Tala is looking for an experienced, talented researcher to help lead design and mobile UI/UX research for our platform. The researcher should have significant experience in consumer mobile products and product discovery. In addition, experience in the digital space in emerging markets and our target market is strongly preferred.

This role is part of the Product Impact & Insights Group, which covers strategic and user research, usability testing, human-centered design, and early concept testing. You and your team are responsible for ensuring we have the best understanding of our customers’ lives, attitudes, and behaviors. Your research will support many teams--including Product, Credit, Data Science, and Growth--and will be at the center of our mission to provide financial access, choice and control.

Responsibilities

• Bridge user insights and product building
• Facilitate discovery research activities around need-finding, early/rapid prototyping, and related processes like design sprints
• Lead complex user research projects - design and deliver high-value studies both in the field and remotely
• Build a scalable international practice around design and mobile UI/UX research
• Manage and coach researchers located in emerging markets
• Hire additional researchers to grow the team as needed
• Stand up a process of regular user feedback (surveys, user testing) in emerging markets
• Create user research toolkits to spread best practices across Tala
• Coach other functions on basic user research
• Leverage our extensive mobile data to pioneer new research techniques

Qualifications

• 5+ years experience as a User Researcher, 2+ years managing people
• Core expertise in research for consumer mobile products and product discovery
• Strongly Preferred: Significant experience in emerging markets or underserved populations
• Preferred: Experience in financial services
• Broad experience across the range of qual and quant research toolkit, from contextual inquiry to interactive design to quant surveys, usability testing and A/B testing
• Strong in tools of analysis and synthesis: Excel, PowerPoint or GoogleSlides
• Advanced Degree in HCI, Human Centered Design, International Development, Social Anthropology, or something similar
• The grit and drive to thrive in the uncertainty of a startup environment

About Tala:

Tala is the leading mobile technology and data science company committed to financial inclusion globally. More than 1.3 million people have borrowed through Tala’s smartphone app, which provides instant credit scoring, lending, and other personalized financial services in emerging markets. Tala has raised more than $105 million from leading venture and impact investors including Revolution, IVP, Ribbit Capital, Data Collective, and Lowercase Capital. Tala’s global team is headquartered in Santa Monica, with additional offices in Nairobi, Manila, Dar Es Salaam, Mexico City, Mumbai, and Bangalore.