Research Director Jobs
Research Director jobs are open across academia, biotech, healthcare, market research, and policy organizations, from senior scientist to executive level, with specializations in clinical research, consumer insights, and policy analysis. Find a role that fits from the openings below and apply directly.
Find Research Director JobsOverview
Showing 5 of 712+ Research Director jobs
A little about us…
Knit is the AI-native consumer research platform helping brands automate and accelerate primary research. With our Researcher-Driven AI, we’ve condensed the entire quant + qual research process from weeks into days (sometimes hours!) for 50+ enterprise brands — including Amazon, T-Mobile, Mars, NASCAR, and more. We’re on a mission to scale and democratize world-class research. From survey generation to stakeholder-ready reports, our platform is redefining how insights teams operate — and we need your help to push the limits of what’s possible.
Overview
The purpose of the Research Director role is to ensure Knit customers successfully achieve their desired research outcomes through their partnerships with Knit. By owning customer relationships, getting deeply engrained in customer research needs, and driving high-quality project deliverables, the Research Director’s impact is ultimately measured by positive customer retention and expansion.
Responsibilities | What you will own...
The research function is a primary contributor to Knit’s shared business objectives of customer retention and upsells, ultimately measured by Net Revenue Retention (NRR) in addition to supporting successful Pilot to Subscription Conversions for acquiring new business.
The levers the Research Director role owns to influence these key business objectives are:
- Research Success → Ensuring Knit Customers successfully achieve their desired research outcomes through their projects with Knit, measured by successfully achieving Research Objectives and delivering on Knit’s Quality & Speed service-level agreements (SLA’s)
Primary responsibilities of this role:
- Serving as the dedicated research lead for all customers’ projects (on assigned accounts) and serving as the ultimate accountable party for research project success
- Driving and documenting in-depth project scoping to uncover a deep understanding of research objectives and project context to set up project success
- Driving as the strategic problem solver and research subject matter expert partner for customers, effectively being able to propose solutions to business & research needs
- Driving as a solutions architect for customers, educating them on Knit’s research capabilities, consulting with them to adjust for fringe requirements, and proposing solutions to maximize project success
- Driving, maintaining, and enriching all customer context to improve Knit’s ability to meet the customers’ custom research needs
- Participating in continuous innovation on Knit’s AI product to minimize the delta between Knit’s AI output and a human researcher output
- Being the final, customer-ready check and approver on all Knit final topline delivery and presenting the key insights and recommendations directly to the customers
- Driving on feedback collection on “the last mile” - uncovering and documenting what happens after Knit delivers a project to when it’s “stakeholder ready,” supporting Knit’s product vision in getting to stakeholder ready reports
- Successful & effective people management of direct reports, ensuring they are successfully fulfilling their role’s responsibilities and growing in impact (People Management at Knit includes driving performance, driving clarity and accountability, hiring, onboarding, upskilling competencies, performance management, conflict resolution, and morale building.)
Required Skills & Experiences
Required:
- Must have 8+ years of market research experience, with the majority of the time spent on the supplier side in a market research agency environment.
- Must have experience leading discovery and scoping calls, writing and editing quant and qual questionnaires from scratch, drafting analysis plans, and creating and presenting stakeholder-ready insights topline & reports. Ability to drive initiatives and outcomes in ambiguous environments, both for navigating complex customer needs and Knit internal business changes. Proven track record successfully operating in an early stage startup (<50 employees) is a plus.
- Proven track record of owning client relationships with customers at Enterprise, Fortune 500 US-based companies, specifically working with insights professionals to scope and achieve desired research outcomes, resulting in customer retention and growth.
- Ability to drive initiatives and outcomes successfully in environments with competing priorities, multiple research projects on at a given time, and simultaneous internal business demands.
- Effective People Manager both cross-functionally and at the team level - specifically in driving clarity and accountability, hiring, onboarding, performance management, conflict resolution, and morale building.
