Design Researcher

Company Description

Visa is a world leader in payments technology, facilitating transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions and government entities across more than 200 countries and territories, dedicated to uplifting everyone, everywhere by being the best way to pay and be paid.

At Visa, you'll have the opportunity to create impact at scale — tackling meaningful challenges, growing your skills and seeing your contributions impact lives around the world. Join Visa and do work that matters — to you, to your community, and to the world.

Progress starts with you.

Job Description

We’re seeking an experienced Design Researcher to join the Visa Commercial Solutions team. In this role, you will support product and design teams by executing high-quality research and translating insights into actionable recommendations across complex B2B experiences. You’ll collaborate closely with designers, product managers, content strategists, and engineers to answer core product strategy questions, evaluate concepts, and improve end-to-end workflows.

This role is well-suited for a researcher who is comfortable running studies with increasing independence and is excited to grow their strategic impact over time.

You’ll also be joining at a moment when AI is rapidly changing how products – and research – are built and will have opportunities to learn and apply emerging tools in thoughtful and responsible ways.

What you’ll do:

• Plan and conduct qualitative and quantitative research, including interviews, surveys, usability testing, and analysis of behavioral data.
• Start in LLM: Use AI tools to frame problem spaces, generate hypotheses, explore edge cases prior to formal research, and rapidly prototype early ideas.
• Partner with Product, Design, and Engineering to help turn ambiguity into clear learning agendas, decision points, and priorities.
• Work alongside teams from early concept through ideation, continuously refining understanding based on real customer behavior and feedback.
• Synthesize across signals by integrating research with product analytics, market inputs and customer feedback to uncover patterns and opportunity areas.  
• Leverage AI tools to cluster signals, identify patterns, and move from raw inputs to clear insights more efficiently.
• Deliver clear, actionable insights that shape product direction, design decisions and prioritization.
• Translate insight into tangible artifacts such as opportunity spaces, experience principles, and early concepts.
• Contribute to and support the continuous improvement of scalable systems for participant recruitment, insight sharing, and knowledge management.

What you’ll bring:

• Research fundamentals: Strong grounding in core UX research methods and experience choosing appropriate methods for different questions
• AI fluency and curiosity: Hands-on experience using AI tools to support research, synthesis, or analysis, with an understanding of how AI behavior impacts user experience. You’re motivated to keep building these skills as tools and workflows evolve.
• Systems thinking: Ability to understand complex, multi-step workflows and how different parts of a system connect, even when users don’t see everything.
• Data fluency: Familiarity with using behavioral data or analytics to inform research questions and complement qualitative insights.  
• Business mindedness: You can connect research to business outcomes and can articulate why an insight matters for strategy, growth, and/or revenue.
• Pragmatism: Ability to manage priorities, work in and move through ambiguity, and move research forward in a fast-paced environment.
• Clear communication: Skill in sharing insights in ways that are appropriate, compelling, and useful for different audiences.  
• Collaboration: Comfort working closely with cross-functional peers in design, product management, content strategy and engineering, with an openness to feedback and learning.

This is a hybrid position. Expectation of days in the office will be confirmed by your Hiring Manager. 

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications:

2 or more years of work experience with a Bachelor’s Degree or an Advanced Degree (e.g. Masters, MBA, JD, MD, or PhD)

Preferred Qualifications:

3 or more years of work experience with a Bachelor’s Degree or more than 2 years of work experience with an Advanced Degree (e.g. Masters, MBA, JD, MD)

4 or more years of work experience with a Bachelor’s Degree or more than 2 years of work experience with an Advanced Degree (e.g. Masters, MBA, JD, MD) Bachelor's Degree in Design, HCI or equivalent experience;

Experience researching regulated, technical or high-risk domains (e.g. fintech, payments, healthcare, SaaS platforms) 

Additional Information

Work Hours: Varies upon the needs of the department.

Travel Requirements: This position requires travel 5-10% of the time.

Mental/Physical Requirements: This position will be performed in an office setting.  The position will require the incumbent to sit and stand at a desk, communicate in person and by telephone, frequently operate standard office equipment, such as telephones and computers.

Visa is an EEO Employer.  Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or protected veteran status.  Visa will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with EEOC guidelines and applicable local law.

Visa will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with applicable local law, including the requirements of Article 49 of the San Francisco Police Code.

U.S. APPLICANTS ONLY: The estimated salary range for this position is 110,700 to 190,900 USD per year, which may include potential sales incentive payments (if applicable). Salary may vary depending on job-related factors which may include knowledge, skills, experience, and location. In addition, this position may be eligible for bonus and equity. Visa has a comprehensive benefits package for which this position may be eligible that includes Medical, Dental, Vision, 401 (k), FSA/HSA, Life Insurance, Paid Time Off, and Wellness Program.