Principal

Tavern Research

$164K — $182K *
US-AnywhereRemote in Chicago, IL
Business Services
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 10+ years in political campaigns, polling, or consulting with customer-facing roles
  • Demonstrated project management expertise in fast-paced environments
  • Strong grasp of research's role in shaping campaign strategy
  • Experience managing senior-level customer relationships
  • Comfortable engaging with technical teams and exploring AI's potential
  • Familiar with survey research or closely collaborated with research teams
  • Exceptional written and verbal skills with confidence in presentations

Responsibilities

  • Manage multiple projects from kickoff to final delivery, ensuring quality and timelines
  • Act as primary contact for customer relationships
  • Approve all customer-facing materials before finalization
  • Collaborate with researchers on project scoping and resource allocation
  • Lead presentations, guiding teams to research conclusions
  • Enhance and scale internal project management processes
  • Integrate AI tools into research workflows to boost efficiency
  • Drive business development by leading sales presentations and crafting tailored proposals
  • Identify ways to deepen customer relationships and expand service offerings
  • Oversee video production from concept to delivery, ensuring quality standards are met

Benefits

  • Premium health insurance
  • Unlimited PTO with office closures for all federal holidays
  • 401k match
Full Job Description
Principal
Location: Chicago, IL (or remote for extremely well qualified candidates)
Office: 3 days/week in South Loop office
Reports to: CEO
Starting Salary: $164,000- $182,000 and equity

About You

  • You have extremely strong projectmanagement skills and instincts
  • You excel at managing customer delivery from initial project ideation through successful completion, ensuring seamless execution while maintaining strong customer relationships throughout the entire lifecycle.
  • You are an excellent communicator. This is essential both in terms of being able to clearly communicate out, but to actively and thoughtfully listen to the needs of both our customers and the team you'll work with.
  • You're a seasoned professional who thrives at the intersection of campaigns, data, and customer relationships.
  • You're comfortable leading and collaborating with technical teams, learning from their specialized expertise while providing strategic direction.
  • You're obsessed with how AI will change every aspect of work. You're so obsessed that your friends and family are annoyed at how you can't stop talking about what's now possible and showing them all the cool new things the technology enables.
  • You understand the high-stakes nature of working for political campaigns.

About the role

You'll be the operational backbone ensuring our survey research and media production projects deliver maximum value to customers on time and on budget. You'll serve as a primary point of contact for customer relationships. This role blends project management, customer service, and strategic thinking in a fast-paced, high-impact environment. You'll be instrumental in scaling our research practice while maintaining the quality and customer service. We value in-person work and expect employees to work regularly from our Chicago office.

Responsibilities

  • Manage multiple projects from kickoff to delivery, ensuring timelines, quality, and customer expectations are met
  • Serve as the primary point of contact for customer relationships.
  • Serve as the final sign-off on customer-facing materials.
  • Collaborate with researchers to scope work, allocate resources, and resolve technical or operational issues.
  • Lead customer calls and presentations, guiding teams through the conclusions of our research.
  • Improve and scale internal project management.
  • Work closely with technical teams to incorporate AI tools into research workflows.
  • Support business development by leading sales pitches and assembling packages that meet customer needs.
  • Identify opportunities to strengthen customer relationships and expand support.
  • Manage video production projects from concept through delivery, coordinating with creative designers and ensuring technical specifications are met
  • Oversee quality control for video content and coordinate delivery of broadcast-ready materials to customers

Qualifications

  • 10+ years of experience in political campaigns, polling, or consulting, ideally in customer-facing roles
  • Proven project management skills in fast-paced, deadline-driven environments
  • Strong understanding of how research informs campaign strategy
  • Experience managing high-stakes customer relationships, including senior campaign staff
  • Comfortable working with technical teams; curious about using AI and data to improve political work
  • Familiarity with survey research or polling, or close collaboration with research teams
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with confidence presenting insights to senior stakeholders
  • Our company is small right now and we have preference for folks who don't require extensive on-the-job training

Nice to have:

  • Experience at a political polling, technology, or consulting firm
  • Familiarity with project management tools
  • Background in data, product, or campaign operations
  • Understanding of basic survey or statistical concepts


To be explicit, you don't need a degree to work here. You just need to excel at managing complex political research projects and building strong customer relationships.

Benefits

  • Premium health insurance
  • Unlimited PTO, office closed for all federal holidays
  • 401k match

The pay range for this role is:

164,000 - 182,000 USD per year (Chicago, IL)

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