Lead Researcher

6 months ago

Toronto, Canada Koru Full time

We are Koru.
Koru is a first of its kind venture studio funded by Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. We partner with OTPP portfolio companies to build and invest in businesses with a clear right to win.
Founded in 2019, our mission is to drive value creation aimed at growing the overall value of OTPP’s portfolio companies by partnering with them to identify, validate, build and oversee new disruptive businesses. We go from 0-1, building ventures that address customer frictions head-on — and we leverage our corporate partnerships to gain unfair advantages in the market.
We offer a unique balance of risk and reward where startup talent can build with the backing of a $250B pension plan and the ability to impact portfolio companies all around the world, explore disruptive new opportunities and share in the upside of every business we put into the market. We promote a truly entrepreneurial mindset and a culture of fearless reinvention.
If you get excited by building innovative products that allow new entrants to disrupt existing industries, enjoy working in a collaborative and dynamic startup environment, have an entrepreneurial spirit, and have developed strong product leadership chops, then your place may be with us

**As Lead Researcher you will**:
Shape Research Goals & Objectives
- Work with Venture GMs, Product, Growth, Business Operations, and other members of the Koru team to define research needs, goals, objectives and methods
- Identify/prioritize critical research hypotheses & assumptions relative to venture goals

Plan & Design Research
- Design the appropriate qualitative and quantitative research experiments, including but not limited to: defining the characteristics & quantity of research participants; developing research screening questions & interview guides; establishing content/channels for participant engagement; and environments for data collection

Execute Research
- Conduct relevant primary and secondary research to gather evidence needed to validate / invalidate key venture (user & market) hypotheses
- Collect and analyze user behavior through field visits, ethnography (observation/interviews), surveys, benchmark studies, user-generated data and other relevant experiments
- Iteratively design, test and iterate on product & service concepts/features to validate problem-solution fit

Document & Communicate Research Results
- Design and facilitate immersion sessions with multi-disciplinary portfolio company teams
- Advocate research findings to diverse audiences through written & visual assets
- Bring your research to life through personas, customer journeys, insight-opportunity frameworks, system maps, stories and scenarios that have a tangible impact on ventures
- Work with the design team to communicate opportunities and ideas that are grounded by research findings (i.e. product concepts/features, service models, to-be customer journeys & systems)
- Demonstrate significance & prevalence of research findings to de-risk venture decisions

As a Lead Researcher, you’ll also play a key role in shaping the research and strategic design practice at Koru. which entails:

- Evolving the research and human-centered design toolkit across Koru to improve quality and confidence in research outcomes
- Representing Koru, and connecting Koru into the broader research, design and startup ecosystem to support the evolution and growth of our practice
- Contributing to thought leadership across the organization

**You should have**:

- A Masters degree (or a related field or equivalent practical experience) in Design, Strategy, Anthropology, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Human Factors, Psychology, Sociology..
- Experience planning, leading, executing and synthesizing research utilizing mixed methods including but not limited to contextual inquiry, usability studies, and surveys.
- A significant track record shaping real world user experiences and delivering tangible products to market, with a min. of 5+ years experience leading projects to completion.
- An outstanding portfolio of work demonstrating strong human-centered design capabilities across a diverse range of projects.

**Highly Desirable Skills**:

- Autonomy: comfortable defining scope and priorities independently and proactively, while also being able to manage shifting circumstances and ambiguity.
- Zero-to-One: Experience planning and executing early-stage research that has lead to changes to existing products, or new product development.
- Creative User Engagement: Experience using UXR recruitment, testing & synthesis tools such as UserInterviews, Userbrain, UserTesting, PollFish, Typeform, Dovetail, etc.
- Quant Skills: Experience in executing quantitative user research to validate desirability; statistical analysis; and measuring statistical significance of research results.
- Persuasive communication: Engaging storytelling skills that capture and distill complex insights in a meaningful way for diverse audiences.
- Facilitation ski

  • Research Lead

    6 months ago

    Toronto, Canada LifeWorks Full time

    TELUS Health is empowering every person to live their healthiest life. Guided by our vision, we are leveraging the power of our leading edge technology and focusing on the uniqueness of each individual to create the future of health. As a global-leading health and well-being provider - encompassing physical, mental and financial health - TELUS Health is...

  • Lead, Research

    6 months ago

    Toronto, Canada Michael Garron Hospital Full time

    OVERVIEW Reporting to the Director, Research Operations and Business Development, the Lead, Research and Innovation is responsible for administratively leading the Michael Garron Hospital (MGH) Research Ethics Board (REB), and leading the organization, planning and implementation of special projects within MGH’s department of Research and Innovation....

  • Lead, Strategic Research

    6 months ago

    Toronto, Canada Mastercard Foundation Full time

    **ABOUT MASTERCARD FOUNDATION** Mastercard Foundation seeks a world where everyone has the opportunity to learn and prosper. Through its Young Africa Works strategy and Canadian EleV program, the Foundation works with partners to ensure that millions of young people, especially young women, access quality education, financial services, and dignified work....

  • Research Lead

    6 months ago

    Toronto, Canada Ontario Hospital Association Full time

    **Research Lead** **Business Planning and Strategy Division** **Full-time Permanent (Hybrid: 2 days/week in office, 3 days/week WFH)** **Target hiring range $102,700 to $115,538** **Background**: The Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) serves as the voice of the province’s public hospitals, supporting them through advocacy, knowledge transfer and member...

  • Knowledge & Research Lead

    6 months ago

    Toronto, Canada Canadian Mental Health Association Full time

    The **Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), Ontario** is committed to improving services and support for individuals living with mental illnesses and addictions issues, and to the promotion of mental health in Ontario. CMHA Ontario in partnership with Colleges Ontario, the Council of Ontario Universities, the College Student Alliance, and the Ontario...

