Director, Experience Design Research (Finance)
Director of Experience Design Research Role Overview
The Director of Experience Design Research sets the vision, operating model, and bar for a modern research practice that discovers human-centered business opportunities and delivers decision-quality insights that shape product strategy, de-risk delivery, and unlock accelerated revenue growth. You will evolve the culture from "research as validation" to "research as strategy"-embedding discovery, framing, and insight storytelling into how we prioritize, fund, and build.
Key Responsibilities
1) Research Strategy & Portfolio Leadership
- Define a research strategy and portfolio tied to strategic business bets; set learning agendas and research roadmaps that inform "where to play/how to win," not just "how to ship."
- Maintain an enterprise view of open questions, knowns/unknowns, and insight reuse; establish governance so research accelerates learning velocity across teams.
- Embed researchers (and research rituals) across the product lifecycle to influence early decision-making, not just late-stage testing.
- Operationalize an insight-to-action pipeline-from fieldwork and synthesis to narratives that drive prioritization, investment cases, and portfolio decisions.
- Partner with Finance/Product to quantify impact (e.g., conversion, activation, retention, NPS/CSAT, cost-to-serve) and attribute lift to research-informed changes.
- Lead the shift from transactional research to a discovery-first culture-coaching leaders and teams to ask better questions, frame problems, and connect human truths to economic value.
- Establish democratized research programs (training, guardrails, tools) so non-researchers can safely learn, while the core team focuses on high-leverage strategic work.
- Model an inclusive, craft-loving, growth-oriented team culture consistent with leading design org values.
- Ensure excellence across qual/quant methods, mixed-methods synthesis, and advanced techniques (e.g., segmentation, JTBD, service safari, diary/telemetry fusion).
- Build ResearchOps: recruiting pipelines, knowledge graph/insight library, panel governance, data ethics, privacy/compliance, and quality standards.
- Create a shared insight repository and taxonomy so findings compound over time and inform strategy and roadmaps beyond a single team.
- Translate complex human insights into clear strategic narratives for executives-using artifacts (landscapes, opportunity maps, service blueprints) that drive alignment and investment.
- Serve as a trusted advisor to senior leaders on where human needs and business models intersect, shaping portfolio bets and incubation opportunities.
- 10+ years in Experience/UX Research or Design Strategy, including 5+ years leading research teams at scale; proven success shifting organizations from validation to discovery.
- Demonstrated impact connecting human insight to business outcomes (growth, engagement, retention, cost-to-serve), with a portfolio of programs that shaped product/experience strategy.
- Mastery of qualitative and quantitative methods; fluency in research platforms; strength in mixed-methods synthesis and persuasive executive communication.
- Experience building democratized research capabilities with training, guardrails, and QA-elevating decision quality while protecting participant ethics and data privacy.
- Proven ability to attract, develop, and retain diverse research talent; a culture builder who champions community, craft, and continuous learning.
- Background in complex domains (platforms, multi-sided marketplaces, regulated industries) and horizontal/enterprise product spaces.
- Familiarity with product finance, pricing/packaging, and/or incubation/venture-style evaluation of opportunities.
- Advanced degree in HCI, Psychology, Anthropology, or related field.
- An enterprise research strategy and operating model is in place; research demand is prioritized against strategic bets, with learning agendas for each portfolio area.
- Measurable insight-to-action throughput: % of roadmap items/OKRs informed by research; time-to-insight reduced; reuse of insights across programs increases quarter over quarter.
- A baseline → improved decision quality metric (e.g., fewer late-stage reversals, higher launch confidence) and business impact (e.g., conversion, retention, call deflection, revenue lift) are tracked with Finance/Product.
- A sustainable democratized research program (enablement + guardrails) shifts the team's time from execution to strategic discovery work.
If you will be working at home occasionally or permanently, the internet connection must be obtained through a cable broadband or fiber optic internet service provider with speeds of at least 10Mbps download/5Mbps upload.
For this position, we anticipate offering an annual salary of 158,300 - 263,900 USD / yearly, depending on relevant factors, including experience and geographic location.
This role is also anticipated to be eligible to participate in an annual bonus and long term incentive plan.
We want you to be healthy, balanced, and feel secure. That's why you'll enjoy a comprehensive range of benefits, with a focus on supporting your whole health. Starting on day one of your employment, you'll be offered several health-related benefits including medical, vision, dental, and well-being and behavioral health programs. We also offer 401(k) with company match, company paid life insurance, tuition reimbursement, a minimum of 18 days of paid time off per year and paid holidays. For more details on our employee benefits programs, visit Life at Cigna Group .
About The Cigna Group
Doing something meaningful starts with a simple decision, a commitment to changing lives. At The Cigna Group, we're dedicated to improving the health and vitality of those we serve. Through our divisions Cigna Healthcare and Evernorth Health Services, we are committed to enhancing the lives of our clients, customers and patients. Join us in driving growth and improving lives.
Qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, color, age, disability, sex, childbirth (including pregnancy) or related medical conditions including but not limited to lactation, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran or military status, religion, national origin, ancestry, marital or familial status, genetic information, status with regard to public assistance, citizenship status or any other characteristic protected by applicable equal employment opportunity laws.
If you require reasonable accommodation in completing the online application process, please email: SeeYourself@cigna.com for support. Do not email SeeYourself@cigna.com for an update on your application or to provide your resume as you will not receive a response.
The Cigna Group has a tobacco-free policy and reserves the right not to hire tobacco/nicotine users in states where that is legally permissible. Candidates in such states who use tobacco/nicotine will not be considered for employment unless they enter a qualifying smoking cessation program prior to the start of their employment. These states include: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Vermont, and Washington State.
Qualified applicants with criminal histories will be considered for employment in a manner consistent with all federal, state and local ordinances.
