Director, Research Advisory Services

About the role

This position will spend about 80% of time in the market, working with partners both in-person and virtually. The position requires 40-50% travel. This hire may be based in Washington, D.C.; Richmond, VA; or is open to remote employment within the continental United States. This position is also posted at the Associate Director level; candidates are being considered across both levels for the current opening.

Primary Responsibilities

• Terrain Mastery: Build and maintain issue expertise across research terrains, with a special focus on those most important to members across the university executive cabinet at educational institutions and the teams they lead each day: including the delivery of dynamic strategy to guide transformation; advancement and fundraising strategy; campaign readiness and execution; and donor and alumni engagement.
• Store & curate EAB’s perspective across the breadth of research terrains to give partners the most direct access to EAB’s advice.
• Work directly with partners to diagnose their problems, challenge their assumptions, guide decisions, and suggest solutions.
• Deliver EAB’s point of view and advice through phone consultations, virtual meetings, conferences, and on campus presentations.
• Collaborate with the research customer success team to execute on a scalable and impactful partner delivery model and deliver high-impact client interactions.
• Support sales in new partner development.
• Research Collaboration: Leverage terrain expertise to generate original insight and content in assigned areas (e.g., blog posts, social media posts, briefings, presentations, etc.).

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree with an excellent academic record and 6 - 8+ years of post-graduate professional experience.
• Experience working with client executives, either at a college, university, district, or school or as a consultant or advisor.
• Superior verbal, written, facilitation, and presentation skills.
• Ability to create a compelling narrative through data visualization, graphics, and slides.
• Excellent relationship building and collaboration skills; ability to build relationships with and engage and challenge senior-level executives.

Basic Qualifications

• Advanced degree.
• In-depth understanding of education industry and the specific role that senior institutional leadership has in setting strategy and decision making in areas such as strategic Information Technology, AI, and Enterprise Data Management.
• Demonstrated ability to distill market and terrain insights, drawing on client interactions.
• Experience producing written content and deliverables for an executive-level audience (e.g., blogs, social media feeds, reports, briefings).
• Commitment to embracing a continual learning environment and contributing to a dynamic and welcoming culture of fairness, authenticity, and belonging in support of EAB’s mission, values, and aspiration.

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced degree.
• In-depth understanding of education industry and the specific role that senior institutional leadership has in setting strategy and decision making in areas such as strategic Information Technology, AI, and Enterprise Data Management.
• Demonstrated ability to distill market and terrain insights, drawing on client interactions.
• Experience producing written content and deliverables for an executive-level audience (e.g., blogs, social media feeds, reports, briefings).

Pay

The anticipated starting salary (base) range for this role is $76,500 - $115,000 per year. Actual salary varies due to factors that may include but not be limited to relevant experience, skills, and location.

Benefits

Consistent with our belief that our employees are our most valuable resource, EAB offers a competitive and inclusive benefits package. Our benefits currently include:

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance plans; dependents and domestic partners eligible 20+ days of PTO annually, in addition to paid firm and floating holidays
• Daytime leave policy for community service and flextime for fitness activities (up to 10 hours per month each)
• 401(k) retirement savings plan with annual discretionary company matching contribution
• Health savings account, healthcare and dependent care flexible spending account, and pre-tax commuter plans
• Employee assistance program with counseling services and resources available to all employees and immediate family
• Wellness programs including gym discounts, incentives to promote healthy living, and family access to the leading app for sleep, meditation, and relaxation
• Fertility treatment coverage and adoption or surrogacy assistance
• Paid parental leave with phase back to work program for birthing and non-birthing parents
• Access to milk shipping service to support nursing employees during business travel
• Discounted pet health insurance coverage for dog and cat family members
• Company-provided life, AD&D, and disability insurance
• Financial wellness resources and membership in a robust employee discount program
• Access to employee resource groups, merit-based advancement, and dynamic professional growth opportunities

Benefits kick in day one; learn more at eab.com/careers/benefits.