Thumbtack is hiring a Research Operations Program Manager to design, scale, and continuously improve the operational systems that power our user and market research. You'll be the connective tissue between people, process, and technology, enabling researchers to focus on generating insights.
What You'll Do
- Design, scale, and govern the systems and tools that support high-quality, efficient user and market research.
- Maintain and evolve our research repository as a reliable, searchable, and well-structured source of insights.
- Lead participant operations, including recruiting, incentives, and vendor management, ensuring ethical and privacy-aligned execution.
- Partner with Engineering, Data, Legal, and IT to maintain integrated, compliant, and secure data and tooling environments.
- Drive operational excellence through budget oversight, contracts, procurement, and frameworks that clarify roles and reduce friction.
- Provide hands-on operational support for studies when needed, coordinating logistics and anticipating risks.
- Track and report research activities to improve visibility, efficiency, and strategic planning across the team.
- Support research culture and growth through onboarding, L&D, team events, and knowledge-sharing.
What We're Looking For
- 5+ years in program management, operations, or research enablement roles.
- 3+ years dedicated to Research Operations.
- Proven ability to build, scale, and maintain research systems, repositories, and operational processes in a fast-moving tech environment.
- Deep understanding of participant operations, research logistics, compliance, and ethical best practices.
- Skilled at diagnosing and solving complex operational and technical problems, including evaluating and implementing new tools or workflows.
- Strong project management and coordination abilities, with a track record of aligning diverse stakeholders.
- Experience managing budgets, contracts, and vendor relationships with accuracy and accountability.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to build trust across teams and facilitate effective collaboration.
- Demonstrated passion for nurturing team culture, supporting learning, and fostering connection in distributed environments.
Team & Environment
You'll join a team of nine researchers who are embedded within product teams but operate as a tight-knit community of practice.
Work Mode
This is a remote position open to candidates in Ontario.
Thumbtack is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, color, age, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, marital status, military or veteran status, genetic information, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
