Senior Researcher

Your Role & Mission

At Apollo.io, we believe that our customers are our greatest advocates and inspiration, and we strive to humanize and build empathetically for their needs. As we scale our product, we are prioritizing improving ease of use, delightfulness, and overall user experience dimensions, and we’re looking for a Senior Researcher to play a key role in the upcoming phases of our journey.

As a Senior Researcher, you will be integral to driving forward our customer-centric vision—partnering with stakeholders to run critical research projects while helping to grow our research team alongside our Product & Design orgs. 

We’re looking for someone who is both genuinely interested in & has the skills to take on ownership of complex projects within a hyper-growth company: a creative thinker who can trailblaze new approaches to interpreting data and drive meaningful impacts to our product & company strategy.

Responsibilities: 

• Conduct In-depth, Agile Research: Execute user research activities, including but not limited to foundational research, usability testing, interviews, surveys, and ethnographic studies, to gather valuable insights into user behaviors, needs, and preferences. 
• Persona and Journey Map Development: Contribute to the creation and maintenance of user personas and journey maps, helping to establish a user-centric framework for product development. 
• Iterative Testing and Feedback Loops: Work within the agile development process to integrate iterative testing and feedback loops, ensuring a user-centered approach throughout the product development life cycle. 
• Usability Testing: Plan and facilitate usability testing sessions, including recruitment, script development, and post-session analysis. Communicate findings and recommendations to the broader team. 
• Data Collection and Analysis: Collect and analyze user data, synthesizing findings into clear and actionable insights. Work with data sets to identify patterns, trends, and opportunities for product improvement. 
• Documentation and Reporting: Prepare clear and concise research reports, presentations, and documentation to effectively communicate research findings and recommendations to stakeholders. 
• Collaborate with Cross-Functional Teams: Engage with product managers, designers, and developers to integrate user research findings into the product development process. Ensure alignment between user needs and business objectives. 
• Coach and Mentor Researchers: Help junior researchers grow their skillset by providing feedback on their work, and offering direct mentorship. 
• Stay Informed on Industry Trends: Keep abreast of industry trends, emerging technologies, and best practices in UX research. Apply this knowledge to enhance research methodologies and approaches within the startup environment. 
• Continuous Learning: Actively pursue professional development opportunities to enhance UX research skills and stay current with industry advancements. Leverage learning to contribute to the growth and success of the startup.
• Adaptability and Agility: Thrive in a fast-paced startup environment by being adaptable and agile. Be ready to pivot quickly based on evolving project requirements and business needs. User Education: Share user insights with the broader team, fostering a culture of user empathy and understanding. Help educate team members on the importance of user research in shaping successful products. 

Qualifications

• Jack-of-all-research-methods: proficient in a wide variety of mixed methods (1:1 interviews, focus groups, surveys, behavioral analyses, card sorting, tree testing, etc.) and know exactly when & why to rely on different combinations of quantitative and qualitative methods for a research plan. Can get started with minimal guidance. 
• Pragmatic & highly tactical: grounds research priorities in prioritized objectives that will drive tangible user, customer, and business value. 
• Growth-oriented: loves the process of developing, and enjoys learning new skills and figuring out the most effective ways for communicating research to stakeholders. 
• Reflexive and dynamic: knows how to resolve tough issues in an ambiguous space and tailor research methods to the needs of relevant audiences. Knows how to move quickly and efficiently. 
• Autonomous ownership: independently identifies research opportunities to improve the desirability, usability, and delight of business-critical product experiences and have a sense of pride in your work that takes you above and beyond what is requested. 
• Proactive strategist: understands the importance of learning from different viewpoints and are able to partner cross-functionally to develop research plans that garner insights from across an entire organization. 
• Excellent communicator: clear and effective in verbal and written communication, and able to build compelling narratives to influence cross-functional stakeholders. 
• Proven: diverse portfolio of projects clearly demonstrates tackling complex problem areas and the outcomes driven.
• Empathetic and kind disposition: a team player who is resilient in the face of challenges. Enjoys collaborating with peers & users, and they enjoy collaborating with them. Authentic, humble, and sensitive to the needs of others.
• 6+ years of mixed methods research experience