Client/Market Research Lead

First-Command-Financial-Services; Fort Worth (TX); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

First Command is seeking a Senior Client Research Lead to advance understanding of clients and prospects through evidence-based research and segmentation. You will partner across UX, CX, Marketing, and Product to design, execute, and synthesize insights that drive strategy and actionable experiences.

You will lead and mentor teams, design studies, and quantify ROI while ensuring ethical, compliant research practices aligned with enterprise goals.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of UX or CX research and data-driven segmentation.
• Experience designing and analyzing qualitative and quantitative research at scale.
• Ability to turn data into actionable insights for product, marketing, and experience strategies.
• Expertise with advanced research and analytics tools and survey platforms.
• Strong collaboration and cross-functional influence.

Responsibilities

• Lead mixed-methods studies to reveal actionable client insights.
• Develop and maintain customer and market segmentation frameworks.
• Translate research into design strategies, content direction, and personalized experiences.
• Collaborate with Innovation Portfolio & Strategy to test opportunities.
• Design surveys, usability studies, and experiments; analyze results with statistical tools.
• Build dashboards and reports for executives.
• Quantify ROI of research and tie to business KPIs.
• Coordinate with Data Science to align qualitative and quantitative data.
• Ensure ethical, compliant research practices with Risk and Compliance.
• Mentor peers and support enterprise initiatives.

Skills

UX research

Quantitative analytics

Behavioral segmentation

Statistical modeling

Data visualization

R

SPSS

SAS

Excel

Qualtrics

UserTesting

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Master’s degree preferred

Graduate certification in Applied Research Statistics

Tools

Qualtrics

UserTesting

R

SPSS

SAS

JMP

Excel

Job description

How will this role impact First Command?

TheClient Research Lead is responsible for advancing First Command’s understanding of clients and prospects through deep, evidence-based research and segmentation. This role applies advanced UX research, quantitative analytics, and behavioral segmentation to uncover insights that drive strategy, design, innovation, and marketing decisions across the enterprise.

Working as a senior individual contributor, this position partners with UX, CX, Marketing, and Product teams to design, execute, and synthesize research that clarifies client motivations, needs, and opportunities. The Research Lead also partners closely with the Manager, Innovation Portfolio & Strategy to connect research insights with rapid experimentation, helping accelerate insights into action and ensure that ideas tested through the innovation funnel are rooted in real client and market needs.

This position ensures that every insight is actionable, measurable, and aligned with enterprise goals, helping First Command strengthen its value proposition and improve outcomes for military families.

What will the employee do in this role?

• Lead the design and execution of advanced mixed-methods research studies that combine qualitative and quantitative data to reveal actionable insights about clients, advisors, and prospects.
• Develop, refine, and maintain customer and market segmentation frameworks using behavioral, demographic, attitudinal, and transactional data.
• Partner with Marketing, UX, CX, and Analytics teams to translate research insights into design strategies, content direction, and personalized experiences.
• Collaborate directly with the Manager, Innovation Portfolio & Strategy to identify and test high-value opportunities; provide data-driven insights that inform which ideas move forward for experimentation.
• Design surveys, usability studies, and behavioral experiments using tools such as Qualtrics, UserTesting, or similar; analyze results using R, SPSS, SAS, or Excel.
• Build and maintain dashboards and reports that communicate key findings and progress metrics to executives and stakeholders.
• Lead efforts to quantify and measure the ROI of research and design improvements, connecting client experience outcomes to business KPIs.
• Partner with Data Science and Business Intelligence teams to ensure data integrity and alignment of qualitative insights with quantitative models.
• Collaborate with Risk, Legal, and Compliance to proactively mitigate risks and ensure ethical, responsible, and compliant research practices.
• Serve as a subject matter expert in advanced research design, data analysis, and customer segmentation, mentoring peers and supporting enterprise initiatives.

What skills & qualifications does this employee need?

Education

• Bachelor’s degree required, Master’s preferred in Applied Anthropology, Human-Centered Design, Behavioral Science, Statistics, or related field required.
• Graduate certification in Applied Research Statistics or equivalent quantitative specialization preferred.

Work Experience

• 8+ years of experience in UX or CX research, data-driven segmentation, or market research, preferably in financial services or other regulated industries.
• Proven experience designing and analyzing qualitative and quantitative research at scale, including usability testing, surveys, and statistical modeling.
• Demonstrated success turning data into actionable insights that influence product, marketing, and experience strategies.
• Expertise with advanced research and analytics tools such as R, SPSS, SAS, or JMP, and with survey platforms such as Qualtrics or UserTesting.
• Strong experience integrating qualitative research with behavioral and transactional data for segmentation and predictive analysis.
• Familiarity with agile, lean, or design thinking methodologies, and ability to apply them within a structured enterprise context.

Certifications(Preferred)

• Strategyzer Masterclass Certification, IDEO Design Thinking Certification , or equivalent innovation facilitation credentials.
• Certifications in Applied Research Statistics, AI Prompt Engineering, or Business Data Analytics.

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Deep expertise in quantitative and qualitative research methods; able to design studies, analyze complex data, and synthesize results.
• Strong storytelling and communication skills; able to translate research insights into business impact.
• Excellent collaboration skills and ability to influence across departments.
• Experience defining and implementing segmentation models that support marketing, product, and client experience strategies.
• High attention to detail, curiosity, and intellectual rigor.
• Demonstrated commitment to ethical research and data integrity.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (preferred)

• Experience within financial services, fintech, or other highly regulated industries.
• Familiarity with behavioral economics or applied anthropology.
• Working knowledge of AI-enabled research tools and data automation techniques.

First Command does not discriminate in the recruiting of Financial Advisors onthe basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status,disability, age or veteran status. No information solicited by First Commandfrom you is intended to be used in a discriminatory manner. All informationprovided by you will be reviewed carefully, but the receipt of an Advisorapplication or other information does not imply that you will be offered theopportunity to enter into a Financial Advisor/Agent Agreement with FirstCommand.