Research Manager

Generac Power Systems•Toronto, ON

8d•Hybrid

About The Position

In this role, you will manage, build, and execute the beta programs to validate the customer experience during the product development cycle. You will work with end customers and internal teams across product management, user research, user experience, engineering, and customer support to develop the strategy and execute programs that confirm, from a customer perspective, our product/service is ready to launch. You will track, provide status updates, and drive issues to resolution. Cross-team coordination, project management, and a strong interest in smart home products and services are essential. This role follows a hybrid schedule, with in-office work required on Wednesdays and Thursdays to support collaboration, and flexibility to work remotely for the remainder of the week.

Requirements

An educational background in a quantitative, analytical, or research-oriented field such as Market Research, Sociology, Psychology, etc.
2-5 years of relevant experience in research (for example, any of consumer research, insights, user research, etc), project management, and/or customer service
Experience managing collaborative customer-facing programs
Experience working with various stakeholder teams (product, research, user experience, engineering, marketing)
High level of written and verbal communication skills to interact with customers in-person and digitally
Experience running and meeting shifting deadlines for multiple projects at the same time
Strong organization skills with attention to detail
Strong project and time management skills
Experience working in an Agile product development environment
Must be willing to work 2 days from our Toronto office on a flexible basis to accommodate field trial shipping and in-person collaboration needs.

Nice To Haves

Self-starter with a high level of ownership and autonomy
Self-motivated and capable of working independently
An interest in smart home technologies or consumer electronics
Experience with the following platforms will be helpful: Alchemer, Recollective, MailChimp, Confluence, SharePoint/Microsoft, Asana

Responsibilities

Manage and scale the beta program (customer field trials) for new products and feature releases
Design test goals and assignments for participants and identify how many testing cycles or stages are required to reach desired customer validation goals
Partner with the product management and UX design team to identify target user behaviours and define success metrics
Identify opportunities and put processes and tools in place to improve the effectiveness of collecting, analyzing, and sharing feedback during our beta testing cycles
Lay the groundwork for internal customer support processes at product launch
Track usage analytics and manage feedback submitted by users to identify trends
Generate reports of participant insights and trends and present them to a wide range of stakeholders, from product managers and UX design team to engineering and leadership.
Diagnose product pain points; conduct basic data analysis to identify the most important features and processes that need to be addressed
Work with the product team and product marketing team to identify target customers for real-world product testing
Recruit and screen program participants and organize onboarding
Coordinate shipping, delivery and returns of hardware products to program participants, and overcome logistical hurdles as they arise
Provide direct support to customer field trial program participants through accurate and detailed support practices and troubleshooting skills
Build, maintain, and keep our community of testers engaged, so we may solicit their feedback regularly