Research Associate

Join the Future of Commerce with Whatnot!

Whatnot is the largest livestream shopping platform in North America and Europe to buy, sell, and discover the things you love. We’re re-defining e-commerce by blending community, shopping, and entertainment into a community just for you. As a remote co-located team, we’re inspired by innovation and anchored in our values. With hubs in the US, UK, Ireland, Poland, and Germany, we’re building the future of online marketplaces—together.

From fashion, beauty, and electronics to rare collectibles like trading cards, comic books, and even live plants, our live auctions have something for everyone.

And we’re just getting started! As one of the fastest growing marketplaces, we’re looking for bold, forward-thinking problem solvers across all functional areas. Check out the latest Whatnot updates on our news and engineering blogs and join us as we enable anyone to turn their passion into a business, and bring people together through commerce.

Role

We’re seeking a Research Associate who will help drive strategic decisions by conducting rigorous research studies, analyzing data, and delivering actionable insights. You’ll collaborate with Product, Trust & Risk, Strategy & Ops, and other cross‑functional partners to understand user behaviors, uncover seller and buyer needs, and support innovation in our rapidly growing marketplace.

• Support design and execution of research initiatives: competitive deep dives, market research, surveys, interviews, and user feedback studies.

• Collect and analyze data to interpret trends and help clarify community and business problems.

• Produce clear, compelling reports, visualizations, and presentations to inform product, policy, and strategy.

• Partner cross-functionally with teams such as Trust & Risk, Product, and Operations to ensure insights translate into impact.

• Conduct literature reviews and secondary research to contextualize findings within broader market or industry trends.

• Assist with development of research plans, measurement frameworks, and post‑study retrospectives.

• Ensure research processes meet ethical standards and data integrity best practices.

• Own research projects end-to-end by taking initiative, iterating quickly, and delivering with quality.

Team members in this role are required to be within commuting distance of our New York, NY, San Francisco, CA, Seattle, WA or Los Angeles, CA hubs.

You

Curious about who thrives at Whatnot? We’ve found that embodying a low ego, growth mindset, and high-impact drive goes a long way here.

As our next Research Associate, you should have 1-3 years in research, data analytics, market insights, or product research, plus:

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field (e.g. Behavioral Science, Sociology, Economics, Marketing, Human-Computer Interaction); advanced degree (Master’s or higher) preferred.

• Quantitative and qualitative research competencies (survey design, interview moderation).

• Proficiency with tools like Excel, SQL survey platforms (Qualtrics, SurveyMonkey), and visualization tools (Tableau, Looker).

• Comfort using generative AI to support research operations and synthesis

• Strong written and verbal communication; able to synthesize complex data into digestible insights. Highly detail-oriented with excellent organizational and project management skills.

• A Low ego, growth mindset, fast-moving, impact-first, collaborative, and curious—traits that thrive at Whatnot

• Familiarity with e‑commerce, livestream shopping, or marketplace dynamics is a plus.

Benefits

• Flexible Time off Policy and Company-wide Holidays (including a spring and winter break)

• Health Insurance options including Medical, Dental, Vision

• Work From Home Support

  • Home office setup allowance

  • Monthly allowance for cell phone and internet

• Care benefits

  • Monthly allowance for wellness

  • Annual allowance towards Childcare

  • Lifetime benefit for family planning, such as adoption or fertility expenses

• Retirement; 401k offering for Traditional and Roth accounts in the US (employer match up to 4% of base salary) and Pension plans internationally

• Monthly allowance to dogfood the app

  • All Whatnauts are expected to develop a deep understanding of our product. We're passionate about building the best user experience, and all employees are expected to use Whatnot as both a buyer and a seller as part of their job (our dogfooding budget makes this fun and easy!).

• Parental Leave

  • 16 weeks of paid parental leave + one month gradual return to work *company leave allowances run concurrently with country leave requirements which take precedence.

EOE

Whatnot is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We value diversity, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, parental status, disability status, or any other status protected by local law. We believe that our work is better and our company culture is improved when we encourage, support, and respect the different skills and experiences represented within our workforce.