Associate Director, Design Research

WHOOP is a company developing wearable technologies and a health analytics platform, producing screenless fitness trackers that analyze recovery, sleep, and strain. This role is based onsite in Boston, MA, USA. Responsibilities: — Provide strategic leadership for the design research team, ensuring alignment with key stakeholders and organizational priorities. — Evangelize the importance of user insights and the role of design research in the product and hardware development lifecycle to WHOOP senior leadership. — Scale research impact by working closely with cross-functional leaders to identify opportunities for research and set expectations for mixed-methods research, ensuring research is positioned as a critical input to decision-making. — Partner closely with senior team members to review research needs, assess tradeoffs, and guide prioritization and research direction. — Manage, coach, and develop a team of design researchers, fostering strong research craft, clear communication, and professional growth. — Own relationships with external research vendors, including scoping projects, defining success criteria, and ensuring high-quality execution. — Build a strong, cross-functional “voice of the member” for product decision-making in partnership with Consumer Insights, Analytics, and Membership Services. Qualifications: — Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field such as human factors, design research, user experience research, design anthropology, psychology, or a related discipline. — 5+ years of experience conducting user research for physical products, ideally within hardware, health, or consumer product environments. — 5+ years of people management experience, including coaching, feedback, and performance development. — Strong mixed-methods research background, with demonstrated application of qualitative and quantitative approaches to real-world products. — Experience working within or alongside hardware development lifecycles (not software-only). — Experience managing or partnering with external research vendors, including project scoping and execution. — Ability to manage multiple workstreams, navigate ambiguity, and influence without direct authority across cross-functional teams. — Excellent written, verbal, and presentation skills, with the ability to communicate complex insights to executive audiences. — 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. Additional information: — This role requires onsite work Monday-Friday at the Boston headquarters. — WHOOP encourages applications even if candidates do not meet every qualification. — WHOOP is an Equal Opportunity Employer and participates in E-verify. — The compensation philosophy includes competitive base salaries, meaningful equity, and consistent pay practices. — The U.S. base salary range for this full-time position is $140,000 - $180,000, with additional benefits and a generous equity package. — Salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location, and individual pay depends on skills, experience, performance, and education.