Innovation & Exploration Lead

sunday; Paris; Hybride; EUR 90 000 - 130 000; Plein temps

Avantages offerts par ce poste

Stock Options

Office in Paris

Vacation policy

Health insurance for you and family

Meal vouchers

Transport subsidy

Résumé du poste

sunday is seeking an EU Innovation & Exploration Lead to build and run its European Innovation & Exploration Lab, driving adoption of digital payment solutions across restaurants. You will immerse yourself in restaurant operations, collaborate with Product, Data and Strategy, and translate field insights into measurable initiatives with senior leadership support.

You will own real problems from day one, shape experimentation, and lead a small but ambitious team to deliver impact across Europe.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in a fast-paced organisation or startup environment.
• Entrepreneurial mindset with problem-solving instincts.
• Strong bias for action and ability to execute.
• Analytical thinker who identifies levers for different stakeholders.
• Outstanding communication skills from CEO to front-line staff.
• Experience working in field-based roles with client interactions.
• Familiarity with AI to improve investigation and execution.

Responsabilités

• Build and lead the European Innovation & Exploration Lab, defining priorities and approach.
• Lead and develop the team of Innovation & Exploration Associates.
• Spend time in restaurants to understand adoption barriers and friction points.
• Turn insights into clear problems, opportunities and hypotheses for product and operations.
• Design, run pilots, define success metrics and iterate quickly.
• Scale validated experiments into scalable products, processes or initiatives.
• Manage priorities and mobilise resources to drive impact.

Connaissances

5+ years exp

Entrepreneurial mindset

Bias for action

Analytical approach

Exceptional communicator

Field-oriented

AI proficiency

Description du poste

About Us

sunday is building the fastest, simplest way to pay in restaurants. With a quick scan of a QR code, diners can pay, tip, and leave in about 10 seconds. We believe great products should feel obvious, not complicated, and we focus relentlessly on keeping things simple while earning trust from restaurants and guests at every interaction. Today, sunday powers payments in thousands of restaurants across the US, UK, and France, helping operators turn tables faster, increase tips, and unlock valuable insights. We push ourselves to go beyond what’s expected, building with ownership, moving fast, and scaling with ambition as we tackle our biggest growth opportunity in the US.

About the Role

As EU Innovation & Exploration Lead, you will build and lead sunday’s European Innovation & Exploration Lab, with one clear mission: drive adoption of our digital payment solutions across the restaurants we serve. This is one of sunday’s most important objectives — and a genuinely complex challenge to solve.

You will identify the biggest barriers to adoption, uncover new opportunities through experimentation, and turn your findings into solutions that create real value for restaurants, their teams and their guests. This is a field-led, highly entrepreneurial role for someone who combines analytical thinking, operational strength and the grit to see ideas through.

You will work at the intersection of restaurant operations, Product, Data and Strategy. Your work will start in restaurants, where you will immerse yourself in the daily reality of our clients and users. You will turn these observations into insights, formulate hypotheses, run experiments, measure their impact and scale the initiatives that work.

This is not a traditional strategy or coordination role. You will own real problems from day one and be expected to solve them. You will have the autonomy to explore new ideas, the support of senior leadership and the mandate to make things happen across the organisation.

You will report directly to our GM Europe, while working closely with country Operations teams, Product and Data. You will also collaborate with our CEO and his Chief of Staff, giving you direct access to the most senior levels of the company. In parallel, you will lead a small but ambitious team of Innovation & Exploration Associates, helping them turn field insights into structured experiments and measurable impact.
Join early, grow fast, and shape the journey!

Key Responsibilities

Your key mandate is to continuously optimise sunday’s product-market fit across Europe. You will identify the biggest barriers and opportunities, then relentlessly work to increase the use of sunday across the restaurants we serve.

• Build the European Innovation & Exploration Lab: Define its priorities, operating rhythm and approach to discovering, testing and scaling new ideas.
• Lead and develop the team: Set a high operating standard for the Innovation & Exploration Associates, coach them through experiments and help them turn field insights into measurable impact.
• Stay close to the field: Spend significant time in restaurants with owners, managers, staff and guests to understand adoption barriers and real-world friction points.
• Turn insights into action: Translate field observations into clear problems, opportunities and hypotheses that inform Product, Operations and Commercial decisions.
• Experiment boldly and iterate fast: Design and launch practical pilots, define success metrics and learn quickly from what works — and what doesn’t. Never let perfect be the enemy of progress.
• Scale successful solutions: Partner with Product, Data and Operations to turn validated experiments into scalable products, processes or commercial initiatives.
• Lead with ownership: Keep senior leadership close to field realities while managing priorities, mobilising the right resources and driving initiatives through to impact.

About You

Must-haves

• You have 5+ years of experience, incl. at least 3 years in a fast-paced organisation.
• You are deeply entrepreneurial: when you see a problem, your instinct is to solve it rather than simply report it.
• You have a strong bias for action and consistently follow through.
• You are analytical and methodical, with the ability to understand which levers work for which stakeholders and in which conditions.
• You are an exceptional communicator and can turn complex, ambiguous situations into clear takeaways for everyone from a CEO to a restaurant team.
• You are field-oriented and energised by spending time with clients and operational teams.
• You look for granular insights and naturally dig deeper to understand the root cause of a problem.
• You use AI extensively to improve the way you investigate, solve and execute.

Nice-to-haves

• Experience in a startup or another highly entrepreneurial environment.
• Experience in an operations-heavy or field-based role.
• Experience founding or building a company, team or new initiative.
• Familiarity with the hospitality or restaurant industry.

What We Offer

• A competitive salary + Stock Options
• A great office in the heart of Paris (10th arrondissement) with a balance of in-person and remote work
• Free Vacation Policy
• 100% Employer-Covered Health Insurance for you and your children
• Ticket Restaurant
• 50% of your public transportation covered

Steps in our Recruitment Process

• Share your story: Application with resume
• Let's get to know each other through a phone screen interview
• Meet with the hiring manager
• Impress your future colleagues with a case study
• Meet with a Leader
• Reference Checks (3 most recent managers)
• Offer: we want you

Thank you for taking the time to apply, and looking forward to getting to know you!

sunday is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, creed, color, sex, affectional or sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, gender, ethnicity, religion, national origin, ancestry, nationality, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, genetic information, or on any other basis prohibited by law (except where an attribute is a bona fide occupational qualification).