-class research practice, and ensure our teams are equipped with the evidence they need to make bold, customer-centered decisions.

Responsibilities:

Research Strategy & Leadership

• Define and evolve the research vision, roadmap, and operating model across product and marketing.
• Build and lead a high-performing team of researchers and analysts across qualitative, quantitative, and analytics domains.
• Promote a culture of continuous discovery, experimentation, and insight-led product development.
• Champion the strategic value of research across the organization.

Insight Generation & Execution

• Oversee the design and execution of UX research, usability testing, market studies, segmentation, and behavioral analysis.
• Collaborate with product managers, designers, marketers, and data teams to identify the highest-impact research questions.
• Ensure the right methods (interviews, surveys, field studies, A/B tests, analytics, etc.) are used at the right time.
• Advance the use of AI, automation, and experimentation platforms to scale learning.

Product Analytics & Data Integration

• Utilize product analytic best practices to generate, synthesize and turn behavioral data into product and UX insights.
• Develop standard metrics and dashboards to measure product experience and inform design decisions.
• Enable a seamless loop between quantitative analytics and qualitative insight.

Communication & Influence

• Translate complex research findings into compelling, actionable insights for stakeholders at all levels.
• Deliver high-impact presentations and reports that drive alignment and decision-making.
• Foster a culture of storytelling through data, ensuring research impacts product roadmaps and go-to-market strategies.

Practice & Operations

• Establish standards, playbooks, and ethical frameworks for research across the company.
• Build and manage a centralized research repository and insight hub.
• Mentor and grow the team through structured coaching, training, and hiring.
• Drive operational excellence in research planning, documentation, and impact tracking.

Requirements:

• 8+ years of experience in UX research, product research, or insights roles, including at least 3 years in a leadership position.
• Experience in product-led organizations and working closely with design, product, and marketing teams.
• Strong track record of conducting and leading both generative and evaluative research.
• Deep expertise in UX research methods, quantitative analysis, and product analytics tools (e.g., Mixpanel, Amplitude, Clarity, Hotjar, etc.)
• Proficient in leading multi-method research programs: interviews, diary studies, surveys, fieldwork, concept testing, etc.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills — able to influence through insights.
• Familiarity with modern AI tools for research automation and synthesis is a strong plus.

Personal Attributes

• Strategic thinker with a bias for impact and outcomes.
• Confident leader who can inspire, coach, and develop a multidisciplinary team.
• Comfortable navigating ambiguity and complexity in fast-paced environments.
• Deep empathy for users and a passion for solving real-world problems through resear