Compensation: $60,000-$70,000 + bonus. This role requires a minimum of two days a week onsite at our Boston, MA office.
About the Role
The Research Interviewer role, within the New Product Development team, will primarily support qualitative data collection efforts, conducting 10-20 structured interviews with senior security executives per week. This is a research role, not a call-center role, and you will lead interviews following established protocols, and is a key contributor to IANS data collection efforts.
Core Responsibilities
Interview Coordination & Scheduling (~50% of time)
- Manage an assigned caseload of cybersecurity executives, lead outreach and recruitment, scheduling, and note-taking review (AI tools will supplement)
- Use IANS resources (such as account managers) to reach executives on caseload, ensuring outreach is proactive and timely
- Maintain a master tracker of interviews completed and flag coverage gaps to Director in advance of target deadlines
Conducting Interviews & Data Review (~50% of time)
- Conduct 10-20 (30 or 60-minute structured interviews online via Zoom, Teams) per week
- Adhere to the established interview protocol, showing judgment for using probing
- Ask intelligent, probing follow-up questions when responses are vague, surface-level, or inconsistent
- Record all interviews (with consent) and capture real-time notes during the call to supplement the automated recording and transcription
- Edit and process verbatim quotes from interview recordings: remove filler words (e.g., “um,”), fix grammar, and ensure quotes are fully coherent and attributable — while preserving the interviewee’s authentic voice
- Proactively flag data quality issues for Director, and ensure all data is properly tagged for later review and integration into the data stream
Requirements:
Must-Haves:
- 5 years of relevant experience, or a bachelor’s degree + 1 year of relevant experience with executives/senior professionals
- Highly organized, quick and self-directed learner, able to get up to speed (with direction and support) on the cybersecurity space, including key products and terminology used by executives
- Ability to ‘read the room’, build relationships, and direct conversations with senior level executives
- A client-first mentality—our clients are our first priority, and you will be representing IANS while interviewing them
Nice-to-Have:
- Experience interfacing with other teams, coordinating client outreach, scheduling, and follow-up
- Experience working with quotas and targets, in market or applied research settings
- Qualitative data collection experience
- B2B experience strongly preferred
- Familiarity with cybersecurity concepts and terminology
- Experience with Qualtrics and other data collection tools; AI tools (e.g., Copilot)
Not-Needed:
- Deep/senior level cybersecurity experience
Skills Required
- 1+ years of experience conducting structured research interviews or CATI surveys
- Familiarity with cybersecurity concepts and terminology
- Strong interpersonal skills to build rapport with senior executives
- Meticulous data entry and editing skills
- Comfort working with Qualtrics or similar survey platforms
What We Do
For the security practitioner caught between rapidly evolving threats and demanding executives, IANS Research is a clear-headed resource for decision-making and articulating risk. We provide experience-based security insights for Chief Information Security Officers and their teams. The core of our value comes from the IANS Faculty, a network of seasoned practitioners. We support client decisions and executive communications with Ask-an-Expert inquiries, our peer community, deployment-focused reports, tools and templates, and consulting.
