Research & Concept Lead

Role: 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’re 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 .

About Sanoma Learning

Sanoma Learning is a leading European K12 education company dedicated to helping teachers prepare students for the future, spark their curiosity, and support their personal growth. Its mission is to develop high-quality solutions that empower educators to help every student reach their full potential. The company operates in 12 countries and employs over 3,000 people, impacting more than 25 million students across Europe.

Sanoma Learning provides a wide range of products and services, including printed and digital educational content, as well as digital learning and teaching platforms for primary, secondary, and vocational education. Through these offerings, it aims to strengthen its positive impact on learning and contribute to shaping the future of education.

The company emphasizes that its success is closely tied to the growth and development of its employees, inviting individuals to join its mission-driven journey. Additionally, 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.