User Studies Operations Specialist

At Apple, we strive to achieve surprise and delight for every one of our millions of customers around the world. We are looking for a User Studies Operations Specialist to drive study execution, vendor strategy, and lab operations supporting a multidisciplinary neuroscience research team. In this role, you will partner directly with neuroscientists, researchers, and algorithm engineers to operationalize complex study protocols for multiple investigations in parallel, lead external research vendor engagements, and facilitate high-integrity data collection for cutting-edge technologies. Our ideal candidate combines hands-on human research experience, strong technical proficiency with early stage HW/SW prototypes, and a working understanding of AI and algorithmic evaluation workflows.

As a User Study Operations Specialist, you will bridge study design and operational execution across multiple parallel investigations

Partner with researchers, algorithms teams, and engineers during protocol design to ensure operational feasibility, test hardware and harden processes.
Lead end-to-end administration of complex in-person and pilot testing protocols, including overseeing participant recruitment, onboarding, informed consent
Work with legal and review boards to seek approval for research investigations
Manage end to end research vendor relationships, including initial vendor contacts for large scale external studies through data delivery and QA
Act as an active contributor to the research team: participate in study design critiques, review research papers, and optimize testing methodologies.
Assist in structuring datasets and annotation/labeling schemes to support algorithm training and benchmark evaluation.

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Neuroscience, Cognitive Psychology, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Biomedical Engineering, or a related field.
3+ years of experience in research operations, human behavioral/physiological research, or tech-focused lab management.
Demonstrated expertise in human research execution involving complex sensing hardware, prototype software, and behavioral observation.
Experience leveraging AI tools, LLM workflows, or lightweight scripting (e.g., Bash, Python) to automate operational tasks, logging, or reporting.
Strong commitment to participant privacy, data security, and navigating IRB, ethics, and legal review processes.
Technical resilience: comfortable bringing up early-stage hardware/software prototypes and troubleshooting technical issues in real time.
Strong project management, cross-functional communication, and interpersonal skills to keep studies on track and put participants at ease.
Foundational data hygiene and analysis skills (e.g., Python or scripting tools for data validation, preprocessing and analysis).

Preferred Qualifications

Working familiarity with AI/ML principles, algorithmic evaluation pipelines, data annotation workflows, or model validation paradigms.
Proven track record sourcing, vetting, and managing external research vendors, participant recruitment panels, or contractors (SOWs, SLAs, quality control).
Experience working with physiological sensing modalities (e.g., eye-tracking, EEG, EMG, PPG, or motion capture).