Northwestern Mutual
Sr Director, Research & Innovation
Northwestern Mutual - Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, 53244
Work at Northwestern Mutual
Overview
- View job
Overview
Sr Director, Research & Innovation page is loadedSr Director, Research & InnovationApply locations Milwaukee, WI Corporate time type Full time posted on Posted 7 Days Ago time left to apply End Date: September 1, 2025 (30+ days left to apply) job requisition id JR-43634 Role Overview:
Do not wait to apply after reading this description a high application volume is expected for this opportunity. The Senior Director of Research & Innovation will play a pivotal role in elevating the employee experience through data-driven research and expert design. This role is at the forefront of shaping the future of work by driving AI adoption and innovation within and through the People Function. As a strategic leader, you will influence and inspire teams to deliver measurable business value and foster a culture of trust and empowerment. Key Responsibilities:
AI Strategy and Implementation:
Drive the adoption of AI and Generative AI within the People Function, supporting broader enterprise integration.
Shape and refine the AI strategy, leveraging existing tools like our internal ChatGPT instance and Microsoft Copilot while exploring additional resources.
Serve as a thought leader in AI, guiding the function's strategic direction and innovation initiatives.
Leadership and Team Management:
Coach and develop three direct reports, leading teams focused on Employee Experience Research, User Experience Design, and Content Strategy.
Mentor team leaders, fostering a culture of growth, feedback, and collective success.
Inspire and rally teams towards common goals, ensuring alignment with strategic priorities.
Cross-Functional Collaboration:
Build and maintain strong relationships with stakeholders and partners across the People Function, Tech & Digital, AI, and Innovation teams to drive strategic initiatives.
Act as an ambassador for human-centered design and the strategic value of the employee experience across the enterprise.
Strategic Planning and Execution:
Define and drive strategic objectives aligned with the function's multi-year strategy and annual objectives.
Develop success metrics to track the team’s impact, ensuring transparency and accountability in outcomes from idea generation to execution.
Establish and maintain a pipeline of high-impact ideas, balancing desirability, feasibility, and viability while driving tangible business outcomes.
The Ideal Candidate
You are a strategic facilitator and orchestrator of innovation—a leader who thrives in ambiguity, translates vision into action, and builds high-performing, collaborative environments. You have deep experience leading innovation initiatives, ensuring the right ideas move forward and deliver measurable impact. Qualifications:
Minimum of 10 years of experience in a creative or strategic role, with digital agency experience as a plus.
Proven experience managing teams of managers and driving business outcomes.
Strong business acumen, with the ability to craft persuasive business cases and influence senior leaders.
Demonstrated ability to build a culture of trust, empowerment, and collaboration.
Excellent communication skills and the ability to influence and inspire cross-functional teams.
Extensive design expertise applied across diverse contexts, with proven success in partnering with content strategy, research design operations, product, engineering, and business stakeholders.
Strong advocate for design processes and methodologies, with experience in empowering non-designers to leverage these practices effectively.
Demonstrated foundational portfolio in design, showcasing fluency in UX research, content strategy, copywriting, and product management.
Experience in highly regulated industries such as finance, banking, insurance, or healthcare is advantageous.
Leadership Attributes:
Visionary & Pragmatic: Inspire bold thinking while ensuring execution and impact.
Influential & Persuasive: Build trust and drive change without direct authority.
Master Facilitator: Create dynamic, engaging environments that surface the best ideas.
Agile & Adaptive: Navigate ambiguity and pivot when needed.
Data-Driven & Results-Oriented: Quantify success and drive accountability.
Growth-Oriented: Foster a growth mindset with a focus on team development and strategic clarity.
Collaborative & People-Centered: Prioritize collective success and foster a people-centered approach, emphasizing strong collaboration and co-creation skills with a focus on human-centered design.
Compensation Range: Pay Range - Start: $149,380.00 Pay Range - End: $277,420.00
Geographic Specific Pay Structure: 230 - Structure 110: 164,290.00 USD - 305,110.00 USD230 - Structure 115: 171,780.00 USD - 319,020.00 USD
We believe in fairness and transparency. It’s why we share the salary range for most of our roles. However, final salaries are based on a number of factors, including the skills and experience of the candidate; the current market; location of the candidate; and other factors uncovered in the hiring process. The standard pay structure is listed but if you’re living in California, New York City or other eligible location, geographic specific pay structures, compensation and benefits could be applicable, click here to learn more. Job Posting End Date: 09/01/2025 The timeline for this job posting may be shortened or extended based on organizational needs. Grow your career with a best-in-class company that puts our clients' interests at the center of all we do. Get started now! Nor
t hwestern Mutual is an equal opportunity employer who welcomes and encourages diversity in the workforce. We are committed to creating and maintaining an environment in which each employee can contribute creative ideas, seek challenges, assume leadership and continue to focus on meeting and exceeding business and personal objectives. Similar Jobs (1)Senior Director – Enterprise Strategy (Enterprise Strategy and Competitive Intelligence)locations 2 Locations time type Full time posted on Posted 18 Days Ago At Northwestern Mutual, we believe relationships are built on trust. That our lives and our work matter. These beliefs launched our company over 160 years ago. Today, they're just a few of the reasons why people choose to build careers at Northwestern Mutual. What started in Milwaukee, WI has grown into 7,000+ home office professionals split across 3 campuses: New York City, Franklin and downtown Milwaukee (HQ) - each one bringing with it its own unique talent and culture. In a company with such a long and storied history, this may be the most exciting and important time to be a part of Northwestern Mutual as we are growing our digital and tech capabilities and are always on the lookout for bright, tech-savvy candidates. Northwestern Mutual is proud to be an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. We have chosen to build a diverse and inclusive workplace where talented people from all backgrounds want to be, want to stay, and want to build their future. We celebrate and support our differences for the benefit of our employees, our products, and our community. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age or status as a protected veteran, or any other characteristic protected by law.
