Experience.
RESUme
Chris Munn, PhD
AI-Native Research Lead + Builder | AI Experiences, Creative Tools & Product Strategy
Mixed-methods research leader and AI builder with 8+ years across product, market, and audience research. Shaped product priorities, creative strategy, and retention at Netflix and Robinhood. Evaluates generative AI experiences, researches creator workflows, and builds AI-enabled research tools. PhD in Sociology with deep qualitative and quantitative expertise and a focus on AI-native scaled research.
8+
years of product, market & audience research
PhD
Sociology, The Ohio State University
3
research leadership roles: Netflix, DrumWave & Robinhood
chriswmunn@gmail.com • munnylab.com • linkedin.com/in/cwmunn
Scroll down for experience, education & skills ↓
Experience · Most recent
Netflix
Senior Mixed-Methods Research Lead, Enterprise AI + Emerging Formats
Los Gatos, CA
Aug 2024 – Oct 2026
Creator tools
Drove strategy for top 1% content creator monetization and tools by translating creator needs into product priorities, using mobile-first socialization tools built with agentic workflows.
Live sports product
Changed live sport product priorities with a global MaxDiff survey and expert interviews.
Creative strategy
Shifted live-sports creative strategy from static poses to athletes in motion, with insights from two AI-first artwork evaluation workflows I built.
GenAI evaluation
Evaluated GenAI caption quality through in-person lab experiments, connecting AI output assessment to audience experience.
Research enablement
Developed a GenAI research curriculum and tracker adopted by a 147+ person organization.
Jul 2023 – Aug 2024 · Mountain View, CA
DrumWave
UX Research Manager
Led Brazil field studies and mixed-methods segmentation to identify a priority launch market for data-economy products.
Translated consumer research into product design and global launch recommendations with cross-functional partners.
Established DrumWave Research Labs to communicate user insights and product learning, reaching 20,000+ viewers.
Apr 2020 – Aug 2023 · Menlo Park, CA
Robinhood
Staff User Researcher, Team Lead
Studied power-user workflows through contextual interviews, informing product changes tied to ~1,000 fewer customers leaving each week.
Used MaxDiff, segmentation, and behavioral insights to prioritize advanced tools and charts, informing product strategy and higher reported NPS.
Built an 800+ member power-user panel for rapid research and recurring product feedback, supporting Robinhood Legend development.
Experience · 2008 – 2020
Foundations
Oct 2018 – Apr 2020 · Indianapolis, IN
IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy
Applied Mixed-Methods Researcher
Led national research on leadership and financial behavior, integrating 1,230 survey responses and 104 in-depth interviews. Managed two researchers.
2017 – 2018 · Columbus, OH
Stratos Innovation Group
Senior Design Researcher
Developed customer personas and Jobs-to-Be-Done studies to guide healthcare product opportunities and redesign.
Aug 2012 – Jul 2017 · Columbus, OH
The Ohio State University
Mixed-Methods Researcher
Led multi-region research on attitudes, behavior, and cross-cultural interactions. Modeled 90,000 cases in R with hierarchical linear methods. Contributed to two books and six articles.
Dec 2008 – Aug 2012 · Abilene, TX
McNair Scholars Program
Associate Director of Research
Developed research training for 47 undergraduates and mentored them in graduate-school preparation.
Education
PhD, Sociology
The Ohio State University
MS, Sociology
The Ohio State University
MS, Social Work
Abilene Christian University
BA, Social Work
Abilene Christian University
Core Skills
AI & Product Research
GenAI experience evaluation · creator and production workflows · creative evaluation · opportunity discovery · product prioritization
Mixed Methods
Field studies · contextual interviews · usability evaluation · experiments · surveys · MaxDiff · segmentation · behavioral analysis · hierarchical modeling · R
Research Leadership
AI-assisted research tools · rapid feedback programs · evaluation workflows · executive storytelling · cross-functional strategy · research training