The Role
The Associate Director will lead a custom research team, managing projects and developing insights for clients to inform recruitment decisions, while enhancing team performance and process improvements.
Summary Generated by Built In
The Company You’ll Join: Veris Insights is a recruiting intelligence and analytics firm dedicated to helping University Recruiting and Talent Acquisition leaders attract, engage, and recruit top talent. We combine extensive candidate and employer data with rigorous analytics to create research studies, briefs, tools, dashboards, platforms, and services to advise 200+ Fortune 1000 companies on their hardest recruiting issues.
The Team You’ll Join: Our mission at Veris Insights is to set an unprecedented standard for research, analytics, and insight in the talent acquisition space – to craft the strategy and language talent leaders use to shape the direction of the industry. Currently, we’re in a unique position to do this, as the majority of the industry’s leadership actively uses the advice of our research.
The custom research team partners with Veris Insights’ clients (“members”) to design and deliver tailored research engagements that inform critical talent decisions. We focus on understanding candidate behaviors and experiences at pivotal decision-making moments—such as choosing whether to apply, accept an offer, or continue with an internship—and translate those findings into actionable insights and recommendations that strengthen both the candidate journey and members’ recruiting outcomes. Beyond these areas, our work increasingly extends into adjacent and emerging priorities, including program design and evaluation, deep-dive studies on candidate decision dynamics (e.g., reneges), competitor practices, and fully bespoke projects aligned with members’ evolving talent challenges.
As the leader of the custom research function, you’ll manage and develop a team of researchers and work directly with senior client stakeholders on their toughest recruiting challenges. From shaping the research questions to delivering the strategic insights, you’ll play a hands-on role in creating outcomes that influence executive decisions, while raising the bar for excellence across your team.
How You’ll Grow: The custom research team is perhaps the most versatile in the organization – owning data collection, research content creation, and research delivery for our custom research projects. No one day looks like another, and opportunities for skill growth are incredibly varied in nature.
Leading this function offers unmatched opportunities for impact and professional development. Managing this high-performing team will strengthen your leadership and mentorship skills, while deepening your ability to translate research into executive-ready insights. You’ll also gain broad exposure across the business, collaborating cross-functionally, shaping new approaches, and driving strategic initiatives in an environment where you’ll often create clarity from ambiguity.
Who You Are:
People-First Leader. You thrive in managing, coaching, and developing exceptional talent, and creating an environment where high achievers can grow and succeed.
Strong Project Manager. Organized and proactive, you manage multiple priorities at once, guiding projects and people to deliver high-quality work on time.
Thrives in Ambiguity. You’re energized by challenges without clear guidelines and find ways to bring structure and solutions.
Cross-Functional Collaborator. You have demonstrated the ability to manage upwards, laterally, and downward, as well as across functions, such as sales or client service.
Consultative Researcher. You bring strong research acumen and a consultative mindset, ensuring work answers clients’ most pressing questions and exceeds their expectations.
Key Responsibilities: People Management & Mentorship
- Ensure high performance across every team member of your team through proactive and regular mentorship and feedback.
- Manage and develop a team of project managers, providing ongoing coaching and feedback.
- Track team workloads, adjust assignments as needed, and ensure balance across the team.
- Mentor early-career and mid-career researchers, ensuring they develop strong foundational skills.
Key Responsibilities: Client Service & Research Consulting
- Serve as the primary research advisor for 1-3 employer partners, understanding their unique recruiting challenges and designing customized research solutions.
- Lead projects end-to-end, scoping research questions, shaping methodology, guiding analysis, and delivering strategic insights.
- Present findings directly to senior and executive stakeholders, providing actionable recommendations that influence recruiting strategies.
Key Responsibilities: Data Analysis & Narrative Building
- Translate quantitative and qualitative data into clear, compelling executive-ready deliverables.
- Identify key insights and themes, shaping them into narratives that resonate with executive audiences.
- Review and refine team deliverables to maintain an exceptional standard of quality.
