VML
CX Researcher (Customer Journey) Contract
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Who We Are
VML, part of WPP, is a leading creative company that combines brand experience, customer experience, and commerce, creating connected brands to drive growth. VML is celebrated for its innovative and human first, award-winning work for blue chip client partners including AstraZeneca, Colgate-Palmolive, Dell, Ford, Microsoft, Nestlé, The Coca-Cola Company, and Wendy's. The agency is recognized by the Forrester Wave™ Reports, as a Leader among Marketing Creative and Content Service Providers, Commerce Services, Global Digital Experience Services, Global Marketing Services and, most recently, Marketing Measurement & Optimization. In addition, VML’s specialist health network, VML Health, is one of the world’s largest and most awarded health agencies. VML’s global network is powered by 26,000 talented people across 55+ markets, with principal offices in Kansas City, New York, Detroit, London, São Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore, and Sydney.
About WPP
WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands. We unite cutting-edge media intelligence and data solutions, world-class creativity, next-generation production, transformative enterprise solutions and expert strategic counsel in a single company – powered by exceptional talent and our agentic marketing platform, WPP Open, to help our clients navigate change, capture opportunity and deliver transformational growth. For more information, visit WPP.com.
This is a short term contract role and we are looking for you to start in early August.
We are seeking an experienced and insight-led CX Researcher to join a dedicated Customer Journey workstream supporting a high-profile automotive client. This role is focused on understanding and improving the end-to-end customer journey across key automotive experiences — from initial brand discovery and vehicle research through to purchase, ownership, servicing, retention, and loyalty interactions.
Working closely with CX Strategists, UX Designers, Service Designers, Analysts, Content Strategists, Product teams, and client stakeholders, you will help uncover customer needs, pain points, behavioural patterns, and opportunity areas across both digital and broader connected customer experiences. You will play a critical role in ensuring customer insight directly informs journey design, prioritisation, service improvements, and strategic decision-making across the account.
This is a highly collaborative role suited to someone who enjoys connecting customer behaviour, operational realities, and business objectives into actionable recommendations that improve experience quality and drive measurable outcomes.
Key Responsibilities
Customer Journey Research & Insight Generation:
- Plan and conduct qualitative and quantitative customer research focused on understanding end-to-end automotive customer journeys across multiple touchpoints and channels.
- Identify customer pain points, unmet needs, behavioural drivers, and moments of friction throughout the ownership and purchase lifecycle.
- Conduct a range of research methodologies including customer interviews, contextual research, surveys, usability testing, diary studies, journey reviews, ethnographic research, and stakeholder workshops.
- Synthesise complex research findings into clear, actionable insights that inform customer journey improvements and strategic recommendations.
- Support journey-focused discovery initiatives across areas such as vehicle research, online and offline purchasing experiences, ownership journeys, servicing, aftersales, retention, and loyalty.
- Help establish a deeper understanding of evolving customer expectations within the automotive landscape.
Customer Journey Mapping & Experience Strategy:
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- Create and maintain customer journey maps, service blueprints, personas, behavioural frameworks, and ecosystem maps that help visualise and communicate customer experiences.
- Analyse interactions across digital and non-digital touchpoints to identify opportunities for greater consistency, efficiency, and customer satisfaction.
- Support the definition of customer-centric strategies and recommendations aligned to business objectives and operational priorities.
- Collaborate with UX, Service Design, Product, Marketing, and Operational teams to ensure customer insight is embedded throughout design and delivery processes.
- Help prioritise journey improvements based on customer impact, feasibility, and commercial value.
Data, Insight & Continuous Improvement:
- Collaborate with analytics and optimisation teams to combine behavioural data with qualitative customer insight.
- Use customer feedback, analytics, VOC data, operational insight, and performance reporting to identify emerging trends and opportunities.
- Support experience measurement frameworks and ongoing journey performance evaluation.
- Contribute to continuous improvement initiatives by helping validate hypotheses, measure outcomes, and refine recommendations over time.
- Advocate for evidence-based and customer-centred decision making across the wider programme.
Collaboration & Stakeholder Engagement:
- Work collaboratively with CX Strategists, UX Designers, Service Designers, Analysts, Product Owners, Content Strategists, Developers, Program Managers, and client stakeholders.