Benefits
Upon joining the Knit team, you will receive a competitive salary + commission plan if applicable to role, Equity Options, Healthcare (medical, dental, and vision), and Additional Coverage, a company laptop and one-time, onboarding Technology Stipend, a 401(k) with company match, flexible time-off, hybrid working, and more!
Salary
In accordance with New York pay transparency requirements, the salary range for this role is $140,000 - $160,000. Final compensation will be determined based on the candidate’s level, experience, and qualifications upon joining Knit.
Our Company Values
We are the Championship Team. This means we:
- Are 1% better every day: We approach situations with a growth mindset and ask, “How can we make the business better?” and “What would it take?”
- Play to win: We set audacious goals and push ourselves to achieve them with a bias towards action (When we see a need, we take initiative, and hold ourselves accountable to seeing it through).
- Keep the main thing the main thing: Identify what has the biggest impact and prioritize to focus on it.
Pay Range: $140,000 USD - $160,000 USD
Knit Privacy Policy here. CCPA disclosure here.
A little about us…
Knit is the AI-native consumer research platform helping brands automate and accelerate primary research. With our Researcher-Driven AI, we’ve condensed the entire quant + qual research process from weeks into days (sometimes hours!) for 50+ enterprise brands — including Amazon, T-Mobile, Mars, NASCAR, and more. We’re on a mission to scale and democratize world-class research. From survey generation to stakeholder-ready reports, our platform is redefining how insights teams operate — and we need your help to push the limits of what’s possible.
Overview
The purpose of the Research Director role is to ensure Knit customers successfully achieve their desired research outcomes through their partnerships with Knit. By owning customer relationships, getting deeply engrained in customer research needs, and driving high-quality project deliverables, the Research Director’s impact is ultimately measured by positive customer retention and expansion.
Responsibilities | What you will own...
The research function is a primary contributor to Knit’s shared business objectives of customer retention and upsells, ultimately measured by Net Revenue Retention (NRR) in addition to supporting successful Pilot to Subscription Conversions for acquiring new business.
The levers the Research Director role owns to influence these key business objectives are:
- Research Success → Ensuring Knit Customers successfully achieve their desired research outcomes through their projects with Knit, measured by successfully achieving Research Objectives and delivering on Knit’s Quality & Speed service-level agreements (SLA’s)
Primary responsibilities of this role:
- Serving as the dedicated research lead for all customers’ projects (on assigned accounts) and serving as the ultimate accountable party for research project success
- Driving and documenting in-depth project scoping to uncover a deep understanding of research objectives and project context to set up project success
- Driving as the strategic problem solver and research subject matter expert partner for customers, effectively being able to propose solutions to business & research needs
- Driving as a solutions architect for customers, educating them on Knit’s research capabilities, consulting with them to adjust for fringe requirements, and proposing solutions to maximize project success
- Driving, maintaining, and enriching all customer context to improve Knit’s ability to meet the customers’ custom research needs
- Participating in continuous innovation on Knit’s AI product to minimize the delta between Knit’s AI output and a human researcher output
- Being the final, customer-ready check and approver on all Knit final topline delivery and presenting the key insights and recommendations directly to the customers
- Driving on feedback collection on “the last mile” - uncovering and documenting what happens after Knit delivers a project to when it’s “stakeholder ready,” supporting Knit’s product vision in getting to stakeholder ready reports
- Successful & effective people management of direct reports, ensuring they are successfully fulfilling their role’s responsibilities and growing in impact (People Management at Knit includes driving performance, driving clarity and accountability, hiring, onboarding, upskilling competencies, performance management, conflict resolution, and morale building.)
Required Skills & Experiences
Required:
- Must have 8+ years of market research experience, with the majority of the time spent on the supplier side in a market research agency environment.
- Must have experience leading discovery and scoping calls, writing and editing quant and qual questionnaires from scratch, drafting analysis plans, and creating and presenting stakeholder-ready insights topline & reports. Ability to drive initiatives and outcomes in ambiguous environments, both for navigating complex customer needs and Knit internal business changes. Proven track record successfully operating in an early stage startup (<50 employees) is a plus.
