Discover

The Opportunity

Toronto, ON
Information Technology
Experienced
Full-time

Highline BETA is a startup co-creation and venture capital company. We're on a mission to discover, co-create, and fund better ventures.

Through startup co-creation, we bring together founders and enterprises to co-create and fund new startups. Through our corporate accelerators, we help enterprises partner with top startups and innovate faster. Through our funds and investment vehicles, we invest in ventures at the pre-seed and seed stages.

We're hiring a New Venture Director - User Research to help us deliver exceptional value to our corporate clients and accelerate our co-creation initiatives. You'll need to be entrepreneurially-minded and interested in the intersection of corporate innovation and the startup ecosystem. In this role you'll have an opportunity to work on a diverse set of projects with clients, focused on user research, opportunity area discovery, problem validation and new venture development.

What you'll do

Responsibilities

  • Conducting user research and early discovery / problem validation on new opportunities; including interviewing, immersion, observation, early prototyping and more
  • Largely focused on early, qualitative user research into new problem areas (versus product/feature-level user research)
  • Help create & support new ventures with our clients through the application of Lean Startup and Design Thinking methodologies (e.g. research, problem validation, experimentation, prototyping, etc.)
  • Facilitation and training of clients on key concepts around Lean Startup, Design Thinking and user research
  • Get your hands dirty with potentially more than one venture/project at a time
  • Guide clients through doing (versus telling) to empower them towards new venture creation

What you'll need

Qualifications

You're perfect for this role if you:

  • Have had a role in user research or heavily involving user research of some kind (e.g. product management, product design, user experience)
  • Have experience conducting facilitation and training sessions and enjoy coaching people
  • Have a strong interest in both Highline BETA's mission and corporate innovation
  • Are doer above all else -- read: get shit done.
  • Believe in the efficacy and value of Lean Startup / Design Thinking (e.g. getting out of the building, interviewing, researching, prototyping, learning, etc.)
  • Enjoy a diversity of projects and work (lots of context shifting)
  • Comfortable being uncomfortable
  • Have a strong, team-oriented work ethic with willingness to work independently and autonomously (comfortable with travel as well)

Qualifications:

  • 3+ years experience in user research, using a variety of techniques (i.e. interviewing, field studies, surveying, etc.) both in qualitative and quantitative areas
  • Experience in digital / technology industries
  • Experience in startups is a bonus
  • Proven experience in applying problem solving skills (quantitative, conceptual, analytical)
  • Comfortable with interacting with senior level executives and investors
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills

We're looking for

Core Skills

Secondary Research Primary Research Conducting Interviews Market Research Customer Development Design Thinking Lean Startup Workshop Facilitation User Research

A little bit about us

Highline Beta

At Highline Beta, we celebrate our inclusive work environment and welcome members of all backgrounds and perspectives to apply. We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations and will work with you to meet your needs. If you are a person with a disability and require assistance during the application process, please don't hesitate to reach out!