User Research Operations Specialist

Senior Research Operations Specialist The Product Design & Research team is seeking a Senior Research Operations Specialist to act as the second member of our growing Research Operations practice, essential for creating systems, processes, and support structures that empower Product Designers and Product Managers to gather high‑quality insights efficiently and at scale. Responsibilities Reporting to the Staff User Research Operations Manager, act as a strategic partner in evolving fragmented post‑merger processes into a single, elegant system, directly enabling teams to make informed, user‑centered decisions that drive our mission forward. Provide hands‑on study support: serve as the first point of contact for PMs and Designers, guiding them through the operational lifecycle of a study from triage and planning to participant recruitment, scheduling, and incentive management. Drive process improvement: proactively identify bottlenecks in current research workflows, design durable, scalable solutions, and document best practices and resources that empower teams to conduct research more effectively. Manage tooling and vendor relationships: administer aspects of our research tool suite, manage seat allocation, and serve as a key contact for vendor partners to maximize the value of our investments (UserInterviews, Qualtrics, Dovetail, Figma, etc.). Scale our insights & knowledge management: manage and improve our research repository, ensuring insights are discoverable and accessible, and develop processes that encourage synthesis of findings across multiple studies. Qualifications Ideal candidates will bring deep experience organizing user research, an analytic approach to process development, and a collaborative disposition for problem‑solving. Exceptional communication & stakeholder management: build strong working relationships, articulate complex processes clearly, and guide stakeholders through operational requirements. Excellent English “wordsmithing” skills for proofreading participant communications, screener questionnaires, and survey content. Process‑oriented mindset: natural systems thinker adept at identifying inefficiencies, designing new processes, and creating clear documentation to support them. 4+ years experience in a Research Operations, Design Operations, or related program management role within a product organization. Deep experience in research enablement: strong understanding of the end‑to‑end research process and passion for creating systems that empower non‑researchers (PMs and Designers) to conduct high‑quality work. Proactive & autonomous: comfortable working in a fast‑paced environment, managing multiple projects simultaneously, and delivering results with minimal oversight. Operable in ambiguity and aligning varied stakeholders toward novel goals. Hands‑on tool & analytic systems expertise: direct experience managing key research tools, such as participant management platforms, survey tools, and research repositories. Comfortable working with user data at scale to produce targeted samples based on stakeholder needs (Google Sheets, PowerBI, SQL, Heap, Databricks, Fullstory, etc.). Experience supporting user research in a post‑merger or multi‑brand environment. Experience working with or supporting user research via AI‑powered features. Experience within the real estate, marketplace, or B2B space. #J-18808-Ljbffr Compass