Conifer Research is seeking a curious and passionate individual to join us for a six-month Design Research Apprenticeship. This role is designed to give an early career candidate an opportunity for hands-on learning and work experience alongside our experienced research teams.  They will be fully embedded with several project teams, providing experience with every phase of our work, including planning and research prep, data collection and interviews, and analysis, synthesis, and deliverable creation. Additionally, they may participate in internal initiatives to give them a deeper sense of life at a design research consultancy.

The ideal candidate should: 

• Be driven by a deep curiosity for what makes humans tick
• Have a desire for learning and developing insights that will help our clients drive strategy and innovation
• Effectively and opening collaborate with team members and clients both remotely and in-person
• Be recent graduates of an undergrad or master's program
• Be willing and able to travel  

Coniferites come to us from a wide range of backgrounds, including all social sciences, humanities, and design disciplines.  Although all Coniferites are primarily working remotely, there will be opportunities to come together for key project touchpoints at Conifer’s downtown Chicago office.

In this role, the Design Research Apprentice will support teams by:

• Assisting with remote and in-person data collection

• Managing, processing, and tagging research data 

• Conducting data analysis

• Participating in client meetings 

• Contributing to deliverable creation

• Editing of video clips and collections

In addition, all Conifer team members are accountable for:

• Building positive client relationships

• Individual work quality

• Contributions to teamwork quality

• Contributions to team interpersonal dynamics

• Personal and professional growth

The Apprenticeship will be an exempt, full-time position for six month.

Chicago-based candidates preferred, but not required.

Completion of an apprenticeship is not a guarantee of permanent employment.

Start date will be in May or June 2025.

ABOUT CONIFER

Conifer Research is a design research consulting firm. Our multidisciplinary teams blend research, strategy and design methods to develop perspective-shifting insights that we use to guide innovation and insights teams forward. Through an ethnographic and design thinking approach to insights and innovation, we help our clients embed their creativity into an understanding of the everyday lives of people they hope to engage – customers, workers, and end-users. Our seasoned team of anthropologists, strategists, and designers act as consultants, facilitators, and coaches, to help organizations gather deep insights.

Clients come to Conifer for many reasons, but with a common challenge: How do we align business activities better with the real lives and needs of customers? We have experience in retail, consumer goods and lifestyles, financial services, healthcare, and digital products. Conifer draws clients from across numerous verticals. These clients include Hulu, Sonos, Samsung, Google, PepsiCo, McDonald’s, Discover, Lowe’s, CarMax, Humana, Amazon, Ferrara Candy Company and more.