Managing Director, Insights

Bully Pulpit International

$215K *
Business Services
11 - 15 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 12+ years of senior experience in research and analytics, preferably in public affairs, corporate reputation, or political campaigns.
  • Proven ability to synthesize multi-modal data including opinion research and behavioral analytics.
  • Strong strategic command of data, able to communicate insights effectively to C-suite executives.
  • Understanding of campaign-driving factors beyond statistical significance.
  • Ability to approach problems with first principles and scalable solutions.
  • Intellectual curiosity in influencing opinion and behavior.

Responsibilities

  • Counsel senior clients with insights from research and analytics.
  • Oversee design of qualitative and quantitative research programs informing strategy and tactics.
  • Collaborate with senior strategists and creative teams to develop data-driven strategies that drive outcomes.
  • Guide team by simplifying complex methodologies into clear narratives.
  • Lead a team of researchers and data scientists, setting work standards from research design to client presentations.
  • Foster a culture of curiosity, encouraging innovation and risk-taking within the team.
  • Set the agenda for modern insights methodology, exploring new research methods and championing AI integration.

Benefits

  • 100% company-paid medical, dental, and vision insurance.
  • 401(k) program with 4% employer match.
  • Generous vacation time and unlimited sick leave.
  • $50 monthly phone reimbursement.
  • 16 weeks of paid leave for new parents.
  • Focus on employee wellness and progressive support for a diverse workforce.
Full Job Description
  • Starting Salary Range: $215,000 (+ annual bonus)
  • Expectation to work from one of our offices (DC, NYC, SF, CHI, LA) at least 3 days a week


The Impact You Will Make

In this role, you'll lead our Insights team across opinion research, behavioral analytics, and campaign measurement. The goal of this team is to help our clients understand not just what's happening - but more importantly, why, what they should do next, and what's actually working.

We believe in optimizing for persuasion at the point of impact - understanding not just what works in a laboratory environment, but what actually persuades people in the real world. To accomplish this, we've intentionally built this team differently: a multidisciplinary group that understands the interaction of audience, message, media, and moment.

What the Day-to-Day Looks Like
  • Counsel senior clients
    • Oversee the design of qualitative and quantitative research and analytics programs to inform messaging, strategy, and tactics
    • Partner closely with senior communications strategists, digital experts, and creative teams to develop data-driven strategies that measurably drive real-world reputational and business outcomes
    • Serve as an integrator who bridges technical expertise with creative narrative. Guide the team through change by simplifying complex methodologies into clear, strategic narratives, ensuring our data-driven insights remain accessible, human-centric, and actionable for senior stakeholders
  • Lead & develop the team
    • Lead a team of researchers, analysts, and data scientists.
    • Set the standard for the team's work, from research design to what we put in front of a client
    • Foster an environment of rigorous curiosity. Encourage the team to constantly challenge the status quo, move beyond experimentation to scale ideas into standard practice, and embrace a 'bias toward what's new' to keep BPI on the cutting edge of modern insights
    • Structure capacity planning and team development
    • Build a culture of innovation, curiosity, excellence, and collaboration Reinforce a supportive environment characterized by high expectations and low ego. Encourage risk-taking and collaboration by maintaining a culture of mutual responsibility and support.
  • Build the future
    • Set the innovation agenda to keep BPI on the cutting edge of modern insights methodology and analysis.
    • Explore new methods of research and measurement, from synthetic audiences to behavioral clickstream data
    • Champion the use of AI technology to make the team's work faster and more effective
    • Partner closely with our Labs (product development) team to develop new offerings
    • Drive thought leadership internally + externally

Requirements

What You Bring
  • 12+ years of senior experience in research and analytics. Experience in public affairs, corporate reputation, or political campaigns strongly preferred.
  • Demonstrated experience synthesizing multi-modal data across opinion research, behavioral analytics, social listening, and digital media to drive programs
  • A strong strategic and tactical command of data. You can explain the result to the C-suite, and interrogate how the data was produced.
  • An understanding of what matters to drive campaigns. You thrive in data but understand the difference between statistical significance and importance.
  • You think in first principles and systems. Once you've solved something, you can scale it across the team
  • A deep intellectual curiosity for how to understand and influence opinion and behavior.


Benefits

BPI offers a wide range of benefits to U.S.-based employees, including 100% company-paid medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 401(k) program with employer match up to 4%, generous time off for vacation, $50 monthly phone reimbursement, unlimited sick time, and 16 weeks of paid leave for new parents. BPI's benefits prioritize employee wellness and progressive support to our diverse workforce.

We're looking for all kinds of people.

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