Key Responsibilities: Process Improvement & Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Drive opportunities to improve survey administration, data processing, and workflow automation to increase efficiency.
- Establish and maintain best practices, ensuring consistency across teams.
- Partner across research functions and with company leadership to align on priorities and optimize impact.
The Requirements:
- 2+ years of leadership or people management experience, with a passion for coaching and developing research talent.
- 8+ years experience in market research, consulting, talent acquisition, university/early career recruiting, HR, or human capital preferred.
- Proven success leading complex client engagements from design to delivery, balancing multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
- Strong consultative skills, able to translate ambiguous business problems into clear research protocols, analysis, and actionable insights.
- Demonstrated ability to communicate with confidence and credibility at all levels, including senior and executive stakeholders.
- High attention to detail and commitment to delivering A+ quality in both your own work and your team’s work.
- Comfortable creating structure in ambiguous situations and driving process improvements that increase efficiency and consistency.
- Proficiency with research tools such as Qualtrics (or similar survey platforms), statistical software, and data visualization platforms, as well as Excel and PowerPoint for analysis and executive-ready presentations.
The Compensation & Benefits Package:
- Salary: $115,000+ annually, depending on experience
- Location: Remote-first within the U.S., with ability and willingness to be in our DC office for team off-sites, strategic planning, or other key moments where face-to-face connection adds value
- Time Off: Unlimited PTO, plus monthly mental health days
- Health & Wellness: Medical, dental, and vision coverage, plus a $1,000 annual wellness stipend
- Retirement: 401(k) with up to 4% employer match
- Family Support: Paid parental leave
- Work Authorization: Applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S. without current or future visa sponsorship. Unfortunately, we are unable to consider OPT/CPT holders.
Please keep in mind: Research has shown that candidates from underrepresented backgrounds only apply to jobs when they meet 100% of the requirements vs. their majority counterparts, which apply at a much higher rate if they meet 50-60% of the requirements. So, with that being said, if you are interested in the role, we would love to hear how you can leverage your talents to be an awesome culture add.
Our Values & Culture, In Brief: Talent is in our DNA. It is what we study, who we serve, and the quality we most pride ourselves on internally. In order for our team members to be at their best, we provide individualized benefits and support. At the most basic level, benefits include unlimited PTO, health insurance benefits, and career development opportunities. We believe a well-rounded and diverse team is the key to our success. To provide the widest range of experiences and perspectives in our member service and internal culture, we never discriminate on the basis of race, religion, national origin, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, or marital, veteran, or disability status. Please let our recruiter know if there are any accommodations we can provide for you to ensure an equitable and comfortable recruitment process.
We highly value diversity, equity, and inclusion, and this shows up in everything we do. Our research has a significant focus on the experiences of candidates from diverse backgrounds. Internally, we have Employee Resource Groups for BIPOC and LGBTQ+ employees, and Affinity Groups to support women and neurodiversity. Furthermore, we’ve established a Diversity Council to promote a workplace environment that is safe, respectful, and inclusive for all and acts as an active partner to People Ops and Leadership in service of our broader firm-wide DEI goals.
Skills Required
- 2+ years of leadership or people management experience
- 8+ years experience in market research, consulting, talent acquisition, or HR
- Proven success leading complex client engagements from design to delivery
- Strong consultative skills to translate business problems into research solutions
- Ability to communicate with confidence and credibility at all levels
- High attention to detail and commitment to quality
- Comfortable creating structure in ambiguous situations
- Proficiency with research tools, statistical software, and data visualization platforms
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The Company
What We Do
Veris Insights is a recruiting intelligence and analytics firm that provides research, benchmarking, and advisory services to Talent Acquisition and University Recruiting leaders. They help Fortune 1000 companies solve complex recruitment challenges through data-backed insights, peer exchange, and custom research. Originally founded as the Ivy Research Council in 2012, the firm focuses on helping organizations attract, engage, and recruit top-tier talent through structured cohorts and proprietary data.
