Product Research Specialist

**About the Company**
Makeship exists to empower influencers, creators, and brands of all sizes to develop and launch limited edition products that matter to their fans. Leveraging our design, manufacturing, and marketing expertise, we work with our partners to bring their product to life through our community-powered crowd-funding platform. Each product is given a window of 21 days to be funded by the community before we produce and ship to fans worldwide. We put our brand behind every product and guarantee quality and ethical sourcing. We're profitable, have grown the team from 2 to 70 people in 4 years, and we’re growing at an average annual growth rate of 200%+.

*
About the Role*
As an early member of the team you’ll play a huge role in building out a catalogue of product that plays a significant role in the future success of Makeship. These products will support our purpose of driving growth, success, and fan connection for our creator partners. Every day, you’ll be actively involved in the creator economy through creator interviews, market research, and collaboration amongst Makeship’s high performing, energetic, and fun team.

We want this to be the best work experience of your life, so we’ll pay you well, offer great benefits, invest deeply in your growth, and welcome you with our branded swag. Join us and watch your work make an impact on the company and our community

*
What We Are Looking For*
We are looking for a rockstar **Product Research Specialist** who has the experience and passion to strategically develop and execute on a core Makeship Brand initiative, the research of new physical and digital products. This individual will need to demonstrate a proven track record of success within market research and analysis, brand development, product positioning, and relationship building. They will strive to have their finger on the pulse of the creator economy and our creator partners and will seek out and validate demand amongst our core market for new product opportunities. They will coordinate key Makeship teams in finalizing these new product offerings to bring tremendous value to emerging independent creators and their fans. This position requires a true self-starter who has a strong understanding of today's consumer.
We are looking for someone with a unique right/left brain mindset with passion for creativity, innovative brand and product concepts, while possessing strong organization, communication, strategic thinking, and project management skills.

As **Product Research Specialist**, you'll report to the Creative & Brand Manager and will work alongside multiple teams including Marketing, New Product Development, Partnerships, and Tech to actively seek out, validate, and present new ideas that will move into development for our creator partners. As a nice bonus, you will also be joining one of Canada's fastest-growing start-up companies

*
Your Key Responsibilities*
- You will play a critical role in the development, communication, and execution of Makeship’s product strategy, ensuring alignment with the Makeship brand as well as a strong product/market fit.
- Connect and develop fruitful relationships with the Makeship Partnerships team and our Creator partners that lead to innovative new brand and product ideas (physical and digital) that will support Creators in connecting to their fans.
- Conduct research of our unique market and customer to identify Creator/Fan product opportunities, competitive advantages and weaknesses, and track trends that may be of future significance.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to turn insights from research into requirements and solutions.
- Develop and present new product roadmaps that aligns with Makeship’s annual strategy and goals.
- Analyze and report on product performance post-launch using qualitative and quantitative data to highlight areas of success and improvement, as well as present next steps.
- Project management - This role requires significant planning, collaboration, and coordination across our Creative & Brand, Product Development, and Tech teams to ensure our new physical and digital products are introduced on time and within cost targets.

**What You Bring**
- Bachelor's degree in a relevant business field such as marketing or communications.
- 2 to 4+ years of experience in product or brand research or management, or any role with a specific focus on the introduction of physical products.
- Experience working directly with customers to identify product needs.
- Passion for creative and unique products, innovation, and trends.
- A curious mind, as demonstrated through your experience in market research and customer insights. You can formulate the right questions, and know when/how to ask them.
- The ability to connect instantly with others and build fast relationships through personable communication, with an added ability to present with persuasion (both written and verbal).
- Good listening and negotiation sk