Lead Researcher, Research & Insights

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Job Category:
User Experience

About Salesforce

Salesforce is the #1 AI CRM, where humans with agents drive customer success together. Here, ambition meets action. Tech meets trust. And innovation isn't a buzzword – it's a way of life. The world of work as we know it is changing and we're looking for Trailblazers who are passionate about bettering business and the world through AI, driving innovation, and keeping Salesforce's core values at the heart of it all.

Ready to level-up your career at the company leading workforce transformation in the agentic era? You're in the right place! Agentforce is the future of AI, and you are the future of Salesforce.

Research & Insights (R&I) is a strategic partner to product management, engineering, User Experience (UX), and go-to-market teams across Salesforce.

Job Description

The Marketing Cloud Research & Insights team focuses on equipping Cloud leaders with data about customer needs and experiences in distinct product pillars including AI‑fueled capabilities, omni‑channel management, personalization, and feature adoption.

We are seeking a Lead Researcher who can distill complex problems into insights that inform product, design, development, and business decisions. You are a self‑driven, impact‑oriented researcher with experience in Research Community Management and strong quantitative data organization skills. You are a nimble leader who balances the deployment of complex, end‑to‑end research initiatives alongside rapid community research interventions.

Responsibilities

• Establish, grow, and manage multiple diverse research communities, ensuring high engagement and representation of key customer segments.

• Develop recruitment strategies to maintain a high‑quality participant pool for quantitative and qualitative research.

• Implement best practices for community management, including moderation, communication, and retention strategies.

• Work on fast‑paced projects, requiring attention to detail and working within constrained timelines.

• Execute rapid research in collaboration with cross‑functional teams.

• Translate fuzzy, qualitative insights into quantifiable, trackable metrics that teams can align around by solving the challenge of measuring what matters.

• Design, distribute, and analyze surveys using advanced survey methodologies and tools or advise vendors to execute.

• Apply statistical techniques to interpret survey data, ensuring reliability and validity of findings.

• Use data visualization tools to present research findings in a clear and actionable format.

• Scope and drive research projects that inform product strategy, design, and development, in collaboration with cross‑functional stakeholders.

• Conduct generative and evaluative research using a mixture of research methods.

• Synthesize research findings into actionable insights, creating narratives to frame problems and highlight the business value of recommended solutions.

• Manage research timelines, budgets, and deliverables while maintaining data integrity and ethical research standards.

• Partner with UX researchers, data scientists, product managers, and marketing teams to align research activities with business goals.

• Socialize insights with cross‑functional stakeholders to influence their decision‑making.

• Partner fully with product owners, designers, engineers, and other researchers to provide the best possible experience for our users and customers.

Required Experience / Skills

• 7+ years of experience conducting hands‑on research in user experience, product design, or technology contexts; at least 2 years of experience working in a large matrixed organization.

• Ability to plan, design, and execute foundational, generative, and evaluative research engagements.

• Strong understanding of research methods (qualitative and quantitative) and best practices, and familiarity with a broad range of established and emerging user research tools.

• Experience working in cross‑functional teams.

• Excellent teamwork and collaboration skills.

• Excellent project…