Dharma Life - Senior Manager - Research

Dharma Life (www.dharmalife.in) is a pioneering, award-winning business that is driving sustainable economic growth in rural India, by creating jobs and building a market for world class products that improve lives and livelihoods. We are India's leading rural distribution network serving rural low-income communities through an entrepreneur network that currently spans more than 4,000 villages in eight states - Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.

Dharma Life has improved over 2.5 million lives through its innovative business model which has enabled access to clean energy, drinking water and cooking solutions, balanced nutrition, health and hygiene products and consumer durables.

By 2020, we aim to reach 50 million consumers through a network of 100,000 Dharma Life entrepreneurs.

Role summary:

With access to a fast growing socio-economic database, Dharma Life has a unique opportunity to generate strong consumer insights on consumption and behaviour of a demographic that many governments, corporations, social enterprises and foundations need to better understand. Senior Manager Research will closely with the research head to further grow research revenue stream for Dharma Life by conducting partner/client research activities along with in house research activities to enable Dharma Life to innovate and grow.

Primary Responsibility ;

- Ideate, conceive, design, write proposals and execute primary/secondary research in rural / sub-urban space. Define the complex research requirements, scope, methodology and overall framework. Drive the analysis of research to draw key insights; articulate findings through visually appealing / appropriate frameworks

- Work extensively with the field team to implement the research activity and gather relevant market data. Provide a compelling narrative and insights behind raw data to meet research objectives

- Manage assigned strategic projects across functions and service lines, analyze and structure product offerings and helping develop new market entry strategies

- Evaluation of new and on-going projects. Produce professional, neat and client-ready documents, power point presentations and excel worksheets

- Economic research and forecasting, researching domestic and major international economies, study global trends in the rural space and share best practices and insights with Dharma Life

- Contributing to strategy reports. Conducting socio-economic research to enable strategic decision. Occasional involvement in policy advocacy projects to government, regulatory bodies etc.

- Publish cutting-edge content for a global audience to establish Dharma Life as a thought leader in the industry

- Engage with the clients, interpret their requirements, estimate project scope and timeline, and manage communication flow end-to-end independently. Lead in business development meetings.

Job Specification:

- A minimum of 6 years of relevant experience in a services firm / KPO / specialized research houses / research divisions of a BFSI company; with MBA

- Experience in project scoping, effort estimate, project work planning, review and providing feedback, etc. End-to-end project delivery - client interaction, information collection, quality check and delivery experience.

- Understanding of econometric techniques including AR, Bayesian VAR, panel regression, qualitative response variables models, cluster analysis, BASS model, exponential smoothening etc. Knowledge of data mining.

- Strong numerical, analytical and strategic thinking skills, and sound business / commercial acumen. Problem solving skills; ability to drive through to an outcome in circumstances of complexity and ambiguity. Ability to synthesize and critically analyze large quantities of qualitative and quantitative data and draw meaningful insights

- Experience in preparing contextual reports, briefs, thought leaderships, market sizing, competitive assessments and analysis.

- Personal drive and positive work ethic to deliver results within tight deadlines and in demanding situations. High consciousness towards attention to detail; drive and commitment towards delivering high quality service

- Excellent standard of written and verbal communication - Hindi and English

- Ambition, organization, drive, intellect, problem solving, and respect for others.

You will thrive and enjoy:

- If you are an entrepreneurial spirit comfortable with ambiguity, rapid change and able to troubleshoot independently while continually improving processes.

- If you are a strategic thinker, can create SOPs but without losing agility and responsiveness to support an innovative and fast moving organization.

- If you have historic record of getting things done, and you are organized and responsive. You take ownership of every work you initiate and execute it to a fine level of detail while setting targets, engaging others, and doing whatever it takes to get the job done.

- If you believe in rolling up your sleeves and getting the work done when needed.

- If you believe that you can do better if you are receptive to constructive criticism and provide it freely to others. You know you only get better tomorrow when others point out where you- ve missed things or failed today.

Travel Requirement:

Should be able to travel within the country as required in order to meet vendors, key stakeholders and other Dharma Life team members, as per business necessity.