Senior Research Operations Program Manager

Okta Okta · Enterprise · Toronto, ON · Product Design & UXR-650

This role is for a Senior Research Operations Program Manager at Okta, focused on building and enabling an impactful research practice. The role involves managing research operations, panel management for beta programs, and collaborating with cross-functional teams. While the role mentions leveraging AI tooling for efficiency, its core function is program management and operational support for research, not direct AI/ML model development or deployment.

What you'd actually do

  1. Lead research operations and panel management for beta programming
  2. Work collaboratively across multiple teams to empower Okta staff to carry out impactful research
  3. Help manage the general pipeline of inbound research requests from various teams across the organization, including prioritizing new and ongoing projects
  4. Develop and maintain research documentation, templates and other informational resources for research methods, procedures and techniques
  5. Develop internal activities that help cultivate Okta’s broader user research culture and community

Skills

Required

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

What the JD emphasized

  • building and enabling an impactful research practice
  • programmatically manage cross-functional teams’ research needs
  • proactively build and manage the operations for a research beta program
  • following compliance and governance best practices
  • 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
  • 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