Manager - Research

Role Description:

- Manage and execute business research projects in the area of strategy; procurement and /or marketing for various clients including large corporations and professional service firms

- Lead one or more project teams, guiding team(s) on all aspects including scoping, timelines, content, client engagement

- Deliver high quality, client-ready output consistently; identify risks / issues and escalate to the reporting manager in a timely manner

- Lead a team of 8-15 people while being responsible for their overall career management

- Function as a “client lead”, assuming ownership of assigned client accounts – be the main point of contact for client, prioritize work flow, negotiate project timelines/scope, collect feedback and address any issues promptly, identify up-selling/cross-selling opportunities

- Contribute to different organisational tasks such as hiring, training and other organisational initiatives

- Understand research objectives based on client type and accordingly design/define the work approach; project scope and timelines

- Responsible for the quality of the work being done in the team; Review work thoroughly to ensure consistently high quality output, value addition and adherence to timelines; be able to judge required level of own involvement on projects, execute parts of projects if situation so demands

- Provide analysts with effective verbal/ written feedback; counsel analysts on technical as well as business skills and guide them on best practices

- Keep analyst team motivated, handle difficult situations such as dissatisfaction/disagreement among team, escalate to seniors in a timely manner

- Interact with clients during the course of the project and post project delivery through both emails and conference calls

Work Experience:

- 5 to 8 years of experience in business research

- Experience in handling multiple projects and 5-10 member team ;manage resources efficiently

- Experience of understanding and formalising required end deliverables within defined time frames

Knowledge:

- Knowledge and understanding of the dynamics of various industries and other concepts such as best practices, strategy and key performance indicators

- Knowledge of conducting open ended secondary and primary research to garner industry specific insights

- Analytical bend of mind, to seek the why, how and so-what of a problem statement

- Knowledge of various databases such as DialogPro, Thomson, Factiva, ProFound

- Knowledge of using Power Point, Excel and Word in a creative manner to deliver the desired output

Skills:

- Excellent communication skills (both written and oral)

- Ability to constantly maintain the quality levels across all projects, ability to do multi-tasking

- Client management : establish client relationship with continued support and building the account

- People management : ability to handle peoples’ aspirations, career goals and help them grow with the firm

- Excellent business research skills, as evidenced by experience in utilizing those skills in research environment

- Superior problem solving abilities and strong analytical thinking

Education:

- Degree in numerate discipline

- MBA or equivalent