Principal Behavioural Economist

We are X, bigly labs, Dis-Chem’s high-performance innovation hub; a place where bold ideas meet data, design, and radical customer focus to reimagine what healthcare can be.

Our mission is to power the future of healthcare by lowering costs, unlocking new possibilities, and improving access to healthcare for all South Africans. We do this through cutting-edge digital solutions that deliver smarter, more human, and truly patient-focused experiences. Here, your work is not limited to a whiteboard; it becomes real. It drives decisions, shapes experiences, and moves healthcare forward. We are driven by one big question: How do we use data and today’s technology to build breakthroughs to better health?

There’s only one question left: are you ready to make healthcare smarter, and actually mean it?

Architect and establish the Behavioural Economics (BE) Practice at X, bigly labs. Operating as an advanced strategic catalyst, the role will embed behavioural science into the organisation’s product, design, research, data, operations, and commercial decision-making. The role will draw on various bodies of knowledge including cognitive psychology, decision science and behaviour change theory to improve customers’ choice architecture and the business and societal outcomes thereof. The role will shape product strategies, improve customer decision environments and ensure the ethical application of behavioural science by translating behavioural theory and evidence into practical strategy, design principles, journey interventions, content, service patterns and measurable experiments. The role aims to drive measurable customer and business value such as improved conversion, retention, engagement, digital adoption, trust, habit formation, reduced cognitive friction and improved customer outcomes.

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR?

• Minimum qualification: Master’s degree or equivalent in Behavioural Science, Behavioural Economics, Psychology, Industrial Psychology, Organisational Behaviour, Cognitive Psychology, Decision Sciences, or related fields. A PhD, additional certifications and applied experience in Human Centred Design, Service Design, Systems Thinking, Behaviour Change, Product Strategy, Customer Experience, Experimental Research or Data Science would be highly advantageous.
• Experience: 8–10+ years of applied experience utilising behavioural science/economics to drive measurable business and customer outcomes in a corporate, consulting, product, digital, or service environment. Experience should include applying behavioural frameworks across organisational, product, customer, digital or service environments, influencing senior stakeholders, translating research into business decisions and embedding behavioural interventions into operational outcomes. Proven track record of establishing behavioural frameworks and leading cross-functional experimentation, including A/B testing, RCTs, quasi-experimental designs, behavioural audits, journey diagnostics and qualitative behavioural research.
• Systems/Tools: Advanced working knowledge of behavioural research, experimentation, journey diagnostics and synthesis, including quantitative experimentation platforms, qualitative synthesis tools, survey tools, product analytics, analytics dashboards, behavioural journey mapping, service blueprinting and collaboration software. Strong statistical literacy to partner effectively with Data, Product and Analytics teams, with the ability to translate behavioural questions into measurable outcomes, testable hypotheses and practical design decisions.

WHAT YOU WILL BE DOING?

• Define the vision, methodology, operating model and maturity roadmap for the Behavioural Economics practice, aligning it with X, bigly labs’ strategic objectives.
• Partner closely with the Research Practice to deepen qualitative and quantitative insights by interpreting stated customer needs alongside observed behaviour, decision context, mental models, cognitive load, motivations, barriers, heuristics, trust, emotion, social norms and contextual constraints.
• Lead the design, execution and measurement of high-impact behavioural experiments and evaluations in partnership with the Product, Data, Research and Design teams, using a fit-for-purpose evaluation approach.
• Act as the primary advocate for Behavioural Economics across X, bigly labs, facilitating workshops and training to help the Research, Design and Product teams apply behavioural science to improve customer outcomes, product decisions, service experiences and commercial performance.

WHO YOU ARE?

• Deep expertise in behavioural science, behavioural economics, decision science, cognitive psychology, behaviour change and choice architecture, with the ability to apply the theory practically across product, customer, digital, service and organisational environments.
• Strong ability to diagnose behavioural barriers  including cognitive load, friction, motivation, trust, habits, social norms and contextual constraints and translate these into practical interventions, design principles and measurable business actions.
• Strong capability in designing rigorous, practical experiments, understanding statistical significance and accounting for other factors that may affect results in a fast-moving business environment.
• Ability to connect individual behaviour, customer journeys, organisational processes, product systems and market dynamics (micro, meso and macro levels) to identify high-value behavioural leverage points.
• Ability to balance customer wellbeing and commercial outcomes by designing behavioural interventions that improve trust, comprehension, conversion, retention, engagement, adoption and decision quality.

Our values show up in how we think, build, and make choices that make an impact. We are building a culture that drives progress; one that fixes friction, chases what changes, and owns the outcome. We design with tomorrow in mind, ask sharper questions, and answer them with care, urgency, and systems that scale.

Think you’ve got energy, curiosity, and guts? Come hold the space, make it matter, and own a breakthrough.