Program Dates: June 5, 2023 - August 11, 2023

This role is based in-person from Boston, MA.

This position requires a cover letter and online portfolio. Include the link to your portfolio in your resume, and the application question.

We are the Research Operations team at Wayfair, along with the User Experience Research (UXR) team we’re tackling exciting challenges that are reshaping how people perceive, discover, find, purchase, and have goods delivered to their homes. The research operations team is a small but mighty team working closely with researchers, product managers, product designers, engineers and other research organizations within the company to conduct quality user research.The research operations team is structured in a global operational model, which means that in joining us you have regular access to learning, feedback, and input from researchers leading tracks of work across customers in all geographies, and digital storefronts. 

We’re looking for a candidate that comes with a varied background and transferable skills and is excited about broadening their scope. Someone that is passionate about creating and supporting seamless user experiences. The perfect person to fill this role will be effective at investigating pain points and designing infrastructure enabling those as Wayfair to conduct effective and quality research to inform design & product decisions

What You’ll Do

Our team delivers support by driving efficiencies in user research practices and equipping those doing research with the tools, processes, documentation, training and support they need to execute and deliver quality research and insights. Some responsibilities of this role may include:

Research Support

• Provide tactical support for research projects led by researchers or cross functional peers
• Meet with stakeholders to review goals and objectives
• Craft support strategy to address goals, inclusive of managing research recruitment, scheduling, compensations strategies and fulfillment
• Provide quality assurance support for research studies 

Tooling & Vendor Management

• Advance the sophistication of research tools 
• Vet tools through legal, security and procurement process
• Support tooling contracts, negotiations and renewals
• Manage vendor relationships
• Manage license allocation, usage reports, support and socialization of research tools

Strategic Initiatives that drive scaling and democratization of research

• Consult on research and privacy best practices
• Manage a repository of insights
• Support building and managing templates database
• Support managing internal recruitment panels
• Educate stakeholders on value of user research and support enablement programs 

What You’ll Need:

Basic Qualifications:

• Actively pursuing a Bachelors in Human Factors, Experimental/Cognitive Psychology, HCI, or related field and/or commensurate experience, with a strong academic record.
• Must be returning to the course of study following completion of the internship. Must plan to graduate in May/June 2024
• Must be able to commit to working 40 hours/week (9am-5pm, Monday-Friday) from June 5-August 11, 2023 in our Boston, MA office

Preferred Qualifications:

• Creation and administration of quantitative & qualitative studies, including but not limited to focus groups, surveys, one-to-one interviews, card sorting, contextual inquiry, usability studies, co-discovery
• Familiarity with research tools such as Usertesting.com, User Interviews, Qualtrics, Alida, FullStory and Optimal Workshop is a plus
• Must possess excellent interpersonal, communication, and persuasion skills
• Strong problem-solving and critical thinking skills
• Comfortable with fast-paced work environment and managing responsibilities for multiple projects at any given time
• Skilled in providing service/support to teams
• Familiarity with research ethics and best practices
• Familiarity with participant recruitment, email marketing and other related fields
• Familiarity with procurement, and vendor management a plus
• Familiarity with design and prototyping tools and technologies is a plus
• Experience working in an agile environment is a plus
• Ability to work on projects with limited supervision

A Top Candidate will:

• Be a curious individual with a experimentation mindset
• Be detail oriented and highly organized 
• Come with an understanding of the research and design process
• Have experience with current tools for project management
• Be able to work on multiple projects running concurrently
• Be able to determine the best methodology for solving a business problem
• Be able to effectively communicate quantitative & qualitative data into actionable goals

About Wayfair’s Experience Design (XD) Community:

Experience Design at Wayfair is a cross-disciplinary function including product design, user research, and content design. We create experiences for Wayfair’s customers by partnering with product managers, engineers, and analysts to build and optimize the full customer experience. Wayfair’s world class user research team systematically investigates and amplifies the current and potential user base and their digital experience to materially shape business, design & product strategy. 

The Wayfair experience supports our mission to be the destination for all things home, helping everyone, anywhere create their feeling of home. 

An Important Note about Wayfair’s In-Office Policy:

All Boston-based interns, Co-ops, and corporate employees will be in office in a hybrid capacity. Employees will work in the office on designated days, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and work remotely the other 2 days of the week. We are continuing to monitor the evolving COVID-19 pandemic in partnership with state and local governments.