Economic Research Assistant jobs

Research and Teaching Content AssociateBusiness Strategy and Executive EducationThe Role

We are looking for an intellectually curious and highly rigorous Research and Teaching Content Associate to support the development of business content for executive education.

This is not a conventional academic research role, a pure data-analysis position or a PowerPoint production job. The successful candidate will be able to investigate complex business questions, identify gaps in the available evidence, conduct deeper research and transform the findings into compelling storylines and high-quality presentation slides for senior executives.

The work will cover a broad range of business topics, including strategy, marketing, innovation, artificial intelligence, organizational transformation, sustainability and competitive advantage.

The central challenge is to move from fragmented information to a clear and teachable executive insight.

What You Will DoConduct rigorous business research

You will research companies, industries, business models and emerging management issues using sources such as:

• Academic and business databases
• Company reports, investor presentations and regulatory filings
• Published business-school case studies
• Newspapers and business publications
• Consulting and industry reports
• Academic research
• Executive interviews, podcasts, conference presentations and YouTube videos
• Company websites and other credible primary sources

You will be expected to assess the credibility of sources, triangulate claims and distinguish well-supported findings from speculation or corporate publicity.

Go deeper when the existing evidence is incomplete

The initial question will often reveal gaps that require further investigation.

For example, a published article may state that a company redesigned a process using AI, but may not explain:

• How the work was performed previously
• What changed in the new operating model
• Which tasks are performed by people and which by technology
• How responsibilities and decision rights changed
• How employees now allocate their time
• Whether productivity, quality or customer outcomes improved
• What implementation difficulties emerged

You will identify these missing elements and pursue additional evidence through deeper database searches, company materials, interviews, videos, industry sources and primary research.

Combine multiple sources into an integrated business story

Many assignments will require combining several incomplete sources.

For example, research on Unilever’s SASSY brand model might involve:

• Reviewing two or three published case studies
• Watching interviews and presentations by Unilever leaders
• Examining company strategy documents and investor materials
• Searching newspaper and trade-publication coverage
• Reviewing relevant academic or consulting research
• Conducting primary research where necessary
• Reconciling differences among the sources
• Building a coherent explanation of what changed, why it changed and what other companies can learn from it

The goal is not to summarize each source separately. The goal is to create an integrated and insightful storyline.

Develop executive-level teaching content

You will translate the research into materials that can be used in executive education sessions.

Typical outputs will include:

• Research briefs and evidence summaries
• Company and industry analyses
• Before-and-after operating-model comparisons
• Frameworks and conceptual models
• Timelines and process maps
• Executive discussion questions
• Teaching notes
• Case-based storylines
• PowerPoint presentations

The content must be analytically rigorous while remaining clear, concise and engaging for a senior executive audience.

Create compelling PowerPoint slides

You will turn research into slides that communicate one clear idea at a time.

This includes:

• Developing the overall narrative of a presentation
• Structuring the sequence of ideas
• Writing concise and provocative slide titles
• Selecting the most relevant supporting evidence
• Simplifying complex findings without distorting them
• Creating tables, charts, frameworks and process diagrams
• Identifying appropriate company examples and visual material
• Ensuring that claims are properly sourced
• Producing polished, executive-ready slides

Strong PowerPoint skills are essential. The role requires much more than formatting existing content: you must be able to determine what the slide should say and how the evidence should be presented.

What Good Work Looks Like

A strong assignment does not simply collect information. It answers five questions:

• What happened?
• What was the situation before the change?
• What is different now?
• Why does the change matter?
• What can executives learn from it?

The final material should help an executive quickly understand the business issue, examine credible evidence and engage in a meaningful discussion.

Candidate Profile

You are likely to succeed in this role if you have:

• A strong academic background in business, economics, management, journalism, social science or a related field
• Excellent business research and analytical skills
• Experience using academic, financial, company or industry databases
• The ability to evaluate the quality and credibility of evidence
• Strong synthesis skills and the ability to connect information from multiple sources
• A good understanding of business strategy and organizational issues
• Excellent written English
• Strong PowerPoint skills
• The ability to communicate complex ideas clearly and economically
• High attention to detail, particularly regarding facts, quotations, numbers and sources
• The curiosity and persistence to investigate unanswered questions
• The ability to work independently and manage several research streams

Particularly Relevant Backgrounds

Candidates may come from fields such as:

• Strategy or management consulting
• Business journalism
• Equity or industry research
• Corporate strategy
• Competitive intelligence
• Business-school case research
• Executive education
• Academic research with a strong applied-business orientation
• Knowledge management or thought leadership

An MBA, master’s degree or equivalent experience would be helpful, but intellectual quality, business judgment and demonstrated work are more important than a specific qualification.

What This Role Is Not

This role is not primarily:

• Academic literature reviewing
• Internet searching without source evaluation
• Producing generic AI-generated summaries
• Formatting slides created by someone else
• Collecting large amounts of information without reaching a conclusion

The person must be able to move from research to insight, from insight to storyline, and from storyline to executive-ready teaching material.

Illustrative Assignments

Assignments could include:

• Investigating how a newsroom redesigned reporters’ work after introducing AI
• Examining how Unilever changed its brand-management model
• Comparing how industrial companies use AI internally and with customers
• Studying how a company reorganized a business process after adopting new technology
• Combining several case studies and primary sources into a new teaching storyline
• Identifying credible company examples for a strategy or marketing framework
• Developing a presentation on how an industry’s competitive dynamics are changing
• Converting a complex company transformation into a clear before-and-after operating model

Application Materials

Please submit:

• A CV
• A brief explanation of why this role interests you
• One or two examples of research, business writing or presentation work
• A PowerPoint sample that demonstrates your ability to develop a storyline, not only your design skills

Shortlisted candidates may be asked to complete a brief practical assignment involving research, synthesis and the creation of several executive-level slides.

Success in the Role

Success will be measured by the ability to consistently produce work that is:

• Factually reliable
• Based on credible and well-documented sources
• Insightful rather than descriptive
• Relevant to senior executives
• Clearly structured
• Visually compelling
• Ready to use in an executive classroom

Pay: £28,000.00-£39,649.32 per year

Education:

• Bachelor's (preferred)

Work Location: Remote