Senior Design Researcher

LOCATION. Remote. Applicants may be asked to travel to sites where program is being implemented, up to 30% of the time. 

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS. 

• $135,992 annualized, less payroll deductions and withholdings
  • $42,497 for program duration, less payroll deductions and withholdings, which will be paid according to Vote Rev’s payroll practices.
• Generous medical, dental, and vision - our medical plan option covers you with a generous PPO plan with a $1,000 deductible at no cost to you
• Paid time off for all federal holidays and PTO accrued at a rate of 1.5 days per month
• 5 days of sick leave

ROLE TYPE. This is a full-time, at-will, temporary role with benefits with an anticipated start date of Monday, 8/3 and end date of Friday, 11/20.

APPLICATION DEADLINE. The application deadline is July 1, 2026. Applications received after this deadline will be considered as needed. Details regarding the rest of the hiring process are included below. 

About the organizations

Vote Rev is a PAC that designs and quickly mainstreams field-tested voter engagement innovations to help Democrats win. Its sister organization, Vote Rev Action Fund (VRAF), works with and for nonprofits that amplify the power of historically disenfranchised communities. The two organizations design prototypes of new voter and civic engagement tactics, refine promising early-stage ideas, and then stress test those ideas, subjecting them to randomized controlled trials. Through this work, they develop new tactics to mobilize hard-to-reach voters.

In 2026, Vote Rev and VRAF will each run programs layering multiple friend-to-friend GOTV tactics simultaneously — ensuring voters in mission-aligned geographies hear from people they know, through multiple channels, in the final stretch before Election Day. They will also pilot newer ideas with the potential to be game-changing in 2028.

Vote Rev and Vote Rev Action Fund have a shared staffing structure, and this role serves both organizations. Vote Rev and VRAF are based in Los Angeles, CA, with employees nationwide. We are dedicated to creating an organization that reflects the diversity of the country we serve. We strongly encourage women, people of color, and others who are underrepresented in campaigns and voter engagement nonprofits to apply.

Note: Due to the nature of our work we are unable to hire any individuals who aren’t U.S. Citizens, Legal Permanent Residents (Green Card holders), or DACA recipients. By applying to this role, you are acknowledging that you are a U.S. Citizen, DACA recipient, or current Legal Permanent Resident.

About the opportunity

The Senior Design Researcher will lead efforts to design and optimize the next generation of scalable, relational GOTV tactics that could be game-changing 2028. The tactics they will develop and pilot will be iterations of Vote Rev and Vote Rev Action Fund’s proven relational mobilization tactics – site-based vote tripling and site-based relational postcards – but with changes to program design that we believe could make them (1) even more impactful and (2) easier for our partners to implement at massive scale. 

The Senior Design Research will contribute to the development and implementation of research plans and will oversee the pilot tests by paid canvassers in the late summer / early fall. It is pilots like these that have ensured the Vote Rev and Vote Rev Action Fund develop powerful, scalable tactics that work well in the field.

The Senior Design Researcher will report to the Director of Program. 

A successful candidate will be:

• Excited about the opportunity to marry organizing with innovation
• Driven to help organizations that serve historically disenfranchised communities succeed in their missions to engage with voters
• Experienced in user research, human-centered design, or similar fields

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement plans to pilot test the effectiveness of tactic refinements, including user interviews, surveys, etc.
• Work with Field Manager(s) and paid canvass firms to monitor canvassing operations and ensure feedback loops
• Track metrics to ensure we are learning from the pilots and solving real problems for our users
• Support the optimization of key design features in existing tactics and developing designs for MVPs of new innovations
• Translate the results of the research into tangible and actionable next steps
• Act as the organization’s expert and internal resource for best practices in design and prototyping, staying up-to-date on developments in the fields of user experience research, human-centered design and other related disciplines
• Prepare research deliverables, including memos, reports, and presentations about pilot learnings and how to incorporate them in the tactic moving forward. The senior design researcher will work with the Director of Program to right-size the deliverables. 
• Contributing to a product roadmap for the tactics, with a priority on where we can add the most value (in terms of net votes generated) through refinements

Requirements for the role

• 5+ years of experience in human-centered design, user research, behavioral science, or design strategy 
• Experience managing complex projects and an ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously
• Proficiency with contemporary research, design and prototyping tools and methods
• Experience with qualitative research methods
• High empathy, allowing for an ability to understand the experience of a volunteer, canvasser, and voter
• Strong communication skills demonstrated by the ability to write and speak clearly (and in a way that would be accessible to lay-persons) and succinctly about user research, experimental research and the results of that research 

Helpful but not required

• Experience building partnerships and fostering buy-in, for example, through prior roles in external relations, sales, strategic partnerships, or consulting
• Experience with quantitative research and analysis, including A/B testing
• Experience working for a political campaign or voter turnout organization

General requirements to work at Vote Rev Action Fund

• Commitment to the missions: 
• Vote Rev: design and quickly mainstream field-tested voter engagement innovations to help Democrats win
• Vote Rev Action Fund: design and quickly mainstream field-tested voter engagement innovations to amplify the power of historically disenfranchised communities
• Embodies Vote Rev and Vote Rev Action Fund core values:
• Cultivate people. We cultivate and invest in our most precious resource: our people. Without our team, our mission would be impossible, and a lot less fun to pursue.
• Yoda, we are. We seek to provide innovations – and the resources necessary to implement them – to our partners, who are the true heroes of this work.
• Problem-oriented, solution-agnostic. We tackle problems that seem insurmountable. We question ourselves and revisit our hypotheses until we find – and improve upon – the right solution.
• Pursue equity. Our mission is to drive toward a more equitable society that dismantles systems of oppression and white supremacy. We strive to create inclusive spaces and processes that honor diverse experiences.
• Cross-pollinate. We build smart, elegant innovations by creating through-lines across disciplines. Our innovations improve with each implementation, as we learn from and share our partners’ insights.
• Ability to thrive in a startup environment: you move quickly, think strategically, are adaptable to changing circumstances, and are good at tactical execution.

Reasons to love this role

This team's work will support a unique blend of canvassing work, design, and behavioral science research. Vote Rev Action Fund has the ability to mainstream the tactics you'll work on across many top campaigns and organizations, potentially generating an election-changing number of votes in 2026, 2028, and beyond! 

This isn't a typical research job. You'll be working at the intersection of large-scale field organizing, behavioral science research, and program innovation — and what you build this cycle will directly inform how the civic engagement ecosystem runs relational programs in 2028 and beyond.

Vote Rev and VRAF have a unique model: we design tactics, test them rigorously, and then push them into practice through a broad partner network. As Senior Design Researcher, you'll help shape how our tactics evolve in real time, based on experience putting them to the test in the field.

You'll also be joining a small, high-trust team that values direct feedback, autonomy, and learning from both successes and failures. We move fast, we take the work (but not ourselves!) seriously, and we believe that how we do the work matters as much as what we accomplish.

If you want to spend this election cycle doing work that is genuinely experimental, high-impact, and grounded in evidence — this is the role.

Application Instructions

Submit your application by July 1, 2026. 

The application includes: 

• Basic personal information and eligibility questions 
• Three short essay responses
• A resume upload

Hiring Process

We expect this hiring process will move very quickly and seek to set clear expectations about the included steps. 

Not all candidates will progress through all stages. 

• Application Deadline - July 1
• Phone Interviews - July 6-July 10
• Final Interviews via Zoom - July 13-July 20
• Reference Checks and Offers - Late July
• Start Date - August 3