Research Director - Insights

Gravity Research is looking for a curious and innovative leader to serve as a Research Director for our social impact and reputational risk research service.

What is Gravity Research's Societal and Reputational Intelligence Service?

Gravity Research helps Fortune 500 companies make informed decisions about when and how to engage on societal issues, such as racial equity, LGBTQ+ rights, climate, and human rights. We support clients by monitoring the current conversation around these issues, benchmarking our clients' actions in comparison to their peers, and assessing the risks of engaging with specific issues. In addition, we conduct surveys and interviews with leading corporate executives, to help clients understand how their peers are organizing themselves, and to highlight best practices for engagement.

Position in Brief:

The Research Directoris responsible for helping the team produce insights on the risks that corporations face on societal issues. This individual will lead a team of dedicated analysts, coaching them on how to extract and present insights to clients. They will provide oversight over Gravity's societal issue tracking, peer benchmarking, risk analysis and reporting.

The ideal candidate will have a demonstrated ability to see trends in seemingly unrelated data points, forming compelling and insights-driven narratives for our clients. They will have people management experience and a strong desire to be an effective and inspired leader.

Core day-to-day responsibilities could include:

• Product Creation & Review - Help oversee the development of bi-weekly monitoring reports sent to clients, as well as quick turn, custom projects.
• Staff Management - Serve as the direct manager for 3-6 research analysts, providing coaching and constructive feedback on their performance and growth.
• Team Leadership - Work with other members of the National Journal Research leadership team to sustain a culture that values pursuit of excellence, radical responsibility, curiosity, and mutual respect and inclusivity.

Qualifications of the Ideal Candidate:

• 4-6 years of professional work experience in a research-driven environment. Experience with agency/client-facing research is preferred.
• 3-4 years of people management experience. Ability to guide others through a variety of research methodologies, using both primary and secondary sources.
• A skilled project manager, able to independently manage competing priorities and adhere to timelines in a fast-paced environment.
• Ability to highlight key insights, synthesize large amounts of information, and create compelling narratives.
• Skilled at successfully editing research projects to a client-ready standard and coaching junior researchers on insight generation/writing.
• Deep curiosity and demonstrated ability to quickly extract compelling insights on new/unfamiliar topics.
• Preferred: Experience analyzing highly-politicized societal issues (i.e., climate change, LGBTQ+ equality, racial equity, reproductive rights) in a non-partisan way.
• Earned Bachelor's degree required. Master's preferred.

Employment Type: Full-time

Compensation: The base salary range for this role is $95,000 - $105,000.

Location: This job is based in Washington, DC. Gravity Research operates on a hybrid schedule, with employees required to be in the office every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. During the month of August, Gravity Research teams will be fully remote.

About Us

Across Gravity Research, generally, the firm looks for three "pillar gifts" in you, and everyone else. In all of us, these are more aspirational than actual, but they are central in our intentions -

• Force of Ideas: At the center of Gravity Research's work are the ideas within our work. We believe that ideas-the good and not-have consequences. Our ultimate objective is to bring rigor, insight, and intellectual honesty to the goal of separating the bad from the good, and giving voice, argument, and flight to maintaining the latter.
• Spirit of Generosity: Gravity Research seeks in its ranks a spirit of generosity: a natural disposition in each colleague toward service and selfless conduct. Our writing should be cut from the same cloth-critical on the merits, but informed by charity and forbearance in measuring motive and personal character.
• Radical Responsibility: We give our people a lot of responsibility early on, and our top performers embrace it. We believe in holding ourselves and our colleagues accountable, taking ownership over big things, striving for excellence, and celebrating success.

Gravity Research is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We do not discriminate against our applicants because of race, color, religion, sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation, and pregnancy), national origin, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, or any other status protected by applicable law.