Senior Manager, Research and Strategy | Product Development and Design

Senior Manager, Research and Strategy | Product Development and Design

• Closing Date:

At Qatar Airways, we craft cutting‑edge inflight products, enhance passenger comfort, and drive innovation in aviation design. From concept to launch, our Product Development and Design (PDD) Team collaborates with industry leaders to create products that set new standards in travel.

If you are passionate about innovation and design, this is your chance to make a lasting impact in the aviation industry.

Join our Product Development and Design Team that transforms ideas into reality and shapes the future of airline experiences!

As Senior Manager, Research and Strategy, you will be the analytical and strategic core of the Research and Strategy function within Qatar Airways' Product Development and Design division, reporting to the VP, Strategy and Planning. You will lead the delivery of research, insight, and strategic analysis that underpins the division's ability to make informed, commercially sound decisions across its full product portfolio.

You will manage a team of researchers and analysts, building their capability and ensuring the function delivers rigorous, actionable intelligence that directly supports product investment decisions, roadmap planning, and divisional performance. You will turn ambiguous strategic questions into structured analytical frameworks and raw data into compelling, decision‑ready recommendations.

Working in close partnership with the Manager, Project Strategy and Planning, you will ensure that strategic insight and PMO execution are tightly connected. You will provide the research and analytical foundation that governs how initiatives are prioritised, sequenced, and measured. Your influence on governance and planning will be through the quality and clarity of the strategic input you provide, not through direct ownership of PMO processes.

As part of your role, your responsibilities will be inclusive of, but not limited to the following:

• Lead the delivery of passenger research, market intelligence, and competitive benchmarking programmes that provide the division with a current, accurate, and actionable picture of the external landscape.
• Synthesise complex, multi‑source data into clear strategic narratives and decision‑ready recommendations for senior leadership.
• Develop and maintain research frameworks and insight methodologies that ensure consistency, rigour, and relevance across all analytical outputs.
• Commission and manage external research agencies and insight partners, ensuring quality, timeliness, and value for money.

• Support the VP in the development and ongoing evolution of the divisional strategy, translating strategic direction into structured workplans, analytical frameworks, and clearly defined priorities for the team.
• Develop and maintain product and experience strategy documents, ensuring they are current, evidence‑based, and aligned with group strategy.
• Prepare high‑quality strategic materials, briefing papers, and executive presentations that enable the VP and divisional leadership to engage confidently at board and C‑suite level.
• Support the evaluation and prioritisation of product initiatives, developing business cases and ROI analyses that inform investment decisions.

• Partner closely with the Manager, Project Strategy and Planning to ensure strategic priorities are accurately translated into project governance, roadmap sequencing, and performance frameworks.
• Provide the analytical and strategic input that enables the PMO function to prioritise initiatives with confidence and commercial clarity.
• Preview and challenge roadmap progress from a strategic perspective, escalating where initiatives are drifting from their original strategic intent or where emerging insight suggests reprioritisation is warranted.
• Ensure that research and insight outputs are structured and communicated in a way that is directly usable by the PMO function, bridging the gap between strategic analysis and operational planning.

• Support the VP in shaping ways of working…