Research & Concept Lead

Research & Concept Lead
Contract Type:
Permanet
Work model:
Hybrid

Location:

Milan, Italia
About the role
At Sanoma Learning, we are shaping the future of education across Europe. We are looking for a Research & Concept Lead to drive early‑stage discovery and turn complex user insights into scalable, high‑impact product concepts. This role sits at the intersection of research, product strategy, and innovation, helping define what problems are worth solving – before solutions exist.
You will work across countries (with a strong focus on Italy), connecting local insights with a broader system view to shape the next generation of learning products.
What you’ll do

Drive discovery & concept development

Lead early‑stage discovery by combining user research, future thinking, and systems thinking
Translate insights, signals, and trends into clear, actionable product concepts
Shape opportunity spaces before solutions are defined

Lead research in the Italian market

Plan and execute qualitative and quantitative research in Italy
Ensure local user, pedagogical, and market perspectives are deeply understood
Connect local insights with cross‑country learnings to inform scalable solutions

Balance desirability, feasibility & viability

Evaluate concepts across user value, technical feasibility, and business impact
Partner with product, tech, and business stakeholders to guide decisions and trade‑offs

Influence product strategy

Bring evidence‑based thinking into product strategy, roadmaps, and investments
Help define future vision and opportunity areas

Lead complex, cross‑country initiatives

Align multidisciplinary teams across markets
Create shared understanding and direction in ambiguous, early‑stage environments

Enable collaboration & clarity

Facilitate alignment across research, design, product, and engineering
Make insights, assumptions, and decisions visible and actionable

Elevate discovery practices

Improve how ideas move from insight → concept → validated direction
Contribute to evolving discovery and concepting practices across the organization

What we’re looking for
Must have

5+ years of experience in research, product discovery, or related roles
Proven experience leading research and early‑stage product discovery in complex environments
Strong ability to connect user insights with product strategy and business impact
Experience shaping product concepts (not just features)
Excellent facilitation, storytelling, and stakeholder alignment skills
Experience working with the Italian market
Fluent in English and Italian native

Nice to have

Experience in education or learning products
Background in innovation, concept strategy, or design strategy
Experience scaling discovery practices across teams or organizations
Familiarity with accessibility, inclusion, and ethical research

How you work

You’re comfortable operating in ambiguity and shaping direction from scratch
You combine analytical thinking with creativity
You are collaborative, proactive, and quality‑driven
You think in systems, not silos

Why this role matters
You will play a key role in defining the future of learning products across multiple countries – ensuring that what we build is not only innovative, but meaningful, scalable, and grounded in real user needs.
Sanoma Learning is committed to being an equal opportunity employer, promoting diversity, inclusion, and fairness by ensuring equal opportunities regardless of personal characteristics such as race, gender, religion, or disability.
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