Xero is a beautiful, easy-to-use platform that helps small businesses and their accounting and bookkeeping advisors grow and thrive.
At Xero, our purpose is to make life better for people in small business, their advisors, and communities around the world. This purpose sits at the centre of everything we do. We support our people to do the best work of their lives so that they can help small businesses succeed through better tools, information and connections. Because when they succeed they make a difference, and when millions of small businesses are making a difference, the world is a more beautiful place.
How you'll make an impact:
The Research Operations Director will play a pivotal role in helping to establish, build and own the future direction of Research Operations (ReOps) at Xero. You'll be a 'player / coach', leading and growing our ReOps team. You will also work closely with key members of the Design Leadership Team to identify, define and prioritise initiatives that will bring efficiency and effectiveness to the Design Research practice within our fast scaling 165+ Product Design organisation. Our Product Design organisation includes product designers, researchers, service designers and accessibility analysts.
People Leadership
Work with the GM of Design and Research Operations to manage the Research Operations (ReOps) team, its initiatives and priorities.
ReOps & Research Practice
Work with the GM of Design and Research Operations and GM Design Research to implement initiatives which help to continually evolve and improve the ReOps and Product Design Research Practice.
Relationship Management
Influence, help prioritise and focus the team on the most impactful work.
What you'll do:

• Collaborate with others on the Design Leadership Team to continuously cultivate a vibrant team culture, work on strategies, problem solve and respond to team or organisational needs.
• Provide vision and enthusiasm , supporting your team to continuously challenge themselves and their work.
• Identify and prioritise future roles based on team workload, wellbeing, development and priorities.
• Recruit, onboard and manage new ReOps staff as we continue to grow.
• Collaborate and support team members in their work, providing mentoring, coaching and feedback, enabling them to hone their skills as ReOps coordinators, communicators and influencers.
• Encourage and support team members in their career development, working with the GM of Design and Research Operations to identify opportunities for team members to grow and achieve their goals.
• Manage team priorities and resource requests in alignment with the overall Design Vision and OKR's.
• Work with your team to ensure high quality outputs are delivered in a timely, efficient way.
• Collaborate with the Design Leadership Team to identify, define and implement new technologies, techniques and tools to improve performance and process.
• Lead strategic initiatives that increase the impact of our research efforts
• Establish and maintain standards, guidelines and rigour across the ReOps and Research practices, through principles, processes, tools and systems.
• Build strong collaborative partnerships across the Product Design and Research org, Legal, Procurement, CX, Marketing and broader Ops teams to align on and embed consistent quality of practice.
• Drive the vendor onboarding to payment process with partners in Security, Legal, Privacy, Procurement, and Finance within established SLAs
• Lead our research democratization program, ensuring cross-functional partners and stakeholders outside of research and design have access to tools, guidance and practices to connect with Customers in appropriate and well governed ways.
• Partner with Research, Design, CX, Marketing and Product peers to understand and clarify upcoming research needs, advise on feasibility and timelines, and leverage that insight to triage incoming requests, ensuring effective allocation of team resources to the highest priority projects across the business.

What you'll bring:

• Expert in establishing best practices for research operations and managing tools
• Experience with data analytics and effectively identifying user cohorts
• Experience in organising repositories and tools for effective use by cross-functional teams
• Experience in data privacy policies (GDPR, etc.), onboarding and managing contracts & relationships with vendors (including participation in vendor sourcing & selection, drafting SOWs, negotiating scope, cost), procurement, and expense management systems
• Systems thinker with excellence in process analysis and track record of improving processes as a team scales, resulting in greater operational efficiency and team productivity
• Extremely organized and detailed self-starter.
• Ability to work across multiple requests in a fast-paced environment.
• Comfortable with some ambiguity and the foresight to create a plan B before it's needed.
• Strategic acumen and the foresight to anticipate complex, cross functional problems
• Active listening and systems-thinking; heading off issues as we scale.
• Passion for effective and timely internal and external communication. Great people skills
• An optimistic get-stuff-done mindset
• Top notch writing skills

About Xero?
Diversity of people brings diversity of thought, and we like that. A collaborative and inclusive environment is important to us. Working at Xero will provide you with a diverse and inclusive environment alongside people who will respect, challenge and support you to have fun while you do the best work of your life. We are a place where personal development, innovation, and well-being are not just inspired but celebrated.
We value our people and offer a wide range of compelling benefits and perks, including Xero shares. Xero's collaborative culture is underscored by our values - #Ownership, #Challenge, #Beautiful, #Human and #Team - which empower us to understand and serve customers, attract top talent and continuously innovate. From the moment you step through our doors, you'll feel welcome and supported to do the best work of your life.