Cencora is shaping the future of healthcare by providing solutions that enable better access to medical care.  We are looking for an innovative Customer Experience (CX) Research Lead to join our growing Research and Insights Practice. We're seeking a highly collaborative, thoughtful, and creative researcher to lead complex research initiatives, shape research strategy, and translate customer insights into actionable business, experience, and product decisions. Reporting to the Director of Insights and Intelligence and partnering closely with members of the CX Strategy Team, this role will develop a deep understanding of our customers and ensure their needs, behaviors and experiences inform priorities across the enterprise.  

The CX Research Lead will serve as a senior research practitioner and team lead, independently leading high-impact research, while guiding, developing, and overseeing the work of other researchers. This individual will help maintain research standards, elevate the quality and strategic impact of the team’s work, and foster partnerships with stakeholders across product, strategy, marketing, and other business functions. This role provides the unique opportunity to influence product, experience, and business strategy within a Fortune 10 organization and help advance the maturity and impact of customer research across Cencora.  

About You

• Experienced customer experience (CX) researcher or research professional with deep expertise in both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. You bring a strong foundation in research design, behavioral science, and data-driven analysis, applying rigorous research practices to solve complex business and customer challenges in fast-paced environments.

• Skilled communicator who excels at building trusted relationships across stakeholders and translating research insights into clear, actionable recommendations. Comfortable navigating ambiguity, you can see the bigger picture and identify opportunities where research can drive meaningful customer impact and business value.

• Passionate about advancing the discipline of research through collaboration, coaching, and mentorship, helping others grow while elevating the quality and influence of research across the organization. You continuously look for ways to improve research tools, processes, and methodologies to increase effectiveness, scalability, and impact.

• Most importantly, you are confident communicating complex findings to senior leaders and executive audiences, influencing strategic decisions through compelling storytelling and evidence-based insights.

Responsibilities

• Lead complex, high-impact research initiatives, end-to-end, from defining business questions and research strategy through execution, synthesis, storytelling, and activation of insights.

• Develop strategic research plans and roadmaps in partnership with business and product leaders, identifying where research can have the greatest impact on customer experience and business outcomes.

• Serve as a trusted research advisor to cross-functional partners, helping to translate ambiguous business challenges into clear research questions and evidence-based decisions.

• Establish and champion research best practices, standards, and frameworks that maintain consistency, quality, and build scalability of research across the organization.

• Conduct and oversee a broad range of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods research, spanning generative, exploratory, and strategic research.

• Synthesize insights across studies and data sources to identify broader customer needs, experience gaps, emerging trends, strategic opportunities.

• Translate research findings into clear, compelling narratives and recommendations for senior leaders.

• Provide day-to-day leadership to researchers, including research direction, prioritization, coaching, feedback, and development.

• As the function grows, assume formal people leadership responsibilities, including management and development of direct reports.

• Contribute to the continued development of Cencora’s research practice and culture of customer-centered, evidence-based decision-making.  

Education and Work Experience

•  7+ years in customer experience, market, or related research, with demonstrated experience independently leading complex research initiatives with impactful outcomes.

• 3+ years of mentoring, coaching, or providing research direction to other researchers; prior formal people management experience preferred.

• Demonstrated formal training in research methodology, behavioral science, study design, and analysis.

• Bachelor’s degree in market research, Psychology, Cognitive Science, Human Centered Interaction (HCI), Human Factors, Sociology, Anthropology, or another research-intensive discipline with formal training in research methodology and design. 

• Advanced degree (Master’s or Doctorate) preferred.

• Certification in market research, data analytics, or equivalent preferred.

• A portfolio demonstrating past work experience and deliverables (e.g., surveys, user study designs, research reports, etc.).

Skills and Knowledge

• Advanced proficiency in qualitative quantitative methodologies, including survey design, in-depth interviewing, and other appropriate research approaches.

• Proficiency with survey and research platforms, such as Qualtrics, UserTesting, Medallia, and other similar tools.

• Working knowledge of statistical analysis and data interpretation, including descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. Experience working with data analysis and visualization tools, such as Excel, Tableau, SPSS, SAS, Jamovi, R, Python, etc.

• Experience synthesizing and analyzing qualitative and quantitative datasets to identify patterns and generate actionable insights.

• Experience conducting or strong familiarity with Bayesian statistics. 

• Familiarity with collaboration tools such as Mural, Miro, or similar platforms.

We provide compensation, benefits, and resources that enable a highly inclusive culture and support our team members’ ability to live with purpose every day. In addition to traditional offerings like medical, dental, and vision care, we also provide a comprehensive suite of benefits that focus on the physical, emotional, financial, and social aspects of wellness. This encompasses support for working families, which may include backup dependent care, adoption assistance, infertility coverage, family building support, behavioral health solutions, paid parental leave, and paid caregiver leave. To encourage your personal growth, we also offer a variety of training programs, professional development resources, and opportunities to participate in mentorship programs, employee resource groups, volunteer activities, and much more. For details, visit

*This Salary Range reflects a National Average for this job. The actual range may vary based on your locale. Ranges in Colorado/California/Washington/NewYork/Hawaii/Vermont/Minnesota/Massachusetts/Illinois State-specific locations may be up to 10% lower than the minimum salary range, and 12% higher than the maximum salary range.