Research Operations Specialist II

Root was founded on the belief that car insurance is broken, and we set out to change it. We’re harnessing the power of technology to revolutionize this archaic, complicated industry. Using machine learning and mobile telematic platforms, we’ve built one of the most innovative insurtech companies in the world.

The Opportunity

We’re looking for a Research Operations Specialist to help our research team run faster, cleaner, and with greater impact. 

In this role, you’ll support the day-to-day engine of research at Root. You’ll help coordinate studies, manage participant logistics, maintain research documentation, support recurring research programs, and make it easier for researchers and cross-functional partners to access and reuse customer insights. You’ll partner closely with researchers, Product, Design, Analytics, Customer Service, Legal, and other teams to help research move smoothly from request to setup to execution to documentation.

This is a strong fit for someone who is highly organized, detail-oriented, comfortable managing multiple moving pieces, and energized by helping small research teams deliver high-impact, high-quality work. This role requires past experience supporting research operations and a strong understanding of how good research gets planned and executed — including recruiting, scheduling, participant communication, consent, incentives, tooling, note-taking, documentation, and repository hygiene.

Salary Range: $112,200 - $139,700 (Eligible for competitive bonus and equity offering)
Root is a “work where it works best” company. Meaning we will support you working in whatever location that works best for you across the US. We will continue to have our headquarters in Columbus, Ohio.

Who You Are

• Experienced with modern research operations: You have at least 2 years of experience supporting UX research, customer research, research operations, or a closely related function. You have knowledge and excitement for how AI-enabled tools can improve research speed, consistency, note-taking, documentation, repository management, and access to customer insights. 
• Highly organized and detail-oriented: You can manage recruiting logistics, study schedules, participant communication, incentives, documentation, and follow-through without letting details fall through the cracks.
• Methodology-aware: You understand the basic mechanics of high-quality customer research, including study setup, screeners, consent, participant experience, note-taking, synthesis support, documentation, and research tools.
• A structured communicator: You can help organize, package, and distribute research insights so they reach the right teams at the right time and are easy to find, understand, and act on.
• Pragmatic about process: You like making work more repeatable and easier to navigate, but you do not create process for its own sake. Your goal is to help researchers and product teams move faster, reduce risk, and make better decisions.
• Comfortable in a growing practice: You can work in an environment where some systems are still forming, and you’re willing to help improve them without needing a perfect playbook.

What You'll Do

General Research Program Management (40%)

• Facilitate research team operating rhythms, including sprint planning, daily scrums, sprint reviews, and retrospectives, in close partnership with the Research Manager.
• Manage the research intake and triage process, ensuring new requests are captured, clarified, routed, prioritized, and tracked appropriately.
• Maintain visibility into active, upcoming, and backlogged research work so researchers and cross-functional partners understand what is in flight and what is next.
• Provide operational oversight for always-on research programs that require human coordination but not dedicated researcher ownership.
• Monitor always-on programs for participation, data quality, operational issues, and follow-up needs, escalating to researchers or the Research Manager when patterns, risks, or decisions require deeper research judgment.

Manage Study Operations and Participant Logistics (40%)

• Manage participant recruiting logistics, scheduling, communications, consent tracking, incentive processing, and participant experience for research studies.
• Help ensure participants are appropriately screened, contacted, compensated, and treated with care.
• Draft and manage screeners, outreach language, scheduling communications, and participant instructions in partnership with researchers.
• Provide live study support, including session setup, note-taking, recording checks, observer coordination, and post-session artifact cleanup.
• Oversee study closeout to ensure participant follow-up, incentive fulfillment, vendor wrap-up, consent records, research artifacts, and study documentation are complete, accurate, and easy to find.
• Coordinate with Legal, Compliance, Security, Finance, Procurement, and other partners as needed on research tools, vendors, privacy, consent, incentives, and participant handling.

Insights Management (20%)

• Help make research easier to find, trust, reuse, and apply across Root.
• Partner across the organization to turn individual studies into durable knowledge assets, such as insight libraries, journey documentation, customer segment summaries, or recurring themes.
• Own and improve the research repository, including tagging, templates, naming conventions, permissions, documentation standards, and artifact hygiene.
• Maintain templates, playbooks, process documentation, research trackers, readout formats, and other reusable research materials.
• Help teams find existing customer evidence before starting duplicative research.

As part of Root's interview process, we kindly ask that all candidates be on camera for virtual interviews. This helps us create a more personal and engaging experience for both you and our interviewers. Being on camera is a standard requirement for our process and part of how we assess fit and communication style, so we do require it to move forward with any applicant's candidacy. If you have any concerns, feel free to let us know once you are contacted. We’re happy to talk it through.

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Consistent with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it is the policy of Root to provide reasonable accommodation when requested by a qualified applicant or candidate with a disability, unless such accommodation would cause an undue hardship for Root. The policy regarding requests for reasonable accommodation applies to all aspects of the hiring process. If reasonable accommodation is needed, please contact [email protected].