Vice President, Research & Analytics

Role overview

Ruder Finn is hiring a Vice President of Research & Analytics to join its TechLab team in Austin, TX. In this senior role, you will act as a strategic advisor across the agency, working with client leads, brand and communications strategists, and creative teams to shape research-led strategy for both clients and prospects.

The position is highly collaborative and fast-moving, with close coordination across teams in the U.S. and India. It combines strategy and hands-on execution, with a strong focus on innovation, artificial intelligence, and emerging technologies. The right candidate will be comfortable turning complex data into clear insight, narratives, and recommendations that help guide planning and decision-making.

What you will do

• Lead sophisticated communications research assignments, including quantitative and qualitative primary research, secondary research, and measurement work in coordination with account teams.
• Advise clients and internal stakeholders using analytics, insight generation, and evidence-based recommendations.
• Produce audience and market intelligence, including social and digital landscape reviews, audience behavior analysis, sentiment analysis, keyword research, search performance analysis, and competitive benchmarking such as share of voice and message pull-through.
• Support client analytics conversations by reviewing reporting, identifying optimization opportunities, and recommending next steps to improve performance.
• Create measurement frameworks, build search strategies and dashboards, and prepare client-ready reports with clear insights.
• Carry out AI search visibility studies and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) analysis across multiple platforms and model environments.
• Assess how content is discovered, ranked, and summarized in AI-powered search systems, and convert those findings into strategic guidance.
• Transform raw data into persuasive storytelling, practical insights, and strategic recommendations for client planning.
• Keep pace with new analytics technologies and suggest tools and platforms that can strengthen agency capabilities.
• Coach research analysts and analytics managers by sharing best practices that improve reporting quality, speed, and precision.
• Work closely with creative, strategy, planning, and other cross-functional teams across the business.
• Contribute to agency training efforts focused on analytics, measurement, and AI capabilities.

Required qualifications

• A bachelor’s degree in Business Analytics, Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, or a closely related discipline.
• At least 7 years of experience in an integrated marketing or communications agency, or in an in-house research, analytics, or insights role.
• Advanced hands-on experience with frontier AI models, including large language models, and understanding how they behave in practical use cases.
• Ability to use agentic platforms to design, build, and refine automated research workflows.
• Background in building scalable automation pipelines for data gathering, analysis, and insight development.
• Experience creating measurement plans and analyzing campaign performance across media analytics, web analytics, and CRM measurement.
• Strong command of Boolean search logic and analytics tools such as Cision, Brandwatch, Talkwalker, Rival IQ, Meltwater, and Signal AI.
• Advanced proficiency in Excel, Google Sheets, Google Analytics, SQL, and one or more data visualization tools such as Tableau, Power BI, or Google Data Studio.
• Exposure to AWS, Python, R, or other statistical/programming languages is an added advantage.
• Experience working with third-party APIs for data collection and processing.
• Ability to assess analytics tools and platforms, including managing vendors and handling quarterly audits.
• Strong capability to turn data into clear insights and compelling narratives.
• Excellent problem-solving, critical thinking, and independent judgment.
• Strong project management skills with the ability to prioritize, adapt, and juggle multiple workstreams in a busy agency environment.
• Experience supporting multiple client accounts and collaborating across teams.
• Experience in healthcare, consumer, B2B, or technology sectors is a plus, though not mandatory.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills.

Benefits and other information

The role includes a competitive base salary plus bonus potential. Benefits available include medical, dental, and vision coverage, company-paid life insurance, a flexible spending account, and a 401(k) match plan.

Additional benefits include a monthly allowance for cell phone and office equipment expenses, a generous PTO policy with paid maternity and paternity leave, access to professional learning and development opportunities, and workplace flexibility.

Equal opportunity commitment

Ruder Finn provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy or related medical conditions, national origin, age, physical or mental disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information, military status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. The company does not tolerate discrimination or harassment and is committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce.