Join early enough to change what gets built.
JJ Studio AI is at a stage where customer conversations can still change the product, field evidence can still reshape the roadmap, and a new teammate can work directly with both founders. We are looking for someone who wants that kind of proximity and responsibility.
What you can gain here
- Customer discovery: learn how field interviews become product decisions instead of research that sits in a folder.
- Cross-disciplinary context: work across pet behavior, AI product development, computer vision, music, and early partnerships.
- Founder access: work directly with Joy and Jerry and see how an early-stage company makes decisions under uncertainty.
- Visible ownership: build systems, recruitment channels, and evidence that can materially affect the company's next move.
Canine Behavior & Customer Research Coordinator
Lead hands-on customer discovery and early field research while contributing practical canine-domain judgment. You will recruit and interview pet owners and animal-care professionals, organize evidence, support Closed Beta activities, and turn field learning into concrete product and partnership decisions.
- Employment
- Part-time, non-exempt W-2
- Schedule
- Approximately 20 hours/week
- Initial term
- 3 months; possible extension up to 6 months
- Compensation
- $27.00–$28.75/hour
- Location
- Hybrid · Pleasanton / Dublin / Livermore area · approximately 1–2 days/week
- Reports to
- Joy Ko, CEO
Connect research with real people.
- Recruit pet owners, trainers, shelter staff, veterinary professionals, and prospective pilot partners for interviews and research activities.
- Conduct structured discovery interviews in professional English and capture accurate, organized notes.
- Synthesize interviews into recurring pain points, jobs-to-be-done, objections, and product implications.
- Maintain outreach, scheduling, consent records, interview notes, and follow-up activity in a lightweight CRM or research repository.
- Support observation-based canine behavior definitions and Closed Beta protocols.
- Help distinguish observable wellness and behavior signals from diagnostic or treatment claims.
- Coordinate Tri-Valley field visits, participant communications, and early partner meetings.
- Produce a weekly research-to-product memo with evidence, interpretation, and recommended next actions.
- Work closely with Joy and Jerry to convert field evidence into product priorities, messaging, and pilot opportunities.
Evidence should move the company.
Complete approximately 25 pet-owner interviews.
Complete approximately 8 interviews with clinics, shelters, trainers, or other pet-service organizations.
Identify and document the five most important recurring customer problems.
Build one repeatable participant-recruitment channel.
Support at least three partner meetings and identify two pilot-qualified leads.
Maintain a usable interview repository and reliable follow-up system.
Show at least two examples where field evidence changed a product, research, or messaging decision.
Contribute to an observable behavior taxonomy or Closed Beta protocol appropriate to your specialty.
These are operating targets for role clarity and may be adjusted based on the final candidate's specialty and the company's active research program.
Strong execution plus one clear specialty.
We do not expect one person to be equally expert in everything. Your strongest specialty may be canine behavior/training, veterinary workflow/client service, or customer/community/field research.
- ✓Strong professional English communication, including live interviews and concise written synthesis.
- ✓Demonstrated ability to build trust with people outside an existing personal network.
- ✓At least two years of relevant experience in animal behavior/training, shelter or veterinary settings, customer/user research, community operations, clinical/field research, customer success, or partnership coordination.
- ✓Evidence of reliable follow-through across outreach, scheduling, documentation, and next actions.
- ✓Comfort working in an early-stage environment where priorities may evolve as evidence changes.
- ✓Ability to work approximately 20 hours per week and attend Tri-Valley field activities approximately 1–2 days per week.
- ✓Respect for participant consent, privacy, animal welfare, and the boundary between observation and medical diagnosis.
This role is not
- • A veterinarian position; it does not diagnose, prescribe, or provide medical treatment.
- • A ticket-based customer-support role.
- • A pure sales or commission role.
- • An AI research-scientist role.
- • Three separate jobs combined into one — bring one strong specialty and collaborate on the rest.
Potential next step
Full-time conversion may be considered based on performance, business needs, company runway, and applicable employment and immigration planning. Conversion is not guaranteed.
We want evidence, not pedigree.
- 1. 20–25 minute eligibility and evidence screen
- 2. 50–60 minute structured interview with Joy + Jerry
- 3. 60–75 minute live work simulation: common customer-discovery core + candidate-selected specialty module
- 4. Final conversation and two job-related references
Application questions
Please prepare a resume and concise responses to these questions.
- 1Which specialty best represents your strongest experience: canine behavior, veterinary workflow, or customer/community research? Give one concrete example.
- 2Describe a time you recruited, interviewed, or built trust with people who did not already know you.
- 3Describe a situation where you had incomplete or ambiguous observations. How did you document uncertainty and decide what to do next?
- 4Can you work approximately 20 hours per week, attend Tri-Valley activities 1–2 days per week, and work within the posted hourly range?
One opening — please apply once even if you see another JJ STUDIO version of this role.
JJ STUDIO evaluates candidates based on job-related skills, evidence, and potential. We welcome applicants with different career paths and professional backgrounds. Reasonable accommodations will be provided during the hiring process upon request.