About Better.com:

We’re one of the fastest growing homeownership companies in America. Why? Because we’re making homeownership simpler, faster — and most importantly, more accessible for all Americans.

By combining smarter technology with a desire to not just change one piece of the journey but the entire makeup of what it’s like to buy and own a home in this country, we’re building things that don’t exist yet. 

Better.com by the numbers: 

• We fund $600 million in home loans per month
• Nearly $5 billion in loans funded since our inception in 2016
• 2 years running, we’re one of Crain’s “Best Places to work”
• We’re #11 on Fortune’s Best Places to Work in NYC
• And #964 on Inc.’s 2019 “5000 Fastest-Growing Companies” 
• We’ve secured over $254 million from our investors to date 
• ...and counting

We continue to outpace the industry at every turn. We’ve recently joined forces in partnership with Ally Bank. Plus, our backers have helped build some of the most transformative tech and finance companies in history. Kleiner Perkins, Goldman Sachs, IA Ventures, American Express, Citigroup, Activant Capital, and others have all invested in our vision of redefining the entire homebuying journey.

The Role: User Research Lead

As the Lead Researcher at Better you will be driving projects with high strategic impact and value across the company.

You thrive in a fast-paced work environment, where the problems are complex and not always straightforward. This means you should have a passion for understanding and defining customer needs and behaviors, as well as for working with product, design, marketing, and brand stakeholders to create amazing, useful features. Our Lead Researcher partners closely with the Design Director and works hand-in-hand with other leaders to establish best practices so we can consistently deliver high-quality research, product, and design solutions.

What you bring:

• 5+ years research experience within a product team
• Ability to work on multiple projects at once
• Strong attention to detail, with high standards for process
• Ability to untangle complex problems
• Ability to mentor and help product managers and designers to push their research skills
• Experience working with designers and product managers across multiple projects
• Experience researching business-to-customer needs
• BA/BS degree in Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, Cognitive Science, Experimental Psychology, other related fields, or equivalent practical experience

What you’ll do:

• Define research cluster and interdependency
• Work closely with a cross-functional team
• Maintain company standards across teams and projects
• Implement data and user mindsets to inform design decisions
• Establish a more mature research practice at Better
• Provide oversight on research techniques, communication, and ensure all products stay focused on the user
• Work closely with designers to provide critical and constructive feedback
• Ensure product designs address real user needs
• Work on your own research projects and provide direct impact by writing scripts, recruiting participants, facilitating reviews and focus groups, gathering insights, and communicating findings
• Ensure accountability to user insights and goals throughout the design process
• Drive impact through a multitude of research methodologies and tools, with qualitative methods like observation, contextual inquiries, individual interviews, group sessions, etc.
• Lead and operationalize the design research practice and team at Better
• Validate ideas, designs, and product features with customers
• Partner closely with the Design Director to identify key problems, find the right solutions, and make them a reality

Things we value: 

• Curiosity. Why? How? Repeat.
• Nerdiness. Financial news and trends are fascinating. Seriously.   
• Relentlessness. No one here gives up. We try. We fail. We try again.
• Passion. If you don’t get excited about homeownership, mortgages, and real estate, it simply won’t work.
• Smarts: book and street. We have to use all the tools at our disposal to build Better.
• Empathy and Compassion. You understand that people's biggest dreams are in your hands.
• Communication. Can you ask for help or put your hand up when you don’t understand?
• Building. Doing. Making. Yes, we have to do a lot of thinking and talking to figure this stuff out, but you can’t wait to leave the conversation and build it.