Research Associate

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

Benefits offered by this job

Remote work in US

Travel to LA

Job summary

Openkrill is seeking a Research Associate who can turn broad questions into clear, well-sourced answers across markets, products, and funding landscapes. You’ll build competitive matrices and landscape maps, and report to a senior leader on a variety of projects.

Ideal candidates are self-directed, curious, and capable of using AI tools to move faster. The role supports remote work in the US with travel to Los Angeles, offering a robust benefits package.

Qualifications

• 0–2 years of experience with a bachelor’s degree or recent grads with internship experience.
• Strong ability to reason through new questions.
• AI-native: comfortable using AI tools and scripting when possible.
• Comfortable with ambiguity and rapid iteration.

Responsibilities

• Run open-ended research projects using the internet to map markets, products, funding activity, and landscapes.
• Translate findings into clean outputs: matrices, briefs, and landscape maps.
• Develop a point of view beyond link dumps and flag uncertainties and next steps.

Skills

Research skills

AI tools

Analytical thinking

Strong writing

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Web research

Data gathering

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