Research Operations Manager

Summary

Join Calendly's growing Research & Insights team as a Research Operations Manager to build and scale research practices, driving operational excellence. You will be instrumental in bringing the voice of the customer into every decision, building systems and programs from the ground up, and democratizing the ability to learn from customers. This role involves building a thriving research culture, managing global customer participant recruitment, optimizing knowledge management, designing research infrastructure, managing research tools and platforms, and strategically implementing AI-powered tools. You will work closely with product, design, and GTM teams to ensure research is efficient, compliant, and actionable. The ideal candidate will have 5+ years of experience in a similar role within a fast-paced tech company and a proven track record of success in customer immersion programs and knowledge management system building. Calendly offers a competitive salary and benefits package.

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience in Research Operations or a similar role within a product-led, fast-paced tech company
• Expertise in communicating directly with customers and managing global participant recruitment, compensation, and compliance with data privacy regulations
• Demonstrated success creating and managing customer immersion programs that build a culture of customer obsession
• Strong proficiency in building knowledge management systems and scaling research access and impact
• Strong vendor and budget management skills, including evaluating and negotiating research tools and contracts autonomously
• Experience with a range of qualitative and quantitative research tools (e.g., User Interviews, Sprig, Marvin, Displayr, etc.)
• An entrepreneurial approach with a strong ability to act quickly, confidently, and collaboratively

Responsibilities

• Build a thriving research culture, acting as a thought partner to the Head of Research & Insights and other leaders in product, design, and GTM (go-to-market) and creating feedback loops to improve how research powers decision-making
• Bring leaders and product development teams closer to customers while also creating an engaging experience for customer participants, through programs like Customer Advisory Boards, research communities, and customer panels
• Develop and manage global customer participant recruitment processes for both interviews and surveys across all departments, including sourcing, screening, incentives, and ensuring GDPR and privacy compliance
• Continuously optimize and scale how we capture, share, and leverage insights across the organization
• Design, drive, and optimize net-new tools, templates, processes, and systems to support research at scale across product, design, and GTM teams
• Own the evaluation, procurement, and maintenance of research tools and platforms (e.g., participant panels, knowledge management, AI-based analysis)
• Track and manage research budgets, vendor relationships, and internal resource allocation
• Identify and strategically implement AI-powered tools to increase research efficiency and amplify the impact of insights across teams

Benefits

• Quarterly Corporate Bonus program (or Sales incentive)
• Equity awards
• Competitive benefits