Product Associate (Remote, US)

Please Note: This role focuses on product and market research, not on user story development or developer collaboration. Candidates should have extensive experience in primary and secondary research, including desktop research, competitive analysis, and facilitating in-depth interviews with experts and customers, to discern product differentiators and market trends. Experience in B2B SaaS market research, particularly in consultancy across various industries, is highly valued. Projects are fast-paced, typically 3-5 weeks long.

About the Job

In the past two years, more than a trillion dollars have been invested in software companies at record prices. And in many cases, the underlying tech is the greatest enabler to the business strategy. But has the approach to govern technology value creation caught up to the magnitude of the risk?

We believe a better way is possible – a more programmatic, proactive approach to actively manage technology throughout the investment lifecycle – and that’s what we do.

We know that technology can create truly transformative change, and its role in business is only growing. Crosslake is here to support the changemakers and help them buy, build, and run better technology.

As a Product Analyst, you will support our practitioners throughout projects by conducting rigorous primary and secondary research to address critical questions about product viability, market fit, and competitive positioning.

Work You’ll Do

You will be involved in rapid and comprehensive project cycles across diverse industries. In collaboration with internal project team members including practitioners and directors, as well as external stakeholders from technology companies, private equity, and investment firms, you will play a key role in assessing and identifying strengths, opportunities, and risks associated with software products and services.

Your analytical work will provide foundational support for strategic advisement, guiding due diligence for acquisition candidates, and fostering the transformation of underperforming assets through targeted growth strategies and value creation initiatives. By supporting the synthesis of complex data into coherent narratives, you will contribute to addressing critical questions about product-market fit and competitive differentiation, thereby equipping our clients with the insights needed for informed strategic decision-making.

Key Responsibilities

• Collaborate with practitioners to examine and extract relevant data from client-provided information repositories, ensuring alignment with our specific information requests.
• Maintain ongoing communication with directors and other team members to prioritize project tasks and follow up on outstanding information.
• Analyze and synthesize data from other internal and external workstreams including technical, financial, commercial diligence and market analysis to enhance our understanding of the target company.
• Perform and support primary and secondary research to understand markets and support various analyses (i.e., use-cases, competitive landscape, market landscape, customer segmentation).
• Assist with Voice of Market research by coordinating and summarizing in-depth interviews with industry experts, customers, and end-users.
• Aid in identifying product differentiation by conducting feature comparisons and gap analysis against competitors.
• Facilitate the creation of interim updates and final reports, ensuring clients receive coherent, timely insights throughout the advisory engagement.
• Occasionally engage with client and target company executives to gather insights and present findings, demonstrating professional acumen in high-level interactions.

Qualifications

• Minimum three years’ experience as an Analyst, Associate, Researcher, or Product Specialist, either within a renowned consulting firm or an enterprise setting focused on internal consulting across multiple teams.
• Experience in strategic software projects is highly advantageous.
• Demonstrated expertise in product analysis or market research, with proven ability to synthesize complex qualitative and quantitative data for strategic decision-making.
• Exceptional business acumen coupled with outstanding communication skills, evidenced by successful cross-team collaboration and stakeholder engagement in a dynamic business environment.
• Proven organizational skills, with meticulous attention to detail and the capacity to manage shifting priorities and tight deadlines.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft PowerPoint and Excel for data analysis and presentation.