Unit Manager - Design Thinking - Wheels/Senior Unit Manager - Design Thinking - Wheels

Job Purpose As a Marketing Research Associate within the Design Thinking team, you will support the development of customer-centric lending products and experiences across two-wheeler, passenger vehicle, and used-vehicle financing in the Indian market.
Your role will focus on uncovering deep insights across customers, dealer ecosystems, and partner journeys to inform product design, credit propositions, distribution models, and go-to-market strategies.
You will lead and execute primary market research initiatives, working closely with design, product, credit, marketing, and business teams to ensure insights are embedded across the end-to-end lending lifecycle—from awareness and consideration to onboarding, servicing, and repeat usage.
Duties and Responsibilities Key responsibilities include: • Designing and executing primary research programs (qualitative and quantitative) across customers, dealers, OEM partners, and channel stakeholders • Conducting on-ground and digital research including IDIs, FGDs, dealer immersions, ethnography, mystery shopping, and surveys • Understanding customer decision drivers around vehicle purchase, financing choice, affordability, trust, and documentation • Mapping customer and dealer journeys across sourcing, credit approval, disbursal, and post-disbursal stages • Translating research findings into personas, journey maps, opportunity areas, and design principles • Supporting concept testing, proposition validation, and pilot evaluations for new lending products, digital journeys, and partner models • Collaborating with cross-functional teams to convert insights into actionable inputs for product, policy, and experience design • Managing research vendors and field agencies where applicable • Creating high-quality research reports and executive presentations for senior stakeholders Required Qualifications and Experience • 4–5 years of experience in primary market research, preferably in a research or consulting firm • Strong qualitative research expertise, with working knowledge of quantitative techniques • Experience conducting consumer behavior, purchase journey, and decision-making research • Ability to synthesize large volumes of qualitative data into clear, insight-led narratives • Familiarity with design thinking / human-centered design approaches • Comfort with on-ground research environments (dealer locations, customer homes, semi-urban / urban markets) • Strong stakeholder communication and storytelling skills • Experience working in ambiguous problem spaces and translating insights into business relevance • Proficiency in Excel, PowerPoint, and survey tools (Qualtrics, SurveyMonkey, etc.
) • Prior experience in automobile lending or financial services is not mandatory; curiosity and ability to learn domain concepts quickly is critical ________________________________________ Education • Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business Administration, Psychology, Sociology, Economics, Design, or related disciplines • Postgraduate qualification (MBA / MMS / M.
Sc. / PGDM in Marketing, Research, Strategy, or Consumer Insights) preferred Why This Role • Opportunity to shape large-scale lending products impacting millions of customers across India • Exposure to a unique intersection of consumer behavior, physical distribution, and digital lending • Hands-on involvement in translating research into real business and product outcomes