Research Associate

Expa; United States; Remote; USD 80,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision

401(k) matching

Remote-friendly in US with travel to L

Job summary

Expa Affiliate is seeking a Research Associate who can synthesize vast information into clear, sourced insights. You’ll work with a senior leader on a variety of projects, from competitive matrices to deep-dives, using AI tools to accelerate findings and deliver practical recommendations.

The role rewards curiosity, rigorous thinking, and strong writing. Remote-friendly in the US with travel to Los Angeles as needed, you’ll join a high-caliber team operating at the frontier of ventures and

Qualifications

• 0–2 years of experience and a bachelor's degree.
• Ability to reason through new, complex questions quickly.
• Proficient in AI tools and rapid research methods.
• Comfortable with ambiguity and prioritization across projects.
• Strong writing to communicate findings clearly and concisely.

Responsibilities

• Run open-ended research on markets, products, funding, and competitors.
• Create outputs: matrices, briefs, landscape maps, one-pagers.
• Develop a point of view and flag what matters and next steps.
• Leverage AI tools to move faster and widen scope.
• Build lightweight scrapers or trackers as needed.
• Manage multiple requests, re-prioritize as needs shift.

Skills

Research

Writing

AI literacy

Self-directed

Startup mindset

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Claude

ChatGPT

Gemini

Hugging Face

Job description

About Us

We are a private design studio that builds and supports a portfolio of companies and projects across software, hardware, hospitality, and more. Some of what we build stays in house; some spins out. We also run an early-stage investment fund and an accompanying cohort program for founders. This company is not Expa, but is an affiliate of Expa's.

The Role

We're looking for a Research Associate who can find out anything about anything. Leadership will come to you with questions — size this market, map the players in this category, who's funding what, what the landscape looks like for XYZ — and you'll come back with an answer that's clear, well-sourced, and actually useful.

Some weeks that means building a competitive matrix across 40 companies. Some weeks it means a deep dive into a single obscure question nobody has written about yet. The projects change, the subject matter changes, and the volume varies week to week.

You'll be exposed to a lot of different projects and ideas, and work directly with a highly accomplished leader and team. If you're the kind of person who reads everything, asks a lot of questions, and wants to be in the room with people operating at a very high level, this is built for you.

What You’ll Do

• Run open-ended research projects using the internet as your primary tool: markets, products, companies, funding activity, competitive landscapes, people, technologies, regulation — whatever the question requires.


• Turn messy findings into clean outputs: matrices, comparison tables, briefs, landscape maps, one-pagers.


• Go deep enough to have a point of view, not just a link dump — flag what matters, what's uncertain, and what you'd look at next.


• Use AI tools aggressively to move faster and go wider than a person could alone.


• Build lightweight tools, scrapers, or trackers when a project calls for it.


• Juggle several unrelated requests at once and reprioritize when things shift.

What We’re Looking For

• 0–2 years of experience and a bachelor's degree — a recent grad with strong internship experience and real drive, or 1–2 years into your career and looking for a bigger scope than you have today.


• Brain power: sharp, curious, and able to reason through a question you've never seen before.


• AI-native: You live in AI tools — Claude and Cowork, ChatGPT, Gemini, Hugging Face, whatever's newest. Ideally you can vibe code your way to a working script or prototype without waiting on an engineer. Bonus points if you've hit your usage limit more than once.


• Comfortable in ambiguity: Vague briefs don't paralyze you. You take a first pass, come back with questions, and iterate.


• Self-directed but coachable: You think independently, but you want to learn from people far ahead of you and take direction well.


• Startup-minded: You're not looking for a corporate ladder. You want interesting problems, smart people, and range.


• A strong writer: Your research is only as good as your ability to communicate it in a page or less.

Compensation & Benefits

• Salary: The anticipated base salary range for this position is $80,000-$110,000. Actual compensation will be determined based on factors including experience, qualifications, level, and location.


• Benefits: Generous benefits package including medical, dental, and vision, 401(k) matching


• Location: Can be remote in the US, with significant travel to Los Angeles