- Facilitate workshops, collaborative working sessions, and playback presentations with both internal teams and client stakeholders.
- Present research findings and journey insights clearly and confidently to audiences ranging from delivery teams to senior leadership.
- Help align cross-functional teams around customer needs, experience priorities, and strategic opportunity areas.
- Contribute positively to team culture, ways of working, and the ongoing maturity of customer journey thinking across the account.
What We Want From You
- Strong experience in CX Research, UX Research, Service Design Research, Customer Insight, or related disciplines.
- Proven experience researching and analysing end-to-end customer journeys across digital and service ecosystems.
- Strong understanding of customer-centred design principles, behavioural insight, and journey mapping methodologies.
- Experience conducting both qualitative and quantitative research using a variety of methodologies.
- Ability to synthesise large volumes of research and operational information into clear, actionable recommendations.
- Strong experience creating customer journey maps, service blueprints, personas, insight reports, and strategic frameworks.
- Experience working across complex, enterprise, or multi-channel customer environments.
- Strong stakeholder management, workshop facilitation, and presentation skills.
- Ability to balance strategic thinking with hands-on delivery within fast-paced and evolving programmes.
- Strong collaboration skills with the ability to work effectively across CX, UX, product, analytics, content, and operational teams.
- Excellent communication and storytelling skills with the ability to make complex customer insight accessible and impactful.
- Automotive, retail, mobility, travel, financial services, or other customer experience-led industry experience is advantageous but not essential.
- A proactive, curious, and empathetic mindset with a passion for improving customer experiences through insight-led thinking.
- A strong portfolio showcasing customer research approaches, journey mapping, and measurable experience improvements is essential.
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What We Can Offer You
Alongside the opportunity to work with some of the most exciting brands around the world, we’ll also prioritise your career development and help you grow your skills. We’ll empower you to make a difference, allow you to be yourself, and respect who you are.
Our culture thrives on our core values, designed for impact-driven individuals: Heart, Brains and Courage.
We lead with Heart, fostering empathy and trust where genuine connections and human-centric work flourish.
We empower your Brains for innovation, valuing relentless curiosity and collaborative intelligence to solve complex challenges.
And we champion Courage, inspiring you to speak up, embrace experimentation, and advocate for bold solutions that push our thinking to be better than yesterday.
How We Use AI In The Recruitment Process
To ensure more focused and engaging conversations, we leverage AI in our recruitment process exclusively for secure, objective note-taking, never for evaluative judgments. This allows our team to be fully present with you. You are always welcome to request a transcript of these notes or opt out of this feature at any time. Opting out will not impact the outcome of the interview process.
AT VML Enterprise Solutions
Our Enterprise Solutions division houses strategic consultants, creative and technical architects and skilled developers and operators that together help some of the world’s leading organisations to deliver outstanding digital experiences across all major routes to market worldwide: marketplaces, online retailers, D2C, B2B and social platforms. With over 4,200 experts in 55 operational centres across 34 countries, our capabilities span the entire buying journey from customer acquisition, through engagement, to conversion and loyalty, driving multi-channel growth for world-leading brands.
We work with some of the most exciting brands such as The Coca-Cola Company, EY, Bosch, Unilever, Ford, DFS, Mercedes-Benz, Johnson & Johnson, Nestlé, Sainsbury’s, Selfridges, Shell and Tiffany & Co. We’ve built over 500 platforms for brands and retailers and generate in excess of $29bn annually for our clients and work with over 50 strategic partners including Adobe, SAP, Salesforce, HCL, Shopify, Sitecore, BigCommerce, commerce tools and Acquia. Our reputation is based on our people, and we believe we have some of the best in the business.
As our business grows internationally, we’re looking for new people to join us on our journey to inspire and take a key role in shaping some of the best commerce solutions, services, and websites in the world. Working as a team, no problem is insurmountable; we share in our client’s successes and believe that anyone can show creative bravery no matter what their role is in the team.
We believe the best work happens when we're together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection. That's why we’ve adopted a hybrid approach, with teams in the office an average of four days a week. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process.
WPP (VML) is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers.
VML is a WPP agency (NYSE: WPP). For more information, please visit www.vml.com, and follow along on Instagram, LinkedIn, and X.
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