Lead research operations at Mercury to enhance customer understanding and product development.
Posted by employer 6 days ago
First seen on Joblaze 5 days ago
Last verified on the company career page 1 day ago
What you'll build
- Own the strategy, roadmap, and operating model for research
- Apply senior research judgment to complex or high-stakes work
- Partner closely with design managers, designers, and PMs
- Own our research tool stack
- Pilot new ways of getting close to customers
Must have
- 8+ years of hands-on research operations experience
- 1-2 years of people management experience
- Qualitative research experience
- Quantitative fluency
Nice to have
- Thought leader in the space
- Thrive in ambiguity
- Excellent coach to non-researchers
- Use AI in daily work
AI in the day-to-day
Own and improve Mercury’s AI-enabled workflows for research planning, customer conversations, and synthesis.
Requirements
- Experience
- 8+ years
Not disclosed in this posting: visa sponsorship.
Benefits
Joblaze summary
The Research Operations Lead at Mercury is responsible for developing and executing the strategy for research practices, ensuring that product, design, and marketing teams can conduct customer research effectively and ethically. This role requires expertise in both qualitative and quantitative research, along with experience in managing research tools and vendor relationships. Ideal candidates will have over eight years of hands-on experience in research operations and a proven ability to coach non-researchers in building their research judgment. The position emphasizes collaboration across teams to integrate customer insights into decision-making.
Joblaze insights
- Listed 5 days ago — first seen on Joblaze October 15, 2026. Last confirmed on Mercury's careers page October 20, 2026.
- Salary band is above the typical range for comparable tech roles (median ~$129,391).
- Starts above 70% of 229 comparable lead other roles in United States we track (median $150,000 across 83 companies).
Quick facts
- Is the Research Operations Lead role remote?
- It's hybrid — Mercury expects some on-site time in San Francisco, CA, New York, NY, Portland, OR, or Remote within Canada or United States.
- What's the salary range?
- Mercury lists $170,400–$236,700 for this role.
- How much experience is required?
- At least 8 years of relevant experience for this Research Operations Lead role.
- Where is the role based?
- Mercury is hiring for this position in San Francisco, CA, New York, NY, Portland, OR, or Remote within Canada or United States.
- What's the tech stack?
- Joblaze extracted these technologies from the posting: Dovetail, Maze, Rally.
- What seniority level is this role?
- Mercury targets lead candidates for this position.
- Is this full-time or contract?
- Full-time for this Research Operations Lead role at Mercury.
From the original posting
The best teams don't treat customer understanding as a checkpoint. They build it into the work: learning how customers see the world, carrying that perspective into everyday decisions, and making better products because of it.
At Mercury, research is a democratized practice. Designers and PMs talk directly to customers, and Research Operations builds and runs the system that makes that fast, high quality, and ethical. We're looking for a Research Operations Lead to build and run that program as Mercury scales. You've done this before and have a clear point of view on how it should work. This is a hands-on leadership role: you’ll set the strategy and priorities for research enablement, develop the team, and personally lead work where senior judgment matters most.
In this role, you will:
- 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 complex or high-stakes work, using recurring gaps to strengthen the standards and guidance that raise research quality across Mercury.
- Partner closely with design managers, designers, and PMs so customer evidence informs decisions from early discovery through post-launch usability and funnel analysis
- Own our research tool stack (including Dovetail, Maze, and Rally), along with vendor relationships, budget, and build-versus-buy decisions
- Own and improve Mercury’s AI-enabled workflows for research planning, customer conversations, and synthesis, maintaining high standards for evidence, privacy, and human judgment
- Pilot new ways of getting close to customers, such as rolling research programs and customer events like research dinners
- Make customer learning visible across Mercury, surfacing patterns that deepen teams’ understanding of the people they serve.
- Manage and coach one direct report, setting priorities and supporting their growth while staying hands on in the work
You should:
- Have 8+ years of hands-on research operations experience and a track record of building or scaling a program with measurable impact
- Have 1-2 years of people management experience
- Be a thought leader in the space
- Have qualitative research experience and quantitative fluency
- Thrive in ambiguity where the discipline isn't fully figured out
- Be an excellent coach to non-researchers, building their judgment and confidence
- Use AI in your daily work and stay curious about what's genuinely useful versus merely new
- Communicate clearly with practitioners and senior stakeholders
#LI-AK1
Total Rewards
The total rewards package at Mercury includes base salary, equity (stock options/RSUs), and benefits.
Standard company text repeated across Mercury's postings is omitted here.