Research Functional Lead (Innovation)

Location: Boston or Jersey City, United States

Salary: $160,000–$220,000 annual base salary in Boston, plus annual target bonus.

Company

hirify.global is a global financial services firm with expertise in investor services, capital partners, technology solutions, and client management.

What you will do

• Lead the research and business design function across early-stage innovation concept pods.
• Guide concepts through market-problem, solution-shape, business-model, and buildability validation gates.
• Partner with Product, Design, Engineering, Applied Intelligence, and Market Opportunity Development teams to advance ideas from concept to market.
• Own market sizing and financial modeling, and define research plans covering customer desirability, market potential, and solution options.
• Guide qualitative and quantitative research, including expert and customer interviews, desk research, and early market testing.
• Build scalable research frameworks and tools, support AI and prompting techniques, and lead continuous transformation of the research function.

Requirements

• 10–15 years of experience in research, business design, innovation, and new product development, ideally in financial services or technology.
• Ability to translate research into business strategy and concept validation.
• Strong understanding of market sizing, opportunity analysis, and early-stage product discovery.
• Fluency in qualitative research methods, including ethnography, blinded interviews, and prototype testing.
• Experience working cross-functionally with product, design, engineering, and analytics teams.
• Comfort navigating ambiguity, lean testing, and agile ways of working.
• Experience building, managing, and developing a research team across multiple working concepts.
• Ability to manage a complex ecosystem of internal subject-matter experts and sponsors.
• Ability to apply research to value-chain building, journey mapping, and development of primary research stimuli.

Nice to have

• Experience in financial services or technology.
• Alternative or transferable experience and a nontraditional career path are welcomed.

Culture & Benefits

• Full-time role within a partnership-oriented financial services firm with a long-term focus on clients, technology, products, and employee development.
• Collaborative environment centered on collective debate, knowledge sharing, mentoring, and continuous evolution.
• Benefits include long-term savings, healthcare, income protection, professional development opportunities, and time off.
• Compensation includes base salary, discretionary bonuses, and profit-sharing; the stated base range applies to Boston and may vary by location.
• Equal opportunity employment is provided for qualified applicants, including candidates with diverse and transferable experiences.