#J-18808-Ljbffr
Do not wait to apply after reading this description a high application volume is expected for this opportunity. The Senior Director of Research & Innovation will play a pivotal role in elevating the employee experience through data-driven research and expert design. This role is at the forefront of shaping the future of work by driving AI adoption and innovation within and through the People Function. As a strategic leader, you will influence and inspire teams to deliver measurable business value and foster a culture of trust and empowerment. Key Responsibilities:
AI Strategy and Implementation:
Drive the adoption of AI and Generative AI within the People Function, supporting broader enterprise integration.
Shape and refine the AI strategy, leveraging existing tools like our internal ChatGPT instance and Microsoft Copilot while exploring additional resources.
Serve as a thought leader in AI, guiding the function's strategic direction and innovation initiatives.
Leadership and Team Management:
Coach and develop three direct reports, leading teams focused on Employee Experience Research, User Experience Design, and Content Strategy.
Mentor team leaders, fostering a culture of growth, feedback, and collective success.
Inspire and rally teams towards common goals, ensuring alignment with strategic priorities.
Cross-Functional Collaboration:
Build and maintain strong relationships with stakeholders and partners across the People Function, Tech & Digital, AI, and Innovation teams to drive strategic initiatives.
Act as an ambassador for human-centered design and the strategic value of the employee experience across the enterprise.
Strategic Planning and Execution:
Define and drive strategic objectives aligned with the function's multi-year strategy and annual objectives.
Develop success metrics to track the team’s impact, ensuring transparency and accountability in outcomes from idea generation to execution.
Establish and maintain a pipeline of high-impact ideas, balancing desirability, feasibility, and viability while driving tangible business outcomes.
The Ideal Candidate
You are a strategic facilitator and orchestrator of innovation—a leader who thrives in ambiguity, translates vision into action, and builds high-performing, collaborative environments. You have deep experience leading innovation initiatives, ensuring the right ideas move forward and deliver measurable impact. Qualifications:
Minimum of 10 years of experience in a creative or strategic role, with digital agency experience as a plus.
Proven experience managing teams of managers and driving business outcomes.
Strong business acumen, with the ability to craft persuasive business cases and influence senior leaders.
Demonstrated ability to build a culture of trust, empowerment, and collaboration.
Excellent communication skills and the ability to influence and inspire cross-functional teams.
Extensive design expertise applied across diverse contexts, with proven success in partnering with content strategy, research design operations, product, engineering, and business stakeholders.
Strong advocate for design processes and methodologies, with experience in empowering non-designers to leverage these practices effectively.
Demonstrated foundational portfolio in design, showcasing fluency in UX research, content strategy, copywriting, and product management.
Experience in highly regulated industries such as finance, banking, insurance, or healthcare is advantageous.
Leadership Attributes:
Visionary & Pragmatic: Inspire bold thinking while ensuring execution and impact.
Influential & Persuasive: Build trust and drive change without direct authority.
Master Facilitator: Create dynamic, engaging environments that surface the best ideas.
Agile & Adaptive: Navigate ambiguity and pivot when needed.
Data-Driven & Results-Oriented: Quantify success and drive accountability.
Growth-Oriented: Foster a growth mindset with a focus on team development and strategic clarity.
Collaborative & People-Centered: Prioritize collective success and foster a people-centered approach, emphasizing strong collaboration and co-creation skills with a focus on human-centered design.
Compensation Range: Pay Range - Start: $149,380.00 Pay Range - End: $277,420.00
Geographic Specific Pay Structure: 230 - Structure 110: 164,290.00 USD - 305,110.00 USD230 - Structure 115: 171,780.00 USD - 319,020.00 USD
We believe in fairness and transparency. It’s why we share the salary range for most of our roles. However, final salaries are based on a number of factors, including the skills and experience of the candidate; the current market; location of the candidate; and other factors uncovered in the hiring process. The standard pay structure is listed but if you’re living in California, New York City or other eligible location, geographic specific pay structures, compensation and benefits could be applicable, click here to learn more. Job Posting End Date: 09/01/2025 The timeline for this job posting may be shortened or extended based on organizational needs. Grow your career with a best-in-class company that puts our clients' interests at the center of all we do. Get started now! Nor
t hwestern Mutual is an equal opportunity employer who welcomes and encourages diversity in the workforce. We are committed to creating and maintaining an environment in which each employee can contribute creative ideas, seek challenges, assume leadership and continue to focus on meeting and exceeding business and personal objectives. Similar Jobs (1)Senior Director – Enterprise Strategy (Enterprise Strategy and Competitive Intelligence)locations 2 Locations time type Full time posted on Posted 18 Days Ago At Northwestern Mutual, we believe relationships are built on trust. That our lives and our work matter. These beliefs launched our company over 160 years ago. Today, they're just a few of the reasons why people choose to build careers at Northwestern Mutual. What started in Milwaukee, WI has grown into 7,000+ home office professionals split across 3 campuses: New York City, Franklin and downtown Milwaukee (HQ) - each one bringing with it its own unique talent and culture. In a company with such a long and storied history, this may be the most exciting and important time to be a part of Northwestern Mutual as we are growing our digital and tech capabilities and are always on the lookout for bright, tech-savvy candidates. Northwestern Mutual is proud to be an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. We have chosen to build a diverse and inclusive workplace where talented people from all backgrounds want to be, want to stay, and want to build their future. We celebrate and support our differences for the benefit of our employees, our products, and our community. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age or status as a protected veteran, or any other characteristic protected by law.
#J-18808-Ljbffr