Insights & Project Management Role - Rural Market

Responsibilities :

You must possess a unique blend of research, insight and project management skill; a big-picture vision, and the drive to make that vision a reality. As part of the Product Management team, you bridge technical-commercial worlds with end consumer, with creative and innovative insights, ultimately expanding access to modern & clean energy. You will work with Simpa's operations team to launch and manage pilots, use human-centered-design principles to distill insights from end-customers, and engineering counterparts to define and manage product releases.

The position will report to Project manager insights with key responsibilities including, but not limited to:

Field research in rural India locations upto 20 days a month. Area includes UP west, Bihar and Orissa. Must speak Hindi and be good with advanced excel and research methodologies

- Design & test hypothesis rapidly basis insights for commercial go / no-go decision

- Design and manage offerings based on field-based research, rapidly test features and product packages, and gather customer insights

- Develop and share a deep understanding of customer needs, triggers for purchase and affordability

- Prepare competitive landscape

- Convert market / consumer / compete insights into design input

- Partner with engineering teams to deliver products as per road map and objectives, and sales teams to develop go-to-market strategy

- Undertake technical prototyping, field research and business analysis

- Select, manage and maintain relationships with high quality, professional service providers, academic and research institutions as required

- Recruit and manage interns, fellows and seconded professionals supporting the product line

Required Skills & Experience:

- Mindset which demonstrates empathy with the lives of people in rural India, thinking of solutions from their perspective

- Minimum 1-2 years work experience in consumer insights, social or strategic research

- 1-2 years of prior experience in project management

- Experience on contemporary research methodologies (qualitative and quantitative) and practices, with hands-on experience in data analysis and developing presentations

- Proficient with the nuances of qualitative and quantitative research, especially in rural India

- Proficiency in use of MS Excel, and STATA or SPSS for analyzing primary or secondary data to derive evidence-based insights to buttress operations

- Experience of using research to form clear insights and developing strong action plans would be desirable

- Experience and interest to work in rural and semi urban areas

- Experience with low-cost design, human centered design, and Lean Startup methodologies

- Demonstrated understanding and experience of working for solutions targeted at rural consumers in emerging markets

- Experience in conducting focus groups, usability studies, and market research to validate product requirements and design decisions

- Extreme attention to detail

- Excels at working in ambiguous situations and comfort within fast-moving entrepreneurial organizations

- Cross-functional teaming & collaboration and proven execution experience

- Strong blend of analytical, decision-making and creative problem-solving skills

Potential Organizations to target: Midlevel researchers professionals working in market research or social research organizations. Alternatively, consumer insights managers working in product-based organizations which have a strong customer base in rural/peri urban areas may also be considered.