Assistant Manager - Research

Job Purpose

This role involves contributing to thought leadership and research projects across the full lifecycle from design to delivery - examining critical challenges and opportunities in the Technology sector with particular focus primarily on semiconductor and enterprise hardware sub-sectors (including AI data center infrastructure), as well as consumer tech.

The candidate will contribute to advancing the quality of the Center's research and thought-leadership work in Technology sector, with a focus on AI tech infrastructure (e.g., data centers, memory, GPUs, networking, edge, etc.), hybrid computing architectures, advanced packaging of hardware and chips, AI in chip design and manufacturing, strategic supply chain chokepoints, and adoption of AI/agent powered consumer devices and edge applications. These include whitepapers, in-depth research reports, case studies, articles, data-based research tools, client presentations, and collaterals for specific client accounts. These deliverables would integrate information from a range of primary and secondary sources, including subject-matter experts, primary research, publicly available data, third-party research, analyst reports, presentations, industry commentaries, and news articles.

Responsibilities

• Work across diverse Tech sector (with a focus on semiconductor and enterprise hardware) topics, quickly build subject-matter familiarity, synthesize complex information, and deliver high-quality research insights.
• Develop and maintain subsector-level expertise across tech (and specifically hardware, semiconductor and consumer tech) landscape, including emerging technologies, business models, and financial drivers. This includes proactively researching companies, trends, themes, underlying technologies, and potential disruptions through direct study of industry reports, company disclosures and other credible sources.
• Identify novel topics, areas and trends to focus on, based on extensive analysis of competition articles and importance of issues based on market studies, industry reports and tracking.
• Design research proposals, build consensus, and formulate a research plan. Execute structured research plans by translating business objectives into clear research questions, identifying areas of investigation, and conducting thorough secondary research using relevant and trustworthy industry, company, and news sources.
• Interact with internal and external subject matter experts on industry topics and synthesize takeaways and findings into concise and well-structured narratives, assisting senior research leads to shape internal/external thought-leadership content and collaterals – through a combination of expertise and direct study, complemented by AI tools.
• Apply established research tools and methodologies to support business decision-making.
• Work on varied data sets (e.g., survey data, publicly available data sets) to derive data-driven insights.
• Identify and use the relevant data analysis methods and work with the relevant data science and analytics professionals to analyze voluminous and complex datasets.
• Demonstrate strong writing skills as required for thought leadership reports.
• Display strong consultative and engaging presentation skills.
• Being largely autonomous (with minimal supervision) and managing the projects to ensure outcomes and meet deadlines, demonstrating a high level of ownership and accountability.
• Assist senior researchers and practice leaders with internal briefings and external client meetings/webinars – by performing customized data analysis and presenting results and insights into client-ready briefing decks.
• Ability to apply sound research judgment by grounding outputs in direct study and critical thinking, while using generative AI tools to enhance efficiency (and not as a substitute for independent synthesis.)

Experience

• 6-9 years of experience in supporting/managing research projects, preferably in Technology industry related topics and areas as mentioned above.
• Experience working with US/global clients and teams is preferred.

Industry/sector/subsector skills

• Business research/thought-leadership development in Technology sector is preferred. Knowledge of AI driven chip demand, AI chips and accelerators that support data centers, role of AI in chip design and manufacturing, chip hardware and integrated systems' time-to-market, and fab efficiency.
• Familiarity with architectural innovation, heterogeneous compute (CPU/GPU/NPU/memory/interconnects), chiplet-based designs, co-packaged optics, advanced chip packaging and their role in performance and cost curves.
• Awareness about strategic chokepoints and importance of supply chain resilience for hardware and semiconductor components; Geopolitical and operational risks in this space.
• Consumer and end-user needs and attitudes towards AI and agent-powered devices and applications for work, education, and personal reasons – including AI at the edge.

Technical skills

• Proficiency in using one or more of the research tools/databases, including S&P Global, Factiva, Thomson Research, Refinitiv Workspace, and Gartner.
• Sound analytical skills with experience in one or more of the following research methods: Primary research (surveys), secondary research, academic research, and case study research.
• Strong data analysis skills with the ability to work with quantitative and qualitative data – interpret, analyze, visualize, and provide data-driven insights.
• Ability to use statistical and advanced data analysis methods to analyze large and complex datasets, including surveys.
• Ability to develop compelling and analytical data visualizations using one or more tools like Excel, Tableau, Power BI, or others.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Problem-solving and critical thinking skills to generate meaningful analytical insights.
• Broad understanding of strategy models and frameworks, and the ability to apply them to research problems.
• Ability to understand the impact of marketplace changes on the industry, sector, or sub-sector.
• Proficiency in using generative AI-based platforms and tools in a responsible and transparent way to elevate research discovery, data insights, analytical rigor, and business writing.
• Proficiency in using generative AI and related tools to identify early signals and trends shaping the market through continuous sensing will be preferred.
• Familiarity with building custom GPTs and custom gen-AI research tools will be an added advantage.

Skills Required
Factiva, Data Analysis, Memory, Thomson Research, Networking