Director, Audit Strategy and Operations
Western Union
Manager, Research Operations
full-time
Posted on:
Location Type: Hybrid
Location: San Francisco • California • 🇺🇸 United States
Visit company websiteSalary
💰 $118,543 - $244,059 per year
Job Level
SeniorLead
Tech Stack
PMP
About the role
- Team Leadership: Build, coach, and manage a high-performing research operations team (program managers, recruiters, coordinators). Set vision, goals, and create a culture of operational excellence, collaboration, and accountability.
- Participant Recruitment: Own strategies and processes for robust, inclusive participant recruitment and panel management—ensuring high participant quality, operational speed, and a positive experience for both researchers and study participants.
- Process Design & Knowledge Management: Define, implement, and continuously optimize research infrastructure and workflows. Author clear, scalable documentation and resource libraries to standardize and elevate research ops practices across teams.
- Vendor Partnerships: Serve as the accountable partner for external research and recruitment vendors—lead performance management, selection, onboarding, and relationship development to ensure value and compliance.
- AI & Automation: Proactively explore and leverage generative AI, automation, and emerging technologies to streamline recruitment workflows, scale operational capacity, and enable data-driven decision-making across Research Ops.
- Cross-Functional Enablement: Partner closely with product and brand research, legal, finance, and MCDC business operations. Proactively align on research needs, resource planning, compliance, and risk—removing operational and administrative barriers before they arise.
- Operational Excellence: Analyze metrics, identify process gaps, drive ongoing improvements, and establish best practices in project planning, resource allocation, and risk management, building for both current and future state needs.
- Inclusive Research Culture: Champion programs and practices that foster diverse, representative participant panels, and inclusive research experiences aligned with Pinterest’s mission and user base.
Requirements
- 8+ years in research operations, UX/program management, or related roles in a technology-driven environment.
- 3+ years in people management, building and developing research ops teams or cross-functional project teams.
- Advanced understanding of research methodologies, participant sourcing, and the end-to-end research lifecycle.
- Demonstrated experience optimizing processes, scaling operations, and managing research vendors or external partners.
- A strong curiosity for leveraging AI, automation, and new technologies to create more scalable, efficient, and intelligent research operations.
- Excellent stakeholder management skills: adept at influencing, aligning, and collaborating cross-functionally with product, brand, legal, vendors, and leadership.
- Mastery of project management, documentation frameworks, and research toolsets.
- Exceptional communication: skilled at articulating complex strategies, guiding teams, reporting to leadership, and driving clarity throughout the organization.
- High integrity and rigor: organized, detail-oriented, and skilled at building systems that scale and stand the test of time.
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience (advanced degree, PMP, or related certifications a plus).
- Preferred Qualifications
- Experience leading research operations across both product and brand/marketing/creative research.
- Background in large-scale platform or consumer tech environments.
- Hands-on experience evaluating or implementing AI-driven workflows and automation to improve research/operations outcomes.
- Familiarity with innovative research or data platforms.
- Prior work managing distributed or global teams.
- Demonstrated impact improving team productivity and business outcomes through ops leadership.
Applicant Tracking System Keywords
Tip: use these terms in your resume and cover letter to boost ATS matches.
Hard skills
research operationsUX program managementresearch methodologiesparticipant sourcingprocess optimizationproject managementdocumentation frameworksAIautomationdata-driven decision-making
Soft skills
team leadershipstakeholder managementcollaborationcommunicationinfluencingalignmentcuriosityorganizational skillsdetail-orientedintegrity
Certifications
Bachelor's degreeadvanced degreePMP
