Senior Qualitative Researcher

C5i is a pure-play AI & Analytics provider that combines the power of human perspective with AI technology to deliver trustworthy intelligence. The company drives value through a comprehensive solution set, integrating multifunctional teams that have technical and business domain expertise with a robust suite of products, solutions, and accelerators tailored for various horizontal and industry-specific use cases. At the core, C5i’s focus is to deliver business impact at speed and scale by driving adoption of AI-assisted decision‑making.

C5i caters to some of the world’s largest enterprises, including many Fortune 500 companies. The company’s clients span Technology, Media, and Telecom (TMT), Pharma & Lifesciences, CPG, Retail, Banking, and other sectors. C5i has been recognized by leading industry analysts like Gartner and Forrester for its Analytics and AI capabilities and proprietary AI-based platforms.

United States| Canada | United Kingdom| United Arab of Emirates| India

We're standing up a customer community as a strategic engine for ongoing, in-context research—and we need an experienced qualitative researcher to lead it from day one. This is a hands‑on senior role: you'll engage directly with community members, design and run qualitative research within the community, and turn what you hear into insights that shape product, experience, and business decisions.

This is a high‑ownership position with an urgent start. You'll be foundational to how the community is built, moderated, and mined for value, so we're looking for someone who can move quickly, work independently, and bring a proven qualitative toolkit.

• Build and engage the community. Help launch the customer community and serve as a central, trusted presence—recruiting and onboarding members, sparking discussion, and keeping engagement high and authentic over time.
• Design qualitative research. Plan and run a range of qualitative methods within and beyond the community: in‑depth interviews, focus groups, diary studies, online discussions, concept tests, and ethnographic or observational work.
• Drive insights. Synthesize qualitative data into clear, compelling, decision‑ready insights—identifying themes, tensions, and opportunities that move the business forward.
• Connect research to action. Partner with product, marketing, CX, and leadership to translate findings into recommendations, and follow through to make sure insights are used.
• Communicate with impact. Produce findings, debriefs, and presentations that bring the customer voice to life for both technical and non‑technical audiences.
• Shape the practice. Establish research norms, cadences, and best practices for community‑based research as the program matures.

• 7+ years of qualitative research experience, ideally including consumer or customer insights work.
• Demonstrated mastery of core qualitative methods (interviews, focus groups, diary/longitudinal studies, ethnography) and the ability to choose the right method for the question.
• Experience with online communities or community‑based/insight‑community research (e.g., MROC platforms) is strongly preferred.
• Strong synthesis and storytelling skills—able to turn messy qualitative input into a clear narrative and actionable recommendations.
• Excellent facilitation and interpersonal skills; you're comfortable engaging customers directly and building rapport.
• Self‑directed and fast‑moving, with the judgment to operate well in an early‑stage, build‑it‑as‑you‑go environment.
• Based in the US and able to start by mid‑July.

• Experience launching a customer or insight community from scratch.
• Familiarity with community/insight platforms (e.g., Recollective, Discuss.io, dscout, Suzy, or similar).
• Comfort blending qualitative work with quantitative or behavioral data.

C5i is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender identity, etc. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please keep us informed about the same at the hiring stages for us to factor necessary accommodations.