Research Operations Manager
About Faire
Faire is an online wholesale marketplace built on the belief that the future is local — there are over 2 million independent retailers in North America and Europe doing more than $2 trillion in revenue. At Faire, we're using the power of tech, data, and machine learning to connect this thriving community of entrepreneurs across the globe. Picture your favorite boutique in town — we help them discover the best products from around the world to sell in their stores. With the right tools and insights, we believe that we can level the playing field so that small businesses everywhere can compete with these big box and e-commerce giants.
By supporting the growth of independent businesses, Faire is driving positive economic impact in local communities, globally. We’re looking for smart, resourceful and passionate people to join us as we power the shop local movement. If you believe in community, come join ours.
About this role
Faire is a company that believes many employees should actively engage in high-quality research—as our first Research Operations Manager, you’ll join a tight-knit, collaborative Design team that cares deeply about Faire’s customers and ensures our product is valuable to them. Our team is at the center of user experience at Faire, improving our product for the thousands of independent retailers and brands growing their businesses in our marketplace.
In this role, you’ll collaborate with cross-functional team members and build research systems that will enable them to conduct meaningful research with Faire’s customers. You’ll support research activities across the company and build solutions that make it possible for any employee to conduct effective surveys and remote/in-person interviews. As a founding research team member, you’ll be an integral part of developing the culture and practice of research at Faire. As Faire’s first Research Operations expert, you will be at the forefront of how Faire approaches scaling its distributed research practices.
We’re looking for team members that are kind, collaborative, have a bias to action, and excel at developing creative solutions that will ensure everyone’s success (most importantly our customer’s success).
We're looking for candidates open to working in San Francisco, CA, Los Angeles, CA, New York City, NY, Atlanta, GA, Toronto, ON, Kitchener, ON or remotely.
What you’ll do
- Collaborate with the Head of Research to establish, build, and scale Faire’s first research operations team
- Level up current research systems and increase the impact of all research at Faire
- Own the participant recruitment and scheduling process, ensuring it is compliant, efficient, and a positive experience for Faire’s employees and customers
- Grow and support a team of excellent research operations specialists
- Manage research tools, vendors, and operational budget
- Contribute to and positively shape Faire’s culture through collaboration, authentic feedback, and proactive participation
- Be open to traveling domestically and internationally up to 10% of the time
Qualifications
- You have 4+ experience and leading a research operations team.
- You have experience founding and scaling an in-house research operations practice and have hired and managed research operations specialists.
- You have experience running research operations in a democratized research environment and are comfortable advising cross-functional partners on research processes and design.
- You are a leader who is willing to dive in and get your hands dirty to make things happen (i.e., participant recruiting, scheduling, etc).
- You’re an expert in managing vendors (i.e., developing RFPs, sourcing, drafting SOWs, negotiating scope, and cost), procurement, expense management systems, budgeting processes, and data privacy policies (e.g., GDPR, CCPA)
- You’re knowledgeable about current research tools and are always on the lookout for new tools.
- You have excellent communication skills, a proactive collaborative approach, and strive to maintain a growth mindset.
Why you’ll love working at Faire
- We are entrepreneurs: Faire is being built for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs. We believe entrepreneurship is a calling and our mission is to empower entrepreneurs to chase their dreams. Every member of our team is an owner of the business and taking part in the founding process.
- We are using technology and data to level the playing field: We are leveraging the power of product innovation and machine learning to connect brands and boutiques from all over the world, building a growing community of more than 350,000 small business owners.
- We build products our customers love: Everything we do is ultimately in the service of helping our customers grow their business because our goal is to grow the pie - not steal a piece from it. Running a small business is hard work, but using Faire makes it easy.
- We are curious and resourceful: Inquisitive by default, we explore every possibility, test every assumption, and develop creative solutions to the challenges at hand. We lead with curiosity and data in our decision making, and reason from a first principles mentality.
Faire was founded in 2017 by a team of early product and engineering leads from Square. We’re backed by some of the top investors in retail and tech including: Y Combinator, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Forerunner Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Founders Fund, and DST Global. We have headquarters in San Francisco and Kitchener-Waterloo, and a global employee presence across offices in Salt Lake City, Atlanta, Toronto, London, New York, LA, and Sao Paulo. To learn more about Faire and our customers, you can read more on our blog.
Faire provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetics, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.