Manager, Research Operations

Company Description

It all started in sunny San Diego, California in 2004 when a visionary engineer, Fred Luddy, saw the potential to transform how we work. Fast forward to today — ServiceNow stands as a global market leader, bringing innovative AI-enhanced technology to over 8,100 customers, including 85% of the Fortune 500®. Our intelligent cloud-based platform seamlessly connects people, systems, and processes to empower organizations to find smarter, faster, and better ways to work. But this is just the beginning of our journey. Join us as we pursue our purpose to make the world work better for everyone.

Job Description

We are seeking a Manager for our Research Operations team to grow, optimize, and maintain customer engagement practices for our UX Research & Insights (UXRI) organization – a team of 140+ UX and Product Researchers. You will be joining a rapidly scaling global Experience Team (EX) of over 1,000 UX professionals (Research, Design, Product Content, and Ops) working to create product experiences that users love. You will lead a team of Research Operations Specialists and collaborate with cross-functional leadership to ensure our researchers are enabled to deliver impactful work that shapes our product portfolio. Success in this role will require empathy for how researchers work, while also recognizing the critical part that high-quality participants play in delivering valuable insights and achieving better outcomes for end-users. Our commitment to research and development is the key driver of our success, and we are seeking a dynamic and experienced professional to join our team as a Manager of Research Operations.

As a key player in the research process, you’ll be at the forefront of driving innovative recruitment strategies and ensuring that we engage high-quality participants. Leading a team of talented Research Operations specialists, you’ll collaborate closely with researchers and leadership across diverse product areas to design and execute participant sourcing strategies. You’ll build and nurture meaningful relationships with customers and partners, empowering them to contribute to our research program and directly influence the development of future generations of ServiceNow products. In this role, you’ll have an opportunity to shape the direction of our research program, making a tangible impact on the products of tomorrow. To thrive in this role, you should bring knowledge of research participant sourcing techniques and a passion for guiding others in this space.

What you will do in this role:

• Build and lead a high-performing team of Research Operations specialists, fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, connection, and continuous growth 
• Design and implement a research panel program to operationalize, scale, and maintain diverse participant panels that support ongoing research needs 
• Prioritize and streamline initiatives across multiple workstreams, ensuring your team focuses on high-impact projects that align with business goals and research objectives 
• Implement industry best practices in project planning, resource allocation, and risk management to deliver measurable customer engagement outcomes 
• Optimize resource allocation (both people and technology) to deliver quality participant recruitment experiences while driving for efficiency and scalability 
• Communicate regularly and effectively with key stakeholders, providing updates on the progress and outcomes of team initiatives 
• Establish key metrics to monitor OKRs, guide data-driven decision making, and ensure the highest standards in participant sourcing and engagement 
• Develop, maintain, and communicate a strategic roadmap that aligns with key stakeholders, ensuring a unified approach to project execution

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications:

• Experience in leveraging or critically thinking about how to integrate AI into work processes, decision-making, or problem-solving. This may include using AI-powered tools, automating workflows, analyzing AI-driven insights, or exploring AI’s potential impact on the function or industry
• Passionate about growing and mentoring people 
• Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent experience) 
• 7+ years of experience in research operations, at an enterprise software company (or similar), building and scaling operational capacity for a research function 
• 1+ years of experience managing teams and mentoring individuals 
• Experience building a panel of end user research participants for an enterprise (B2B, E2E) company

Preferred Qualifications: 

• Exceptional people and talent skills, with an inspirational leadership style that motivates the team and connects their work to positive impact 
• Experience leading a hybrid (in-office and remote), d