Global Research & Insights Leader

Global Research & Insights Leader

Location: Dallas, but willing to consider other United States locations
Employment type: Full-time

About us

Avasant is a Los Angeles, California-based top management consulting, advisory and analyst firm providing strategic sourcing, IT and business transformation, and global strategy services to the global Fortune 1000. Since 2006, we have negotiated over $250B in deals and operate in over 50 countries. The firm has been recognized as "World's Best Outsourcing Advisor" by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP) for fourteen consecutive years. In 2020, we were also recognized as one of the top five industry analyst firms by the Institute of Industry Analyst Relations (IIAR). Learn more at https://avasant.com/


Avasant Research is an industry-leading voice and regularly publishes syndicated research reports and market points of view to help end-user organizations, technology services providers, and product vendors understand the rapidly changing technology and business landscape and make data-driven, informed decisions. Our industry analysts are regularly quoted in the media, including global publications. Our research is subscribed to and read by thousands of executives across end-user organizations, PE/investment companies, consulting firms, service providers, and product vendors. To see our portfolio of published research and to know more, please visit here. 

Avasant is partnership with very few organizational silos. We are a lean, entrepreneurial firm and have grown every year since our inception. 

Why this role exist
We are not looking for a traditional Research-only leader.  This role is market-facing: presenting at events, actively working on relevant consulting, connecting with service and product providers.  Additionally, you will run the day-to-day research engine, make sure what we publish is excellent and on time, and turn our research into something our sales and consulting teams use every week.
You will do some of the work yourself, lead a distributed team, and work closely with leadership. For the right person, it is a chance to step into a role and very quickly command respect from the market and internal team. Then, take the research and insights practice to the next level.

What you will do

Industry and Analyst Relations engagement

• Participate / attend provider analyst events to understand the capabilities of individual providers
• Speak at Avasant events and others on topics that Avasant publishes
• Join client and prospect calls as a research expert when needed.
• Turn research into material Sales can use: briefs, talking points, slides and FAQs.
• Train sales colleagues in each region on what our research says and why it matters to buyers.

Publishing

• Own the publishing process from draft to release: editing, review, fact-checking and sign-off.
• Work with Marketing to distribute research through our website, newsletters, social media and events.
• Contribute your own analysis and writing to our reports and news coverage.

Consulting support (insights)

• Give consultants fast access to research, benchmarks and market data for proposals and client work.
• Set up a simple way for consultants to request research support, and make sure requests are met on time.
• Capture what we learn on engagements, where permitted, to make future research sharper.

People

• Lead and coach a global team of analysts across US and India time zones.
• Set clear goals, give regular feedback and help team members develop.
• Keep our research independent and objective, separate from commercial relationships.

Research operations

• Run the research calendar: planning, timelines, resourcing and tracking delivery of reports for our primary research product, Radarview™ as well as other research report formats (research bytes, industry best practices, etc).
• Propose topics and priorities for the research agenda, agreed with leadership.
• Keep our methodology, provider evaluation criteria and quality checks consistent, and improve them over time.
• Ensure frictionless provider briefings, surveys and data collection.
• Manage research tools and data, including sensible use of AI to speed up research work.

What you bring

Required

• 15-20 years of experience in technology research, industry analysis, benchmarking, or research-led consulting.
• Hands-on experience producing and publishing research, ideally on technology or IT and business services providers.
• Experience leading people or leading projects with several contributors.
• Strong people skills: you build trust easily with analysts, consultants and salespeople.
• Clear, confident writing and presenting.
• Well organized, able to run several projects at once and hit deadlines.
• Excellent interpersonal, communication and presentation skills – written and verbal, in English.

Nice to have

• Experience at an industry analyst firm, sourcing advisory firm or consultancy research team.
• Exposure to supporting sales or business development with research.
• Experience working across countries and time zones.

What Avasant Offers:

• Entrepreneurial environment, with the ability to lead and drive new initiatives to further personal and organizational goals
• International exposure and a chance to work with global clients, including some of the largest multinationals
• Training and mentoring on the latest business and sector practices based on market requirements
• Opportunity to work with and learn from an international team of industry specialists
• Focused programs for career development, including funding of industry certifications and skill development programs
• Dynamic and multicultural work environment
• Leadership opportunities