Director, Customer Insights & Research

Department: Data, Insights and Loyalty

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: Los Angeles HQ

Compensation: $155,000 - $175,000 / year

Description

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 Perks

• 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  

• 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