Research Lead, Physical Product

Whoop • Boston, MA

5d • $90,000 - $130,000 • Onsite

About The Position

At WHOOP, we’re on a mission to unlock human performance and healthspan. WHOOP empowers members to perform at a higher level through a deeper understanding of their bodies, behaviors, and daily lives.

WHOOP is hiring a Research Lead, Physical Product to drive research across WHOOP’s physical product development efforts. This role sits at the intersection of hands-on research execution, program leadership, and people development, with a primary focus on hardware-adjacent research. You will own multiple research initiatives end to end while supporting and mentoring other researchers—ensuring insights are rigorous, actionable, and tightly aligned with product development milestones.

Requirements

• Strong project and program management skills, with comfort using tools such as Jira or similar planning frameworks.
• Bachelor’s degree or professional experience in a relevant field such as research & development, human subjects research, engineering, physiology, or a related discipline.
• 3+ years of experience conducting research in a hardware or physical product environment.
• Deeply understand, and can speak to a products development lifecycle within the consumer electronics space. Added benefit if this experience is in wearable technology.
• Experience applying research methods relevant to physical products, such as human factors, usability testing, applied research, or physiology.
• 1+ years of people management experience, or equivalent experience mentoring, leading projects, or supporting junior contributors.
• Ability to manage multiple concurrent research initiatives and operate effectively in ambiguous, fast-paced environments.
• Strong written, verbal, and presentation skills, with confidence giving and receiving feedback across disciplines.
• Strong commitment to embracing and leveraging AI tools in day-to-day tasks, ensuring AI-assisted work aligns with the same high-quality standards as personal contributions.

Responsibilities

• Own and lead multiple physical product research initiatives from intake through execution, synthesis, and delivery.
• Partner closely with cross-functional stakeholders across hardware, engineering, product, and design to define research needs, scope, and timelines.
• Develop and maintain clear research plans, workflows, and deliverables, adapting to evolving priorities and constraints.
• Manage research programs and dependencies using project management tools, ensuring visibility, accountability, and on-time delivery.
• Support, mentor, and manage researchers by setting clear expectations, providing feedback, and fostering strong research craft and collaboration.
• Communicate research findings clearly and confidently, translating complex insights into recommendations that inform decision-making.

Benefits

• WHOOP compensation philosophy is designed to attract, motivate, and retain exceptional talent by offering competitive base salaries, meaningful equity, and consistent pay practices that reflect our mission and core values.
• At WHOOP, we view total compensation as the combination of base salary, equity, and benefits, with equity serving as a key differentiator that aligns our employees with the long-term success of the company and allows every member of our corporate team to own part of WHOOP and share in the company’s long-term growth and success.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level