Head of Research Operations

Who we’re looking for

Role: Head of Research Operations

Team: Research

Reports To: CTO and Co-Founder

Supervisory Responsibility: This role will have 2 direct reports, the Lead Survey Programmer and the Fielding and Partnerships Team lead. Both are India based.  

This leadership role will be responsible for overseeing the Knit research operations, programming, quality assurance (QA), and fieldwork teams. Total of 10 people, all offshore 

Location: USA, NYC preferred.

Travel: If not located in NYC, this role will be expected to travel to NYC approximately once a month.

A little about us

Knit is the The Researcher-Driven AI Platform helping researchers run agency-quality quant + qual research at DIY costs & speed. Through Knit, brands like NASCAR, JBL, and Mars automate their consumer research process to get a quicker and more holistic understanding of their audiences.

Role Purpose 

The Head of Research Operations is core to Knit’s success by overseeing and optimizing the research operations workflow to deliver consistent, high-quality data. 

By leading the programming, fieldwork, vendor management and QA functions, this role is expected to:

• Help entirely automate survey programming without errors
• Minimize fieldwork time while maximizing audience reach and data quality
• Minimize QA time while upholding our high data quality standards
• Automate feasibility request workflows and increase accuracy of predictions

This leadership role is expected to contribute to product innovation, automation through AI tooling, and adoption of new tools and processes in the project lifecycle, to improve how Knit executes research. 

Business Impact 

As Head of Research Operations, you will own the strategy, team, and operating model that enable Knit to collect high-quality research data with exceptional speed and efficiency. You will lead Programming, Fieldwork, and Data QA, building a function that becomes a competitive advantage as Knit scales.

You will be accountable for Research Operations’ contribution to three shared business objectives:

• Customer retention and expansion: Improve research speed, quality, and reliability to strengthen customer relationships and drive Net Revenue Retention.
• New business growth: Expand audience reach and operational capabilities to increase win rates and unlock new research opportunities.
• Gross margin improvement: Optimize sample spend, team capacity, and automation so revenue can grow faster than delivery costs.

Key Responsibilities

Set the strategy and own performance for Research Operations.

Define the vision, priorities, and roadmap for the function, translating Knit’s company objectives into clear investments, operating plans, and measurable outcomes. Establish and own the function’s OKRs, KPIs, and operating cadence. Make informed investments across speed, quality, feasibility, and cost, and hold the team accountable for results.

Build and lead a high-performing organization.

Lead the Programming, Fieldwork, and Data QA teams, developing strong ICs and Player Coaches and establishing clear ownership across each area. Own organizational design, hiring, talent development, and performance management. Anticipate demand and align headcount investments with revenue growth. Create a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

Make data collection a competitive advantage.

Own the end-to-end performance of Knit’s data collection operations. Set ambitious service standards and build the systems, processes, and team capabilities to meet them consistently as volume and complexity grow. Your team’s priorities will include:

• Reducing time to final sample without compromising quality.
• Strengthening data quality standards and controls across the research lifecycle.
• Improving feasibility for niche audiences, complex studies, and different sampling approaches.

Shape and drive the automation agenda with Product and Engineering.

Serve as the senior operational partner to Product and Engineering, identifying where automation can create the greatest improvements in speed, quality, and cost. Translate operational expertise into clear priorities for programming, fieldwork, feasibility, and data QA tooling. Own adoption and workflow transformation within Research Operations, ensuring product investments translate into measurable gains in productivity and scalability.

Expand Knit’s research capabilities and audience reach.

Partner with Research, GTM, and Product leadership to determine which new capabilities, markets, and audiences Knit should support. Own operational readiness—from assessing feasibility and investment requirements to building repeatable delivery models. This includes expanding international capabilities, developing sample partnerships, and enabling the programming, fieldwork, and QA requirements of advanced research methodologies.

Own the economics and partner strategy of Research Operations.

Manage the function’s budget, sample partner network, and resource allocation. Establish partner selection criteria, commercial terms, and performance standards that improve reach, quality, reliability, and cost. Use demand forecasts and operational data to guide staffing, vendor, and automation investments, improving gross margins while maintaining strong delivery performance.

Required Skills & Experiences

• 7+ years in the insights and market research industry - our ideal candidate has worked in a market research tech agency, leading research operations 
• Proven track record of having built and scaled complex sampling operations for multiple research methodologies (quick-turn, quant & qual).
• Proclivity for automation and productization, a leader who has innovated and built efficiencies into processes that otherwise would not exist 
• Our ideal candidate has cross-functional experience leading and enabling both internal and external teams on research ops processes from idea to full implementation. For example, pricing & feasibility with Sales, positioning with Marketing, compliance with Operations, innovation with Product, etc. We are not looking for a participant in the process - we are looking for a leader who has been in the driver role standing up net new organizational-wide capabilities from scratch. 
• Highly effective people operations leader both cross-functionally and at the function level - specifically in: 
• Adapting processes as the operating tooling evolves 
• Process mapping, organizational design, capacity management, staff forecasting, recruiting, hiring, onboarding, performance management, conflict resolution, and morale building
• Deep experience with survey programming across tools like Qualtrics, Decipher, etc.