  • Lead Research Engineer

    7 months ago

    Toronto, Canada Thomson Reuters Full time

    Lead Research Engineer  Do you love creating innovative solutions for customers?  We are seeking a passionate Lead Research Engineer who will bring expertise in AI and ML and is interested in building data-driven capabilities that drive transformation. As a member of Thomson Reuters Labs you will have a direct impact on our...

  • Research and Development Lead

    3 days ago

    Toronto, Canada Etraveli Group Full time

    About Tripstack We are travel tech entrepreneurs, changing the way millions of people travel. Our proprietary virtual interlining technology provides access to billions of travel itineraries by combining flights from different airline carriers that don’t traditionally work together. We take our customers from point A to B via C, including land...

  • Strategic Design Research Lead

    2 weeks ago

    Toronto, Ontario, Canada Aquent Full time

    Job SummaryWe are seeking an experienced Strategic Design Research Lead to join our Digital Design team in Toronto, Ontario. As a key member of our collaborative design team, you will work closely with cross-functional teams and digital product owners to facilitate effective communication and ensure that our products meet the needs of our users.About the...

  • ESG Research Regional Lead

    1 month ago

    Toronto, Canada RepRisk AG Full time

    Job DescriptionAbout You Are you a strong, empathetic, team-oriented leader? Do you thrive in dynamic, international environments and excel at connecting across hierarchies and cultures, with colleagues and clients alike? Are you a self-starter with a can-do attitude, strong analytical skills, and a passion for improving processes with creative thinking? If...

  • Esg Research Regional Lead

    1 month ago

    Toronto, Canada RepRisk AG Full time

    **Company Description** About Us** RepRisk is a rapidly-growing global company and a pioneer in the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data science field. Our goal is to make the world a better place by creating transparency in the business world - we are driving positive change via the power of data. We combine AI and machine learning with human...

  • Lead Researcher in Biomolecular Science

    5 days ago

    Old Toronto, Canada University Of Toronto Full time

    About the OpportunityWe are seeking an exceptional researcher to join our team at the University of Toronto as a Lead Researcher in Biomolecular Science. This is an exciting opportunity for a highly motivated individual with expertise in pharmaceutical sciences research.

  • Autonomous Materials Research Lead

    2 weeks ago

    Old Toronto, Canada University Of Toronto Full time

    Unlocking the Future of Sustainable DiscoveryWe are seeking an exceptional Autonomous Materials Research Lead to join our team at the University of Toronto. This is a unique opportunity to pioneer cutting-edge research in artificial intelligence-driven materials discovery, shaping the future of sustainable technologies.About the Role:Lead Research...

  • Quality Assurance Lead, Clinical Research

    3 months ago

    Toronto, Canada SickKids Full time

    **About SickKids**: Dedicated exclusively to children and their families, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) is one of the largest and most respected paediatric healthcare centres in the world. As innovators in child health, we lead and partner to improve the health of children through the integration of healthcare, leading-edge research and...

  • Research Coordinator

    3 months ago

    Toronto, Canada Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Full time

    The Toronto Dementia Research Alliance (TDRA) housed at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health is seeking a full-time, contract (12 months) Research Coordinator to help lead our initiative that supports recruitment to clinical trials. Reporting to the Director, Strategy & Operations and the Executive Director, you will be responsible for managing an...

  • Lead Researcher, Crypto

    3 months ago

    Toronto, Canada Bjak Full time

    About BjakBjak is focused on providing access to affordable and sustainable financial services for people in ASEAN. Headquartered in Malaysia, Bjak is the largest insurance portal in Southeast Asia. Our main portal, Bjak.com, helps millions find the insurance policy with the best value and highest coverage for them. Our investments in technology such as...

  • Research Coordinator

    3 months ago

    Toronto, Canada Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Full time

    Job Description The Toronto Dementia Research Alliance (TDRA) housed at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health is seeking a full-time, contract (12 months) Research Coordinator to help lead our initiative that supports recruitment to clinical trials. Reporting to the Director, Strategy & Operations and the Executive Director, you will be...

  • Research Manager

    6 months ago

    Toronto, Canada The Firelight Group Full time

    **Position Title**:Research Manager** **Team**:Indigenous Knowledge Research (IKR)** **Reports to**:Research Director** **Job Location: Toronto, ON** or Home-based remote working** **JOB OVERVIEW** Reporting to the Program Manager and supervised by the Research Director, the Research Manager is a technical specialist on their team. With expertise in...

  • Lead Research Scientist in Functional Genomics

    7 days ago

    Old Toronto, Canada The Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, University of Toronto Full time

    Job OverviewThe Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, University of Toronto is seeking a highly skilled Lead Research Scientist to join our team. This is an exciting opportunity to pursue innovative research in functional genomics at the highest international level and establish an outstanding, competitive, and externally funded research...

  • Lead Research Engineer

    7 months ago

    Toronto, Canada Thomson Reuters Full time

    About the Role : In this opportunity as a  Lead Research Engineer , you will: Be a Leader:  Provide technical leadership partnering with other engineers to develop and improve methodology and evolve the technology stack. Develop and Deliver:  Applying modern software development practices, you will be involved in the entire software...

  • Lead Specialist, Development Research

    2 weeks ago

    Toronto, Canada WWF Full time

    **Benefits of Working at WWF-Canada**: You’ll work with a team of passionate people interested in creating a Canada with abundant wildlife, where nature and people thrive. Here are some other benefits of working here: - Competitive salary - Health and dental benefits - Paid vacation time and personal days - Training and development budget to support your...