Innovation & Exploration Lead

Innovation & Exploration Lead Lead sunday’s European Innovation Lab, turning restaurant insights into bold experiments and scalable solutions that make digital payments simpler, faster, and more valuable across Europe. Apply to this job 👋 About Us sunday is building the fastest, simplest way to pay in restaurants. With a quick scan of a QR code, diners can pay, tip, and leave in about 10 seconds. We believe great products should feel obvious, not complicated, and we focus relentlessly on keeping things simple while earning trust from restaurants and guests at every interaction. Today, sunday powers payments in thousands of restaurants across the US, UK, and France, helping operators turn tables faster, increase tips, and unlock valuable insights. We push ourselves to go beyond what’s expected, building with ownership, moving fast, and scaling with ambition as we tackle our biggest growth opportunity in the US. About the Role As EU Innovation & Exploration Lead , you will build and lead sunday’s European Innovation & Exploration Lab, with one clear mission: drive adoption of our digital payment solutions across the restaurants we serve. This is one of sunday’s most important objectives — and a genuinely complex challenge to solve. You will identify the biggest barriers to adoption, uncover new opportunities through experimentation, and turn your findings into solutions that create real value for restaurants, their teams and their guests. This is a field-led, highly entrepreneurial role for someone who combines analytical thinking, operational strength and the grit to see ideas through. You will work at the intersection of restaurant operations, Product, Data and Strategy. Your work will start in restaurants, where you will immerse yourself in the daily reality of our clients and users. You will turn these observations into insights, formulate hypotheses, run experiments, measure their impact and scale the initiatives that work. This is not a traditional strategy or coordination role. You will own real problems from day one and be expected to solve them. You will have the autonomy to explore new ideas, the support of senior leadership and the mandate to make things happen across the organisation. You will report directly to our GM Europe, while working closely with country Operations teams, Product and Data. You will also collaborate with our CEO and his Chief of Staff, giving you direct access to the most senior levels of the company. In parallel, you will lead a small but ambitious team of Innovation & Exploration Associates, helping them turn field insights into structured experiments and measurable impact. Join early, grow fast, and shape the journey! Key Responsibilities Your key mandate is to continuously optimise sunday’s product-market fit across Europe. You will identify the biggest barriers and opportunities, then relentlessly work to increase the use of sunday across the restaurants we serve. Build the European Innovation & Exploration Lab: Define its priorities, operating rhythm and approach to discovering, testing and scaling new ideas. Lead and develop the team: Set a high operating standard for the Innovation & Exploration Associates, coach them through experiments and help them turn field insights into measurable impact. Stay close to the field: Spend significant time in restaurants with owners, managers, staff and guests to understand adoption barriers and real-world friction points. Turn insights into action: Translate field observations into clear problems, opportunities and hypotheses that inform Product, Operations and Commercial decisions. Experiment boldly and iterate fast: Design and launch practical pilots, define success metrics and learn quickly from what works — and what doesn’t. Never let perfect be the enemy of progress. Scale successful solutions: Partner with Product, Data and Operations to turn validated experiments into scalable products, processes or commercial initiatives. Lead with ownership: Keep senior leadership close to field realities while managing priorities, mobilising the right resources and driving initiatives through to impact. About You Must-haves You have 5+ years of experience, incl. at least 3 years in a fast-paced organisation. You are deeply entrepreneurial: when you see a problem, your instinct is to solve it rather than simply report it. You have a strong bias for action and consistently follow through. You are analytical and methodical, with the ability to understand which levers work for which stakeholders and in which conditions. You are an exceptional communicator and can turn complex, ambiguous situations into clear takeaways for everyone from a CEO to a restaurant team. You are field-oriented and energised by spending time with clients and operational teams. You look for granular insights and naturally dig deeper to understand the root cause of a problem. You use AI extensively to improve the way you investigate, solve and execute. Nice-to-haves Experience in a startup or another highly entrepreneurial environment. Experience in an operations-heavy or field-based role. Experience founding or building a company, team or new initiative. Familiarity with the hospitality or restaurant industry. What We Offer A competitive salary + Stock Options A great office in the heart of Paris (10th arrondissement) with a balance of in-person and remote work Free Vacation Policy 100% Employer-Covered Health Insurance for you and your children Ticket Restaurant 50% of your public transportation covered 🐾 Steps in our Recruitment Process Share your story: Application with resume Let's get to know each other through a phone screen interview Meet with the hiring manager Impress your future colleagues with a case study Meet with a Leader Reference Checks (3 most recent managers) Offer: we want you Thank you for taking the time to apply, and looking forward to getting to know you! sunday is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, creed, color, sex, affectional or sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, gender, ethnicity, religion, national origin, ancestry, nationality, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, genetic information, or on any other basis prohibited by law (except where an attribute is a bona fide occupational qualification). Department Operations Locations Paris, France Remote status Hybrid Employment type Full-time Team EU Innovation & Exploration Lab