Member Experience Research Manager

AAA; Costa Mesa (CA); On-site; USD 146,000 - 195,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health coverage for medical, dental, <

401(K) saving plans with company match

Pension

Tuition assistance

Floating holidays and PTO forcommunity

Paid parental leave

Wellness programs

Employee discounts

Job summary

Auto Club Enterprises seeks a Member Experience Research Manager in Costa Mesa, CA to lead the member experience research team and advance a comprehensive Voice of Member program across AAA lines. You will oversee a 9-15 person team, manage vendor relationships, and drive data-driven insights for senior leadership.

You will build an end-to-end member view, embed insights into product, marketing, claims, and operations, and set standards for research rigor while navigating a dynamic,

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Marketing is required.
• Master's degree is preferred.
• 10+ years in market research, consumer insights, or CX research.
• 7-9 years of people leadership, including managing managers or teams.
• Strong executive presence and ability to distill complex research into narratives.
• Experience modernizing VOC/VOM/CX programs and tooling.
• Skilled in both leadership and hands-on research craft.
• Experience selecting and managing vendors within a budget.
• Fluent in qualitative and quantitative methods: surveys, interviews, journeys, communities, satisfaction measures.
• Comfortable rebuilding a challenged function; high ambiguity tolerance.

Responsibilities

• Modernize Voice of Member programs, including satisfaction and journey feedback across insurance and membership.
• Build an end-to-end member view by integrating feedback across policyholders, members, products, services, and touchpoints.
• Lead a broader research portfolio including behavioral science, brand/loyalty research, segmentation, community panels, and studies tied to business priorities.
• Translate research findings into clear, decision-ready recommendations for senior leadership.
• Establish intake and prioritization processes focusing the team on high-value business questions.
• Own the research vendor and platform ecosystem, including selection, contracts, and budget management.
• Set research methodology standards to ensure rigor and clear synthesis across ongoing and custom studies.
• Identify and quantify member pain points and opportunities for improvement.
• Partner cross-functionally with product, marketing, claims, digital, and operations to embed insights into decision-making.
• Make quick, independent decisions; monitor team performance and mitigate issues with multiple departments.

Skills

Market research

Customer insights

Leadership

Voice of Member

Research strategy

Budget management

Qualitative & quantitative

Executive presence

VOM/CX programs

Vendor management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Marketing

Master's degree (preferred)

Job description

Member Experience Research Manager

The Member Experience Research Manager role manages the member experience research team, which has an existing CX (member satisfaction) program across all its business lines - with the future goal of creating an end-to-end view of the member experience. The position owns Voice of Member (VOM)/CX satisfaction research with oversight over the custom strategic research arm of the market research team, with accountability for modernizing AAA's research capabilities, elevating performance, and positioning the function as a trusted source of insight for senior leaders. The role manages a team of 9-15 direct and indirect reports and oversees the research vendor and technology budget.

Job Duties

• Modernize Voice of Member programs, including satisfaction and journey-level feedback, to reflect current member needs, channels, and touchpoints across insurance and membership.
• Build an end-to-end member view by integrating feedback across policyholders, members, products, services, and operational touchpoints.
• Lead a broader research portfolio that includes behavioral science, brand and loyalty research, segmentation, community panels, and custom qualitative and quantitative studies tied to business priorities.
• Serve as a credible partner to senior leadership by translating research findings into clear, decision-ready recommendations.
• Establish intake and prioritization processes that focus the team on the highest-value business questions.
• Own the research vendor and platform ecosystem, including selection, contract negotiation, and budget management.
• Set research methodology standards to ensure rigor, consistency, and clear synthesis across ongoing measurement and custom studies.
• Identify and quantify member pain points, unmet needs, and opportunities for improvement.
• Partner cross-functionally with product, marketing, claims, digital, and operations teams to embed member insight into decision-making.
• Understand the changing business needs and goals and be able to quickly make decisions and develop marketing research plans that will meet the goals of the business while meeting the success metrics. Makes decisions quickly and independently. The manager must also monitor the performance of their employees and assist or intervene when necessary. Responsible for anticipating potential issues and mitigating or resolving those issues by working with multiple departments and within multiple levels of the organization.

Qualifications

• Bachelors Marketing Required
• Masters Preferred
• 10+ years Market research, consumer/member insights, or customer experience research, ideally in insurance, membership, or financial services. Required
• 7-9 years Peopleleadership experience, including managing managers or teams of comparable size and complexity. Required
• Strong executive presence and ability to distill complex research into decision-ready narratives.
• Experience modernizing or rebuilding a legacy VOC/VOM/CX program, including methodology and tooling.
• Skilled in both peopleleadership and hands-on research craft.
• Experience selecting and managing research vendors within a defined budget.
• Fluent across qualitative and quantitative methods, including surveys, interviews, journey research, online communities, and satisfaction measurement.
• Comfortable improving and rebuilding a challenged function; energized by building rather than maintaining.
• High tolerance for ambiguity, with a clear point of view on where the function needs to go.
• Strong judgment on when to elevate issues versus resolve them independently.

Travel Requirements

• Occasional travel to off-site business meetings or conferences. (5% proficiency)

The starting pay range for this position is:

$145,900.00 - $194,600.00

Additionally, for full time positions, you will be eligible to participate in our incentive program based upon the achievement of organization, team and personal performance.

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Remarkable benefits

• Health coverage for medical, dental, vision
• 401(K) saving plans with company match AND Pension
• Tuition assistance
• Floating holidays and PTO for community volunteer programs
• Paid parental leave
• Wellness programs
• Employee discounts (membership, insurance, travel, entertainment, services and more!)

Auto Club Enterprises is the largest club within the national AAA federation. We have nearly 17,000 employees in 24 states helping more than 18 million members. The strength of our organization is our employees. Bringing together and supporting different cultures, backgrounds, personalities, and strengths creates a team capable of delivering legendary, lifetime service to our members. When we embrace our diversity - we win. All of Us! With our national brand recognition, long-standing reputation since 1900, and constantly growing membership, we are seeking career-minded, service-driven professionals to join our team.

"Through dedicated employees we proudly deliver legendary service and beneficial products that provide members peace of mind and value."

AAA is an Equal Opportunity Employer

Our organization participates in E-Verify

The Automobile Club of Southern California will consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable federal, state, and local laws, including the City of Los Angeles' Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance (FCIHO), the Unincorporated Los Angeles County (ULAC) regulation, and the California Fair Chance Act (CFCA).