Senior Director, Terrain Lead, Research Advisory Services

About the role

EAB is a leading global provider of research and advice to higher education and K-12 institutions. Our Senior Director, Terrain Lead, Research Advisory Services (RAS) works with boards, presidents, and other senior academic and business leaders to help them make meaningful and strategic decisions.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain issue expertise in the Advancement terrain and across research terrains, focusing on transformation, advancement and fundraising strategy, campaign readiness and execution, and donor and alumni engagement.
• Work directly with partners to diagnose their problems, challenge their assumptions, guide decisions, and suggest solutions.
• Collaborate with the Research Customer Success team to execute on a scalable and impactful client delivery model and deliver high-impact client interactions.
• Manage and motivate a team of RAS staff, onboard and upskill new staff, assess performance, and coach tenured staff.
• Generate original insight and content in assigned areas and share market insights with Research colleagues.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree.
• Minimum 8-10 years of post-graduate professional experience in higher education, research, or management consulting.
• In-depth understanding of education industry and the specific role that senior institution leadership has in setting strategy and decision making in areas such as transformation; advancement and fundraising strategy; campaign readiness and execution; and donor and alumni engagement.
• 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, engage and challenge senior-level executives.

Qualifications

• Advanced degree.
• Experience working with Chief Advancement Officers, Corporate Foundation Relations leaders, or Strategy leads at a college, university, or similarly positioned enterprise.
• 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.

Skills

• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Expertise in data visualization and graphic design.
• Ability to build and maintain relationships with senior-level executives.
• Proficiency in managing and motivating a team.
• Experience in generating original insight and content.

Benefits

Consistent with our belief that our employees are our most valuable resource, EAB offers a competitive and inclusive benefits package. This includes medical, dental, and vision insurance; a 401(k) retirement plan with company match; 20+ days of PTO annually, in addition to paid firm holidays; a daytime leave policy for community service or fitness activities (up to 10 hours a month each); paid parental leave for birthing and non-birthing parents; a phase back to work program for employees returning from parental leave; infertility treatment coverage and adoption or surrogacy assistance; wellness programs including gym discounts and incentives to promote healthy living; and dynamic growth opportunities with a merit-based promotion philosophy. Benefits kick in day one, see the full details here.