What are the responsibilities and job description for the User Design Specialist position at Accylerate?
Ideal Candidate Profile: As a User Design Specialist, you will support all our research practices: executing participant recruitment, informed consent, screening, scheduling, and incentives. This role requires creative problem solving and strategic judgement to ethically recruit participants across the student journeyfrom early childhood to post-secondary education. Your primary focus will be to lead recruitment, advise on best-in-class strategies, and enable high-quality, inclusive research execution. You will be responsible for developing lightweight, fit-for-purpose processes for participant recruitment, research planning, knowledge management, and tooling.
Job Duties & Responsibilities
Own End-to-End Recruitment for Research
Lead participant recruitment for a variety of research methods (e.g., interviews, co-design, surveys, usability testing), including screening, informed consent, scheduling, and incentives
Draft accessible, plain-language consent and communication materials in collaboration with legal and compliance teams
Craft effective screeners and other materials to ensure inclusive and successful sessions
Conduct initial screening conversations to ensure individuals are appropriately prepared, informed, and confident in participating in innovative research methods
Support and Advise Researchers
Act as a thought partner to user researchers and service designers, providing guidance on recruitment, logistics, study design, and resource planning
Develop and implement inclusive recruitment strategies, especially for underrepresented populations and beyond traditional pathways
Advise on recruitment and research practices that balance student privacy and allow for longer-term engagement with communities
Streamline and Standardize Research Ops
Identify and implement lightweight, scalable processes that support inclusive, ethical, collaborative, and innovative research across Greenhouse teams.
Identify gaps or friction in existing research workflows and recommend improvements
Establish toolkits, templates, and repeatable processes for recruitment, planning, and data handling
Advise on and implement privacy, consent, and data protection procedures aligned with legal standards (e.g., FERPA)
Client the Groundwork for Long-Term Research Infrastructure
Evaluate research tools and vendor platforms (e.g., scheduling, transcription, incentives) and recommend fit-for-purpose solutions
Recommend and document sustainable practices that support equitable research at scale
Co-design an early iteration of a research repository with Greenhouse designers, including recommended tooling and strategies for scaling and improving
Required Qualifications & Experience
5 years of experience in research operations, UX research, or related program management roles
Experience in research enablement creating documentation, templates, and leading internal workshops around best practices
Established experience across the research lifecycle, which includes recruiting participants, managing a participant panel, and training teams on how to match participants to studies
Experience supporting qualitative and quantitative research methods across multiple teams with distinct products and user needs
Experience supporting data collection and analysis: taking notes on qualitative studies, preparing data for analysis
Experience working with tools such as Airtable, Dovetail, Qualtrics, UserTesting, Dscout, or similar a plus. Support working within their limitations or drive decisions on best tools to meet teams' needs
Strong project management and systems design skills; ability to build processes that scale
Excellent organizational, collaboration, and communication skills
A creative, proactive, entrepreneurial mindsetcomfortable bringing new ideas and strategies to improve our research practice
Deep respect for ethical research practices and user data privacy
Ability to work in a fast-paced, ambiguous environment with shifting priorities
Nice To Have
Experience working in or with mission-driven organizations, public education, or nonprofits
Experience supporting research involving youth, families, or vulnerable populations
Experience creating inclusive research frameworks and protocols
Experience with or demonstrated interest in creative visual storytelling that brings research to life
Job Duties & Responsibilities
Own End-to-End Recruitment for Research
Lead participant recruitment for a variety of research methods (e.g., interviews, co-design, surveys, usability testing), including screening, informed consent, scheduling, and incentives
Draft accessible, plain-language consent and communication materials in collaboration with legal and compliance teams
Craft effective screeners and other materials to ensure inclusive and successful sessions
Conduct initial screening conversations to ensure individuals are appropriately prepared, informed, and confident in participating in innovative research methods
Support and Advise Researchers
Act as a thought partner to user researchers and service designers, providing guidance on recruitment, logistics, study design, and resource planning
Develop and implement inclusive recruitment strategies, especially for underrepresented populations and beyond traditional pathways
Advise on recruitment and research practices that balance student privacy and allow for longer-term engagement with communities
Streamline and Standardize Research Ops
Identify and implement lightweight, scalable processes that support inclusive, ethical, collaborative, and innovative research across Greenhouse teams.
Identify gaps or friction in existing research workflows and recommend improvements
Establish toolkits, templates, and repeatable processes for recruitment, planning, and data handling
Advise on and implement privacy, consent, and data protection procedures aligned with legal standards (e.g., FERPA)
Client the Groundwork for Long-Term Research Infrastructure
Evaluate research tools and vendor platforms (e.g., scheduling, transcription, incentives) and recommend fit-for-purpose solutions
Recommend and document sustainable practices that support equitable research at scale
Co-design an early iteration of a research repository with Greenhouse designers, including recommended tooling and strategies for scaling and improving
Required Qualifications & Experience
5 years of experience in research operations, UX research, or related program management roles
Experience in research enablement creating documentation, templates, and leading internal workshops around best practices
Established experience across the research lifecycle, which includes recruiting participants, managing a participant panel, and training teams on how to match participants to studies
Experience supporting qualitative and quantitative research methods across multiple teams with distinct products and user needs
Experience supporting data collection and analysis: taking notes on qualitative studies, preparing data for analysis
Experience working with tools such as Airtable, Dovetail, Qualtrics, UserTesting, Dscout, or similar a plus. Support working within their limitations or drive decisions on best tools to meet teams' needs
Strong project management and systems design skills; ability to build processes that scale
Excellent organizational, collaboration, and communication skills
A creative, proactive, entrepreneurial mindsetcomfortable bringing new ideas and strategies to improve our research practice
Deep respect for ethical research practices and user data privacy
Ability to work in a fast-paced, ambiguous environment with shifting priorities
Nice To Have
Experience working in or with mission-driven organizations, public education, or nonprofits
Experience supporting research involving youth, families, or vulnerable populations
Experience creating inclusive research frameworks and protocols
Experience with or demonstrated interest in creative visual storytelling that brings research to life
