Director, Research Advisory Services

Director, Research Advisory Services

EAB is the leading global provider of research and advice to higher education and K-12 institutions. Our research programs help executives at client organizations educate stakeholders, make research-informed decisions, and speed implementation of industry best practices.

EAB Research Advisory Services (RAS) is a division within our research business, providing consultative support and expert advice to our education clients. RAS staff work directly with boards, presidents, and other senior academic and business leaders to help them make meaningful and strategic progress toward their most pressing financial and mission-consequential issues. Through strong communication and storytelling, RAS provides high-impact, outcome-focused presentations, workshops, and unscripted conversations to help partners understand and implement EAB's advice.

We deliver our advice to clients through peer conferences, expert phone consultations, virtual meetings, and onsite at client institutions. In addition to working with current clients, our advisors also support sales efforts in new client development.

This position will spend about 80% of time in the market, working with partners both in-person and virtually. The position requires 40-50% travel. This hire may be based in Washington, D.C.;
Richmond, VA; or is open to remote employment within the continental United States.

This position is also posted at the Associate Director level; candidates are being considered across both levels for the current opening.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Terrain Mastery:
  Build and maintain issue expertise across research terrains, with a special focus on those most important to members across the university executive cabinet at educational institutions and the teams they lead across the university each day: including the delivery of dynamic strategy to guide transformation; advancement and fundraising strategy; campaign readiness and execution; and donor and alumni engagement. Store & curate EAB's perspective across the breadth of research terrains to give partners the most direct access to EAB's advice.
• The ideal candidate will bring experience working with senior institutional leaders and advancement organizations through practitioner, consulting, or advisory experience. Successful candidates will be able to engage effectively with advancement and cabinet leaders while maintaining the broad strategic and operational fluency required of the RAS model.
• The candidate will leverage EAB's insights, best practices, tools, and data to help partners make decisions and implement best practices and develop a deep understanding of assigned terrain, market trends, and evolving client needs.
• Content Delivery and Facilitation:
  Work directly with partners to diagnose their problems, challenge their assumptions, guide decisions, and suggest solutions. Deliver EAB's point of view and advice through phone consultations, virtual meetings, conferences, and on campus presentations to:
• Make EAB insights and data accessible and impactful for our partners, bringing clarity and context to their understanding of their challenges;
• Present partners with new ideas and potential solutions to those challenges and advocate for adoption;
• Act as an expert outside voice, building consensus and educating committees and staff.
• Combine functional knowledge, with an understanding of higher ed's unique organizational dynamics, enabling partners to set strategy, lead their institutions, and manage their operations more effectively by:
• Diagnosing and giving voice to dynamics that are often felt, but not addressed;
• Supporting leaders as they align effort and teams around institutional priorities;
• Pathing partners through ranges of viable solutions and their pros and cons;
• recommending paths for improvement and serving as their guides and accountability Partners as they progress;
• Connecting partner institutions and creating learning experiences.
• Customer Success and Commercial Support:
  Collaborate with the research customer success team to execute on a scalable and impactful partner delivery model and deliver high-impact client interactions. Support…