As a Product Research Specialist, you will play a critical role in generating customer, market, and competitive insights that inform product development, innovation, and commercialization across Owens Corning. This role is responsible for designing, executing, and analyzing qualitative and quantitative research that helps teams better understand customer needs, market opportunities, and user experiences.
You will partner closely with Product Development, Product Management, Commercial, and R&D teams to bring the voice of the customer into business decisions and strengthen the organization's user-centered approach to innovation. Success in this role requires strong research capabilities, analytical thinking, intellectual curiosity, and the ability to translate insights into actionable recommendations that drive business growth.
POSITION LOCATION: Granville, OH Hybrid
TRAVEL: Up to 40%
What You Will Be Doing:
- Design, execute, and manage qualitative and quantitative research studies from initial planning through analysis and reporting.
- Develop customer, market, and user insights that support product development, innovation, and commercialization initiatives.
- Translate customer needs, behaviors, and market feedback into actionable recommendations for technical and business stakeholders.
- Partner with Product Development, Product Management, and Commercial teams to identify customer problems, unmet needs, and growth opportunities.
- Advocate for user-centered design principles and help integrate customer perspectives into product and process development efforts.
- Consult with and train cross-functional teams on research methodologies, study design, and insight generation.
- Connect research findings to business value by identifying opportunities for differentiation, growth, and improved customer experiences.
- Develop compelling presentations and narratives that communicate research findings and influence business decisions.
- Monitor customer trends, competitive activity, adjacent industries, and emerging technologies to identify innovation opportunities.
- Synthesize customer insights, competitive intelligence, and market information into actionable opportunity areas for future development.
- Support ideation sessions, concept development activities, and innovation workshops with evidence-based customer and market insights.
- Conduct competitive analyses, product benchmarking, and market assessments to identify opportunities and inform product strategy.
- Develop and maintain competitive intelligence resources, including product comparisons, market trends, feature analyses, and positioning assessments.
- Create reports, dashboards, and visualizations that summarize research findings and support strategic decision-making.
- Support the continued development of Product Research capabilities across the organization through training, coaching, and best practice sharing.
- Identify opportunities to improve research tools, methodologies, and processes that enhance team effectiveness and business impact.
- Promote a culture of safety, inclusion, collaboration, and continuous learning.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Market Research, Consumer Insights, Marketing, Psychology, Sociology, Human Factors, Economics, Statistics, Data Analytics, Engineering, Product Design, User Experience (UX), or a related field.
- 0-3 years of experience in Product Research, Consumer Insights, UX Research, Market Research, Product Management, Innovation, or a related discipline.
- Experience conducting qualitative and quantitative research and translating findings into actionable recommendations.
- Knowledge of research methodologies, customer interviews, surveys, user testing, and data analysis techniques.
- Strong analytical and critical-thinking skills.
- Experience organizing, analyzing, and visualizing data using Excel and presentation tools.
- Strong written, verbal, presentation, and storytelling skills.
- Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a cross-functional environment and manage multiple projects simultaneously.
- Ability to travel up to 40%.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with customer interviews, survey design, competitive intelligence, secondary research, journey mapping, user testing, or product benchmarking.
- Familiarity with Jobs-to-Be-Done, Design Thinking, Voice of Customer, or other customer-centered innovation methodologies.
- Experience identifying market trends, emerging technologies, and innovation opportunities.
- Experience supporting product launches, commercialization activities, or product development initiatives.
- Familiarity with data visualization tools such as Power BI, Tableau, or similar platforms.
- Experience influencing cross-functional teams including Product Management, Marketing, Commercial, Operations, and R&D.
- Experience working within manufacturing, building materials, consumer products, industrial products, or related industries.
About Owens Corning
Owens Corning is a branded building products leader with three complementary market-leading businesses providing roofing, insulation, and doors primarily for residential markets in North America and Europe. The company operates with an integrated go-to-market strategy and a unique set of OC Advantages - including its iconic brand, unparalleled commercial strength, leading technology, and winning cost position - to help customers win and grow in the market. Owens Corning is committed to helping build better and achieve more through winning partnerships, leading performance, and engaging people. Founded in 1938 and headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, Owens Corning is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: OC). For more information, visit www.owenscorning.com.
Owens Corning is an equal opportunity employer. Except in limited circumstances such as formal apprenticeship programs, Owens Corning does not employ anyone under the age of 18.
