Manager II, Research

Root was founded on the belief that car insurance is broken, and we set out to change it. We’re harnessing the power of technology to revolutionize this archaic, complicated industry. Using machine learning and mobile telematic platforms, we’ve built one of the most innovative insurtech companies in the world.

The Opportunity

We’re looking for a Manager II, Research to lead our research function. Root has a small research team with a large mandate: help the company deeply understand customers, make better product and business decisions, and create experiences that feel meaningfully different from traditional insurance.

This is a doer-leader role. You will manage a small team of researchers, personally lead high-priority research, coach the team in craft and judgment, and help establish the operating model that makes research more visible, useful, and trusted across Root.

The right person for this role is both a strong research practitioner and a pragmatic team leader. You know how to frame ambiguous product and business questions, choose the right research approach, synthesize across evidence, and turn customer understanding into decisions. You also know how to create structure without creating bureaucracy — improving intake, prioritization, planning, communication, repositories, and research rituals so the team can operate with more clarity and leverage. This role is a strong fit for someone who wants to build a research function while still doing meaningful research themselves. It is not a fit for someone who wants to manage from a distance, inherit a mature research machine, or operate only through process and delegation.

This role reports directly to the SVP of Product.

Salary Range: $143,800 - $179,500 (Eligible for competitive bonus and equity offering.)
Root is a “work where it works best” company. Meaning we will support you working in whatever location that works best for you across the US. We will continue to have our headquarters in Columbus, Ohio.

Who You Are

• A doer-leader: You are energized by both leading people and doing the work. You can coach, prioritize, set standards, and still personally lead complex research when the stakes are high.
• An experienced research practitioner: You have strong command of research craft, including study design, methodology selection, interviewing, usability testing, synthesis, storytelling, and decision influence.
• Strong in ambiguity: You can take a messy product, business, or customer problem and clarify the decision at stake, the assumptions to test, the evidence needed, and the best path forward.
• A high-judgment mixed-methods thinker: You know when to use qualitative, quantitative, evaluative, generative, or mixed-method approaches. You understand confidence levels, bias, sampling limitations, and the tradeoff between speed and rigor.
• A strong coach: You can help researchers grow in craft, judgment, stakeholder management, synthesis, and communication. You give direct feedback with care and clarity.
• An influential cross-functional partner: Product, Design, Analytics, Data Science, Marketing, Claims, Service, and leadership teams see you as someone who brings clarity, evidence, and customer understanding to hard decisions.
• Customer-obsessed and business-grounded: You care deeply about customer experience, and you understand that the highest-value research improves outcomes for both customers and the business.

What You'll Do

Manage and Develop the Team (50%)

• Set clear expectations for research quality, ownership, communication, collaboration, and impact.
• Coach team members on research craft, problem framing, study design, synthesis, storytelling, stakeholder management, and career growth.
• Help the team prioritize work against Root’s highest-value customer and business questions.
• Create clarity around roles, responsibilities, decision rights, and operating rhythms within the research function.
• Give direct, useful feedback and create a team culture grounded in high standards, trust, curiosity, and continuous improvement.
• Protect the team from low-value work while ensuring researchers stay connected to the product and business decisions that matter most.

Lead High-Impact Research (30%)

• Personally lead high-priority research tied to Root’s most important product, customer, brand, and business questions.
• Translate ambiguous product or business questions into clear research plans that produce actionable insight.
• Design and execute generative, evaluative, strategic, and mixed-methods research across customer journeys and product areas.
• Partner with Analytics and Data Science to triangulate qualitative, quantitative, behavioral, operational, and business data.
• Turn research into crisp narratives, decision frameworks, opportunity areas, product implications, and strategic recommendations.
• Ensure research is not just shared, but used — influencing roadmaps, customer experiences, product strategy, service models, go-to-market narratives, and leadership decisions.

Raise Customer Understanding Across Root (20%)

• Champion Root’s value of starting with the customer by making customer evidence more visible, memorable, and actionable.
• Build rituals that keep customer truth flowing across Product, Design, Marketing, Claims, Customer Service, and leadership forums.
• Help teams use customer evidence responsibly and avoid overgeneralizing from weak signals.
• Increase research literacy across the organization so teams ask better questions, interpret evidence more accurately, and make better decisions.
• Enable other teams across the organization to responsibly conduct their own research.
• Create durable research assets that help Root learn once and benefit repeatedly.

• 7+ years of experience in user research, product research, customer research, design research, market research, behavioral research, or a related field.
• 2+ years of experience managing, formally leading, research operations partners, or cross-functional research contributors.

As part of Root's interview process, we kindly ask that all candidates be on camera for virtual interviews. This helps us create a more personal and engaging experience for both you and our interviewers. Being on camera is a standard requirement for our process and part of how we assess fit and communication style, so we do require it to move forward with any applicant's candidacy. If you have any concerns, feel free to let us know once you are contacted. We’re happy to talk it through.

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Consistent with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it is the policy of Root to provide reasonable accommodation when requested by a qualified applicant or candidate with a disability, unless such accommodation would cause an undue hardship for Root. The policy regarding requests for reasonable accommodation applies to all aspects of the hiring process. If reasonable accommodation is needed, please contact [email protected]