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Director Of Research Operations Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Knit

Director of Research Operations

New York, NY · On-site

Director 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 ...

City of New York

Director of Research

Manhattan, NY · On-site

$150K/yr

The Director of Research serves as a member of the Office of Community Safety's Senior Leadership Team and reports to the Commissioner. The Director is responsible for leading the Office's research ...

company1314

Director of Research

Austin, TX · On-site

The Director of Research oversees research initiatives, including community needs assessments, client insights, food systems research, and evaluate new initiatives in partnership with our data and ...

Rodale Institute

Director of Research

Kutztown, PA · On-site

$110 - $170/hr

SUMMARY OF RESPONSIBILITIES Rodale Institute in Kutztown, PA is seeking a Director of Research with strong leadership skills and agricultural experience who will be responsible for administrating ...

StartCare

Director of Research

Brooklyn, NY · On-site

$125K - $135K/yr

The Director of Research will work collaboratively with colleagues across StartCare departments and with external partners/stakeholders to oversee the execution of the Organization's research ...

StartCare

Director of Research

Brooklyn, NY · On-site

The Director of Research will work collaboratively with colleagues across StartCare departments and with external partners/stakeholders to oversee the execution of the Organization's research ...

Compass

Director of Research

Miami, FL

Compass is seeking a highly motivated and detail-oriented Director of Research to join our team in South Florida. The role is critical in providing data-driven insights to support strategic decision ...

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Director Of Research Operations information

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$34K

$107.7K

$179.5K

How much do director of research operations jobs pay per year?

As of Sep 5, 2026, the average yearly pay for director of research operations in the United States is $107,680.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $75,500.00 and $135,500.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What does a director of research operations do?

A Director of Research Operations oversees the planning, coordination, and management of research activities within an organization. Their responsibilities often include streamlining processes, ensuring compliance with regulations, managing budgets, and supporting research teams to achieve their goals efficiently. They work closely with senior leadership, researchers, and administrative staff to improve operational effectiveness and drive the success of research projects. This role is critical in fostering a productive research environment and ensuring that organizational objectives are met.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a director of research operations?

To thrive as a Director of Research Operations, you need expertise in research management, project coordination, budgeting, and typically an advanced degree in a relevant scientific or technical field. Familiarity with research compliance systems, data management platforms, and project management tools such as Asana or Microsoft Project is often required. Outstanding leadership, strategic thinking, and interpersonal skills help foster collaboration and drive high-performing research teams. These skills ensure that complex research initiatives are executed efficiently, within regulatory guidelines, and with maximum impact.

What are some common challenges faced by a director of research operations, and how can they be addressed?

A Director of Research Operations often encounters challenges such as balancing resource allocation across multiple projects, ensuring compliance with institutional and regulatory requirements, and streamlining communication between research teams and administrative departments. Addressing these challenges requires strong project management skills, proactive stakeholder engagement, and the implementation of efficient operational processes. Building collaborative relationships and fostering a culture of transparency can also help in resolving conflicts and keeping projects on track.

What is the difference between Director Of Research Operations vs Research Manager?

AspectDirector Of Research OperationsResearch Manager
CredentialsBachelor's or Master's in research, management, or related field; experience in research operationsBachelor's or Master's in research, social sciences, or related field; experience in research project management
Work EnvironmentOversees multiple research teams, strategic planning, and operational workflowsManages research projects, coordinates teams, and ensures project deliverables
Employer & Industry UsageUsed in corporate, academic, and healthcare research settings for leadership rolesCommon in organizations conducting research, focusing on project execution

The main difference is that the Director Of Research Operations focuses on strategic oversight and managing research operations at a higher level, while the Research Manager handles day-to-day project management and team coordination. Both roles require research experience, but the director position involves broader organizational responsibilities.

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Director Of Research Operations jobs near you
Infographic showing various Director Of Research Operations job openings in the United States as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 84% Full Time, 13% Part Time, 1% Temporary, 1% Contract, and 1% Nights. Highlights an 94% Physical, 2% Hybrid, and 4% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $107,680 per year, or $51.8 per hour.

Director of Research Operations

Knit

New York, NY • On-site

Full-time

Medical, Dental, Vision, Retirement

Posted 8 days ago

Key responsibilities

  • Oversee and optimize research operations workflow, including programming, fieldwork, quality assurance, and vendor management.

  • Lead and coordinate the Programming, Fieldwork, and QA teams to meet data collection SLAs, improve data quality, and reduce time to final results.

  • Collaborate with product teams to develop automation tools and increase operational capabilities for new research use cases.

Job description

Who we're looking for
Role: Director 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 Director 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
The Research Operations function is a primary contributor to Knit's shared business objectives of:
  • Customer retention and upsells (Net Revenue Retention) through increasing speed and quality of research operations.
  • Increased win rate on new business through increased audience reach
  • Improve gross margins by optimizing sample and headcount spend as revenue scales.

Key Responsibilities
  • Leading Programming, Fieldwork, and QA teams to collaborate in setting, meeting, and improving Knit's data collection SLA's to meet customer demands and turn it into a competitive advantage.
    • Reducing the average time to final N (become the fastest possible in the industry)
    • Improve data quality (highest quality responses in the industry)
    • Improve feasibility (expand audience network to support niche use cases, different sampling techniques, etc.)
  • Providing an expert point of view to enable Product to build automation systems to improve efficiency. Collaborating with product teams to create tooling that automates human processes for programming, fieldwork, feasibility, and data QA.

Increasing net new capabilities to drive New Business Opportunities:
    • Collaborating across the organization to successfully operationalize new research Knit can support - new capabilities, use cases, and audiences

For example:Expanding international capabilities by driving the initiative from scoping (what is required by the customer in this market) to implementation (compliance, new languages, market-specific needs).Providing operational/executional support for advanced analytic techniques as it impacts Programming, Fielding, and QA
  • Serving as the Research Operations Function Leader
    • Own company-level objectives, key results, and KPI's - specifically for improving the strategy for execution, delivery and reporting
    • Driving people operations decisions for the Research Operations Function (process mapping, organizational design, capacity management, staff forecasting, recruiting, hiring, onboarding, performance management, conflict resolution, and morale building)

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.

Benefits
Upon joining the Knit team, you will receive a competitive salary, plus stock options, healthcare (medical, dental, and vision), and additional coverage, a company laptop and one-time, onboarding technology stipend, a 401(k) with company match, flexible time-off, hybrid working, catered lunch, and more!
Salary
In accordance with New York pay transparency requirements, the salary range for this role is $160,000 - $200,000. Final compensation will be determined based on the candidate's level, experience, and qualifications upon joining Knit.
Our Company Values
We are the Championship Team. This means we:
  • Are 1% better every day: We approach situations with a growth mindset and ask, "How can we make the business better?" and "What would it take?"
  • Play to win: We set audacious goals and push ourselves to achieve them with a bias towards action (When we see a need, we take initiative, and hold ourselves accountable to seeing it through).
  • Keep the main thing the main thing: Identify what has the biggest impact and prioritize to focus on it.

In accordance with New York pay transparency requirements, the salary range for this role is listed below. Final compensation will be determined based on the candidate's level, experience, and qualifications upon joining Knit.
Knit Privacy Policy here.
CCPA disclosure here.
In accordance with New York pay transparency requirements, the salary range for this role is listed below. Final compensation will be determined based on the candidate's level, experience, and qualifications upon joining Knit.
Salary Range
$160,000-$200,000 USD
Knit Privacy Policy here.
CCPA disclosure here.

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