Principal Associate, User Experience Research Operations

The Experience Design (XD) Research Operations team is seeking a driven Principal Research Operations Associate. This role blends strategic planning and hands-on execution, empowering researchers and designers to focus on high-impact work. **Responsibilities:** * **Process Optimization:** Define and lead improvements to increase team efficiency and optimize practices. * **Research Governance & Compliance:** Champion ethical, privacy, and data protection standards across projects. * **Knowledge Management:** Build and maintain a library of research practices, resources, and templates for consistency. * **Research Advocacy:** Evangelize research internally and contribute to advancing the Research Operations practice. * **Project Management:** Understand research and design needs, managing systems and logistics for multiple projects; propose scalable solutions to leadership. **Basic Qualifications:** * 4+ years of experience in UX or Research Operations, project management, or process improvement. * 2+ years of experience working directly with Research or Design teams. **Preferred Qualifications:** * Highly effective verbal and written communication skills. * Systems thinking with a track record for establishing scalable practices. * Strategic acumen and foresight to anticipate complex cross-functional problems. * Project management excellence with a commitment to continuous improvement. * Experience with research tools and vendors. * Proven ability to work autonomously and guide peers through ambiguity. * Ability to balance outcomes and risks to design human-centered solutions. * 4+ years experience managing risk in highly regulated research environments. * 4+ years experience with project management tools (e.g., Jira) and data visualization tools (e.g., Confluence).