UX Program Manager

Ranked one of Puget Sound Business Journals "Best Workplaces" and "Fastest Growing Companies" for four years in a row, Affirma is looking for a UX Program Manager to support one of our clients.

Research Program Managers build and scale global research programs to strengthen the impact of our research teams. We drive efficiency, cultivate relationships, increase knowledge sharing, and build capacity within our organization to enable Researchers to do their most impactful work.In this role, you will establish and maintain operational and team-wide programs as well as create, manage, and scale processes to support the growing research team. You'll utilize a full range of organizational and interpersonal skills to help our team operate at their highest and most effective level.

The ideal candidate is entrepreneurial, comfortable navigating ambiguous situations, able to facilitate our teams' best work by managing short- and long-term projects and initiatives, anticipating project issues and resolving them, connecting resources to research needs, and removing barriers to doing great work. This role requires project and program management experience and broad knowledge of research's impact on product design and development. Communication skills, stakeholder management, the ability to manage complex logistics, and an organized approach are mandatory.

Embedded Research Operations Program Manager Responsibilities: - Support and scale vendor management initiatives, which includes developing reusable frameworks for tracking and reporting of vendor usage and services - Partner with the BizOps Program Manager to review, analyze, and negotiate commercial contracts such as master agreements and rate cards - Partner closely with the Meta Sourcing team on vendor contracts - Develop playbooks that will foster best practices across the Global Research Operations and UX Research teams - Assist with portfolio management by analyzing vendor portfolio usage and trends to identify opportunities for improvement and innovation in vendor relationships - Prepare regular reports and presentations for Research leadership, highlighting key metrics to inform business strategy - Support creation and maintenance initiatives for Vendor agreements by managing the partnership with a variety of vendors - Work with cross-functional stakeholders to understand team requirements, analyze vendor rate cards, and support Program Manager with the creation of a scalable implementation strategy - Facilitate external vendor partnerships by identifying process improvement opportunities through data analysis - Collaborate with cross-functional partners on initiatives to promote Vendor best practices - Manage multiple projects, work streams, and liaison across functional teams - Support the end to end contracts process for the team and proactively highlight potential roadblocks - Proactively identify and partner with stakeholders on internal processes, templates, and guidelines to improve team optimization and documentation - Partner with team leadership on establishing effective team communication, information distribution, and cross-team collaboration - Proactively manage expectations: define clear program roadmaps, provide frequent program updates, identify and communicate risks and adjustments, and ensure commitments are delivered - Provide flexible approaches that meet team needs, including the ability to move fast and make progress or navigate blocks quickly - Facilitate relationships between teams, move initiatives forward, find resources, escalate and raise concerns to appropriate owners early and resolve open issues that prevent progress

Requirements: - 4+ years of administrative or project management experience - Experience working in vendor management - Experience working cross functionally with finance, procurement and external vendors - Track record of operating independently, being detail-oriented, and delivering results in a highly organized manner - Strong proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite and comfort with data analysis - Experience understanding user needs, gathering requirements, and crafting solutions - Track record of building cross-functional relationships - Excellent organization skills, with the ability to multi-task and juggle multiple competing priorities in a fast-paced environment - Excellent verbal and written communication skills for interacting with and influencing researchers, leaderships, and/or cross functional stakeholders with the ability to adapt communication style to suit different audiences - Ability to be successful in a dynamic, fast-paced environment that requires independent time management, task prioritization, flexibility, and keen ability to identify problems and proactively work towards solutions - Experience building relationships with peers and senior stakeholders and collaborating with cross-functional teams across multiple locations - Experience communicating with data to drive change - Track record of operating independently and taking initiative, embracing ambiguity, demonstrating creativity, being detail-oriented, and delivering results in a highly organized manner - BA/BS degree or equivalent work experience required Preferred Qualifications - Prior experience with negotiations, cost benchmarking, and data analytics tools - Prior experience working in an early stage environment with lots of ambiguity and moving parts - Prior experience working with User Experience Research, operational risk, or vendor procurement - Prior experience working with Google Data Studio - Proficiency in SQL and Data Visualization Tools (Tableau, Salesforce, etc

Affirma is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not make employment decisions or otherwise discriminates based on race, creed, color, national origin, sex, military status, sexual orientation, or the presence of any sensory, mental, or physical disability, genetic information, or any other category protected by law.