Research Ops Lead & Strategy — Equity Options

Mercury; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 170,000 - 213,000; Full time

Job summary

Mercury is seeking a Research Operations Lead to build and run a scalable research enablement program. You will set strategy, develop the team, and personally lead high‑stakes work while partnering with design, product, and marketing to embed customer evidence into decisions.

You will own the tool stack, vendor relationships, and budget, and advance AI‑driven research workflows with a strong emphasis on privacy and rigorous evidence.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of hands‑on research operations experience.
• 1–2 years of people management experience.
• Be a thought leader in the space.
• Qualitative research experience and quantitative fluency.
• Thrive in ambiguity where the discipline isn't fully figured out.
• Excellent coach to non‑researchers, building judgment and confidence.
• Use AI in daily work and stay curious about what’s genuinely useful.
• Communicate clearly with practitioners and senior stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Own the strategy, roadmap, and operating model for research at Mercury, enabling Product, Design, and Marketing to run research with autonomy.
• Apply senior research judgment to high‑stakes work, strengthening standards and guidance across Mercury.
• Partner with design managers, designers, and PMs to ensure customer evidence informs decisions from discovery to post-launch analysis.
• Own our research tool stack (Dovetail, Maze, Rally), vendor relationships, budget, and build-vs-buy decisions.
• Own and improve Mercury’s AI-enabled workflows for research planning, conversations, and synthesis with high privacy and human-judgment standards.
• Pilot new ways of getting close to customers, such as rolling research programs and customer events.
• Make customer learning visible across Mercury, surfacing patterns that deepen teams’ understanding of users.
• Manage and coach one direct report, staying hands-on in the work.

Skills

Leadership

Research operations

Qualitative research

Quantitative analysis

AI in workflow

Stakeholder communication

Tools

Dovetail

Maze

Rally

Job description

Mercury is seeking a Research Operations Lead to build and run a scalable research enablement program. You will set strategy, develop the team, and personally lead high‑stakes work while partnering with design, product, and marketing to embed customer evidence into decisions.

You will own the tool stack, vendor relationships, and budget, and advance AI‑driven research workflows with a strong emphasis on privacy and rigorous evidence.