Lead Researcher, Brand Performance & Cultural Insights

PrizePicks • Atlanta, GA

3d • Hybrid

About The Position

PrizePicks is seeking a Lead Researcher to own the end-to-end measurement, contextualization, and improvement of the company's brand performance and cultural position. This role complements brand measurement with qualitative insights into consumer mindsets, identifying shifts in fan behavior, the category, and the competitive landscape before they are reflected in performance data. The Lead Researcher will operate as a high-impact individual contributor, working hands-on across all stages from problem framing to executive-ready recommendations. They will partner directly with leaders and operators across the business, owning stakeholder relationships and recommendations without a translator. The role involves building alignment collaboratively while remaining accountable for the point of view and following insights into decision-making rooms.

Requirements

• 7+ years in market research or consumer insights with demonstrable evidence of moving the business (specific decisions changed, dollars moved, or directions shifted due to owned work).
• Equal command of quantitative and qualitative research, hands-on.
• Ability to design and run brand performance trackers that diagnose funnel conversion.
• Proficiency in programming studies in Qualtrics (or similar).
• Experience moderating communities and running digital ethnography.
• Skills in synthesizing social and cultural listening data (using tools like Quid, Brandwatch, Sprinklr, or similar).
• Ability to write recommendations that come out the other side of data analysis.
• Working fluency with qualitative platforms (e.g., ListenLabs, dscout, Suzy).
• Working fluency with statistical tools (R or Python).
• Working fluency with BI tools (e.g., Tableau, Looker, Power BI).
• AI-fluency: Experience using AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini in research work, with a point of view on AI's impact on insights.
• Strong storytelling ability, capable of translating findings into business implications quickly.
• Ability to create compelling, clear artifacts tailored to the audience.
• Comfortable interacting with and challenging stakeholders at any level (exec or IC) when evidence supports it.
• Highly collaborative approach, building alignment with stakeholders.
• Accountable for point of view, insight quality, and follow-through.
• Fearless curiosity about customer, fan, and subculture behavior.
• Must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S.; unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment Visa.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in daily fantasy, gaming, sports, sports media, or adjacent fan-driven consumer categories.
• A clear point of view on effective brand performance and cultural research.
• Track record of pushing back on requests that won't change a decision.
• Experience building or scaling research operations (processes, templates, trackers, dashboards, or self-serve tools).

Responsibilities

• Connect customer, brand, competitive, and cultural signals to PrizePicks’ business performance and decisions, driving major changes in product development, market presence, investment strategies, and areas to discontinue.
• Own PrizePicks’ brand performance measurement end to end, including designing and running studies, synthesizing findings, writing and shipping recommendations, and tracking changes through to implementation in product, brand, or growth decisions.
• Own the cultural intelligence program end to end, utilizing surveys, social and cultural listening, online communities, and qualitative work to identify shifts in fan behavior, gaming, sports, and adjacent subcultures before they appear in performance data.
• Run quantitative and qualitative research end to end, hands-on, including designing, programming, fielding, and QAing studies in Qualtrics (or comparable) for brand tracking, segmentation, sizing, and concept/message testing.
• Conduct qualitative research including IDIs, focus groups, digital ethnography, communities, concept testing, and synthesis of social and cultural artifacts.
• Synthesize research outputs to drive business performance, defining what is happening, why it matters, recommending actions for leadership and operators, and identifying what to stop doing.
• Create strong, compelling project briefs that frame business problems as research solutions, pushing past surface-level requests to underlying decisions and ensuring projects are aimed at real growth opportunities.
• Partner directly with leaders and operators across Product, Design, Brand & Marketing, Retention & Lifecycle, Strategy, and Analytics.
• Recommend what to accelerate, deprioritize, or stop, and follow through until recommendations change team actions.

Benefits

• Company-subsidized medical, dental, & vision plans
• 401(k) plan with company match
• Annual bonus
• Flexible PTO (2 weeks STRONGLY encouraged!)
• Generous paid leave programs, including 16-week paid parental leave and disability benefits
• Workplace flexibility and modern work schedules
• Company-wide in-person events and team outings
• Lifestyle enhancement program
• Company equipment provided (Windows & Mac options)

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed