Product Research Lead

About LitLab

LitLab helps developing readers build confidence and fluency. Founded by teachers, LitLab gives educators the tools to find and create decodable texts, provide students with meaningful reading practice, and understand how their students are progressing, all aligned to their existing curriculum. Today, we reach hundreds of thousands of students. We're a fast-growing startup and a collaborative, mission-driven team that cares deeply about the teachers and students we serve. We move with urgency and purpose, experiment with bold ideas, and prioritize learning and progress over perfection. We take collective ownership of our work, adapt quickly as we learn, and strive to make every interaction with LitLab thoughtful, useful, and delightful.

Role Overview

You'll report directly to our Head of Product and manage LitLab's research program end to end: recruiting pilot districts, conducting co-design and usability studies that shape our product, and supporting the evidence generation that builds toward a successful RCT four years from now. Like everyone here, you'll wear a lot of hats. Some months you'll be onboarding pilot districts; others you'll be turning teacher feedback into a working prototype; or navigating IRB and data-sharing approvals to get a study off the ground. You don't need to come in with deep expertise in every part of the role, but you do need real intellectual honesty and a fidelity to the scientific process, whatever your level of experience.

What you'll do

• Run quick research and design loops: Talk to teachers to understand their pain points, utilize AI tools to turn what you learn into a well-designed prototype, and hand off your designs to our engineering team, all within days.
• Own co-design and usability research: Schedule, run, and analyze co-design sessions and usability/feasibility studies with classroom teachers. Turn findings into clear, actionable recommendations.
• Find and manage pilot sites: Identify and recruit candidate districts; coordinate participation and data-sharing agreements through to signature; and own the day-to-day relationship once onboarded.
• Lead quasi-experimental and RCT work: Own our quasi-experimental study and act as a self-directed counterpart to independent evaluators for an RCT. You don't need to arrive as an expert, but you'll need to be a self-starter who can learn and execute the methodology.
• Run research operations: Coordinate collection of external benchmark data (DIBELS, etc.), help ensure the quality of a data ingestion pipeline as it comes online, and create structured teacher surveys across the school year.
• Represent the work externally: Coordinate data and benchmarking submissions to our grantor, create easy-to-digest materials for grant reporting and our Research Hub, and liaise with external partners.

What you bring

We care about what you've done, not what it was called. Strong candidates may come from UX research, product design, education research, or program evaluation.

• User research experience. You know how to run and synthesize usability and feasibility studies. You can recruit participants, facilitate sessions, and turn what you hear into recommendations a product team can act on.
• Strong organizational and administrative skills. You'll be running research end-to-end: scheduling, logistics, data management, and clean documentation.
• Comfort sourcing and closing partnerships. Identifying good-fit districts, navigating approval processes, and coordinating agreements to signature.
• Familiarity with quasi-experimental or RCT methodology is a strong plus, and a genuine self-starter mindset is a must. You'll be expected to build real research depth here over time.
• Comfort with both quantitative and qualitative methods. You can turn messy field data into a clear, honest account of what it shows.
• Intellectual honesty and rigor. Regardless of how much formal research experience you have, we're looking for real fidelity to the scientific process. You can be straightforward about what the data does and doesn't show.
• Early literacy experience is a strong plus, though not required.

You might be a great fit if you…

• Are self-directed and comfortable owning a research process end to end, with limited daily oversight.
• Are resourceful and adaptable, and thrive when there isn't a predefined playbook.
• Communicate exceptionally well, verbally and in writing, and stay organized with a lot on your plate.
• Are eager to grow as the role expands, including into more technical study design over time.
• Care deeply about improving early literacy and improving the educational experience for teachers and students.

Compensation

• Salary range: $100,000–$125,000, commensurate with experience
• Equity: meaningful ownership in a fast-growing company (roughly 2x what comparable hires receive at this stage)
• Benefits: medical, dental, vision, and 401k