Senior Research Operations Program Manager

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Position

Description:

As a Senior Research Operations Program Manager at Okta, you will play a crucial role in building and enabling an impactful research practice. Via close collaboration across research, design, product and engineering teams, you will programmatically manage cross-functional teams' research needs. You will proactively build and manage the operations for a research beta program, collaborating with other cross functional functions to plan the necessary infrastructure for this programming to be successful, following compliance and governance best  this role, you'll get to:

Lead research operations and panel management for beta programming

Work collaboratively across multiple teams to empower Okta staff to carry out impactful research

Help manage the general pipeline of inbound research requests from various teams across the organization, including prioritizing new and ongoing projects

Develop and maintain research documentation, templates and other informational resources for research methods, procedures and techniques

Develop internal activities that help cultivate Okta's broader user research culture and community

Help teams access relevant knowledge through reviews of past research

Support cross-functional team members to analyze, share, and store their findings and insights

Grow your colleagues' research skills and competencies through training workshops, presentations and documentation

Conduct primary research with both Okta staff and potentially customers to inform the improvement of user research operations

Ensure that user research programs and processes meet accessibility standards and promote inclusion among both Okta staff and customers

Ensure compliance with ethical research standards as well as privacy policies and regulations

Contribute to the continuing improvement of our research systems, such as our participant panel and research repository

Manage and maintain a database of existing and prospective research participants, proactively building out our panel of participants as needed

Provide leadership in program management methodologies and best practices, ensuring consistent and successful delivery of projects

Identify and manage potential risks, develop mitigation strategies, and resolve project challenges proactively

Qualities that would make you a great candidate for this role:5+ years of experience working in research or operational programming roles

A holistic and collaborative approach to solving problems

Proactive approach to making research a team sport

A strong sense of ownership, transparency, flexibility, and ability to self-initiate projects

Experience building or managing beta and/or early release evaluation programs

Experience managing research panels and/or participant communities

Knowledge of best practices for leveraging AI tooling, such as Claude and Gemini, to improve efficiency and streamline processes

Knowledge of the practices and impacts of inclusive research and design approaches

Creativity in supporting challenging research recruitments

Strong organizational and multitasking skills to manage multiple research programs simultaneously

Strategic thinking and the ability to align research operations initiatives with organizational goals

Excellent communication and collaboration abilities, with experience engaging with both technical and non-technical stakeholders

Knowledge of UX research approaches and methodologies (including direct research experience to ensure quality of research)
Project management and/or operational expertise to ensure programs are sustainable, scalable and delivered within constraints

Comfortable with ambiguity and possess a desire to overcome obstacles

A curious mind, a quick learner with a bias for action, and an attention to detail

An ability to train/coach others to ensure the program runs successfully and the people who you're guiding to execute research themselves are fully supported

Education

Bachelor's or Master's degree in anthropology, sociology, psychology, human-computer interaction, program management, business (or other related field) or equivalent work experience#LI-MM#LI
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