Director, Customer Insights & ResearchDepartment: Data, Insights and Loyalty
Employment Type: Full Time
Location: Los Angeles HQ
Compensation: $155,000 - $175,000 / year
DescriptionSKIMS is seeking a strategic and highly experienced
Director, Customer Insights and Research to lead our consumer research function and bring the voice of the customer into critical business decisions.
This leader will build a comprehensive understanding of SKIMS customers-who they are, what they need, how they experience the brand, and what motivates their behavior. The role will establish an integrated consumer research program that combines qualitative research, quantitative research, behavioral data, and ongoing customer listening.
The ideal candidate is an expert consumer researcher, an influential business partner, and a compelling storyteller. They will translate customer insights into clear implications for product development, merchandising, marketing, digital experiences, retail, loyalty, and the broader customer journey.
This role will partner closely with leaders across Merchandising, Planning, Design, Production, Digital Product, Marketing, Commercial Teams (e.g. Digital, Retail), Operations, and Data and Analytics.
Key Responsibilities- Develop and lead SKIMS' enterprise-wide consumer research and Voice of Customer strategy.
- Build a research roadmap aligned with the company's most important customer, product, brand, and growth priorities.
- Identify the critical consumer questions SKIMS should answer to support both near-term decisions and long-term strategy.
- Establish a balanced research portfolio that includes foundational, exploratory, evaluative, and continuous-tracking research.
- Create a scalable approach for conducting research across customer segments, product categories, channels, and international markets.
- Lead qualitative and quantitative research from initial business question through final recommendation.
- Design and oversee research including interviews, focus groups, surveys, ethnographic studies, concept testing, product testing, usability studies, diary studies, customer communities, and longitudinal research.
- Evaluate customer needs, attitudes, motivations, behaviors, barriers, and unmet opportunities.
- Lead research supporting product innovation, pricing, positioning, assortment, marketing, digital experiences, retail experiences, loyalty, and customer retention.
- Develop research approaches that represent both existing customers and prospective audiences.
- Ensure research methodologies are rigorous, practical, inclusive, and appropriate for the business decision being made.
- Build an integrated Voice of Customer program that brings together direct customer feedback, consumer research, customer service interactions, reviews, social listening, digital behavior, and transactional data.
- Develop mechanisms for continuously identifying emerging customer needs, pain points, and changes in sentiment.
- Establish clear frameworks for distinguishing individual customer feedback from broader, actionable consumer patterns.
- Partner with Customer Experience and operational teams to connect customer feedback with opportunities to improve the end-to-end experience.
- Create regular reporting and operating rhythms that keep customer insights visible across the organization.
- Synthesize complex research findings into clear, compelling, and actionable business recommendations.
- Translate what customers say, do, and value into implications for SKIMS' products, experiences, and growth strategy.
- Create executive-ready presentations that bring the customer to life through data, customer stories, video, quotes, and behavioral evidence.
- Communicate insights in a way that builds alignment, challenges assumptions, and enables faster decision-making.
- Develop durable consumer frameworks, personas, segmentations, journey maps, and need-state models that can be used across the organization.
- Serve as a trusted strategic partner to senior leaders across the enterprise.
- Partner with stakeholders to translate broad business questions into clear research objectives and decision criteria.
- Embed consumer insight into key planning, innovation, product development, and go-to-market processes.
- Facilitate workshops and working sessions that help teams apply customer insights to business decisions.
- Build strong relationships across the organization and influence decisions without relying solely on formal authority.
- Champion a culture of customer curiosity, evidence-based decision-making, and continuous learning.
- Establish research standards, templates, governance, documentation, and knowledge-management practices.
- Create a centralized repository that allows teams to find, understand, and reuse existing customer research.
- Manage research agencies, technology platforms, participant-recruitment partners, and other external vendors.
- Ensure research complies with applicable privacy, consent, and data-governance requirements.
Skills, Knowledge and Expertise- 10+ years of experience in consumer research, customer insights, market research, user research, or a related field.
- 4+ years of experience leading teams or major cross-functional research programs.
- Deep expertise in qualitative and quantitative research methodologies.
- Demonstrated experience developing research strategies and roadmaps for a consumer-facing brand.
- Strong ability to connect consumer insights with commercial, product, brand, and customer-experience decisions.
- Experience leading research across multiple stages of the product or customer lifecycle.
- Proven ability to influence senior executives and cross-functional stakeholders.
- Exceptional storytelling, presentation, facilitation, and written communication skills.
- Strong judgment in selecting the appropriate research methodology based on the question, timing, and business decision.
- Experience managing external research partners, platforms, and budgets.
- Ability to operate effectively in a fast-moving environment with evolving priorities.
- Bachelor's degree in psychology, sociology, anthropology, behavioral science, marketing, statistics, human-computer interaction, or a related field; advanced degree preferred.
- Experience within apparel, fashion, beauty, retail, consumer products, or another culturally relevant consumer brand.
- Experience conducting research across digital commerce and physical retail environments.
- Experience with product concept testing, customer segmentation, brand tracking, customer journey research, and international consumer research.
- Familiarity with integrating primary research with behavioral, transactional, loyalty, and customer-service data.
- Experience building or significantly expanding a Voice of Customer or consumer-insights function.
- Understanding of inclusive research practices and experience researching diverse customer populations.
- Consumer insight is consistently incorporated into major product, brand, digital, retail, and customer-experience decisions.
- Business teams have a clearer and more consistent understanding of SKIMS customers and their evolving needs.
- Research is prioritized around the company's most important decisions and produces clear, actionable recommendations.
- Customer feedback is connected across channels and translated into meaningful themes rather than isolated anecdotes.
- Teams can easily access and apply existing consumer knowledge.
- SKIMS develops a stronger culture of customer-centered and evidence-based decision-making.
- Consumer research contributes to better products, stronger experiences, increased customer loyalty, and sustainable growth.
Benefits, Culture and PerksBenefits and Culture- Up to 100% Company Paid Healthcare (medical, dental, vision)
- Kind Body Fertility Benefits
- 401(k) savings plan with up to 4% match
- Unlimited PTO
- Full Access to LinkedIn learning
- Employee Discounts
Perks (HQ Location)- Free weekly catered lunch at HQ - M/T/W/Th
- Dog-Friendly office on a Thursday and Friday
- Free Swag Giveaways
- Annual Holiday Party
- Annual Summer Party
- Invitations to pop-ups and other company events
- Complimentary daily office snacks and beverages