- Proven track record of owning client relationships with customers at Enterprise, Fortune 500 US-based companies, specifically working with insights professionals to scope and achieve desired research outcomes, resulting in customer retention and growth.
- Ability to drive initiatives and outcomes successfully in environments with competing priorities, multiple research projects on at a given time, and simultaneous internal business demands.
- Effective People Manager both cross-functionally and at the team level - specifically in driving clarity and accountability, hiring, onboarding, performance management, conflict resolution, and morale building.
Benefits
Upon joining the Knit team, you will receive a competitive salary + commission plan if applicable to role, Equity Options, Healthcare (medical, dental, and vision), and Additional Coverage, a company laptop and one-time, onboarding Technology Stipend, a 401(k) with company match, flexible time-off, hybrid working, and more!
Salary
In accordance with New York pay transparency requirements, the salary range for this role is $140,000 - $160,000. Final compensation will be determined based on the candidate’s level, experience, and qualifications upon joining Knit.
Our Company Values
We are the Championship Team. This means we:
- Are 1% better every day: We approach situations with a growth mindset and ask, “How can we make the business better?” and “What would it take?”
- Play to win: We set audacious goals and push ourselves to achieve them with a bias towards action (When we see a need, we take initiative, and hold ourselves accountable to seeing it through).
- Keep the main thing the main thing: Identify what has the biggest impact and prioritize to focus on it.
Pay Range: $140,000 USD - $160,000 USD
Knit Privacy Policy here. CCPA disclosure here.
See All 712+ Research Director Jobs
Jump back to the full list of openings and apply to any research director role that fits.
Find Research Director JobsResearch Director Job Market
A snapshot from current openings nationwide, updated as new roles post.
Who's Hiring
- Medpace34
- Revolution Medicines34
- AbbVie22
- Eli Lilly21
Top Industries Hiring
- Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals283
- Education136
- Healthcare & Medical Services116
- Science & Research100
- Technology & Software45
What Employers Look For
The qualifications that appear most often in research director jobs.
- Advanced degree in a relevant field such as a PhD or master's degree
- 7 or more years of progressive research experience including supervisory responsibility
- Demonstrated ability to design, lead, and publish or present original research
- Proficiency with statistical software such as SPSS, SAS, R, or similar tools
- Experience securing and managing grants or external research funding
- Strong written and verbal communication skills for executive-level reporting
Tips for Your Research Director Job Search
Quantify your research program outcomes
Research directors are evaluated on what their teams produced, not just what they oversaw. Lead with grant dollars secured, publications output, or studies completed on your resume rather than listing duties. Reviewers want to see scale and results.
Tailor applications to the research model
Academic, industry, and government research director roles have fundamentally different expectations. An industry posting values speed-to-insight and cross-functional collaboration, while academic roles weight publication record and lab leadership. Reframe your experience to match the specific model before you apply.
Apply early to roles that fit
Migrate Mate lists research director openings from across the United States in one place, so you can find roles that match and apply directly to each listing.
Highlight budget and team oversight clearly
Many research director candidates undersell operational scope. If you managed a budget or led a team of researchers, state the size explicitly. Hiring panels use those figures to gauge whether your experience matches the role's complexity from the first pass.
Prepare a portfolio of completed studies
For applied and market research roles, a portfolio of past studies, reports, or frameworks gives interviewers something concrete to assess. Include a brief context note for each entry explaining the business or research question it addressed.
Negotiate scope before accepting an offer
Research director roles vary widely in authority over methodology, staffing, and external partnerships. Before accepting, confirm whether the role controls those decisions or reports into a larger research function. Misaligned expectations on autonomy are a common early friction point.
Research Director Jobs: Frequently Asked Questions
Which companies are hiring the most research directors?
The companies hiring the most research directors right now include Medpace, Revolution Medicines, and AbbVie, with the largest share of openings in California, Massachusetts, and New Jersey, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of June 2026. Demand is consistent across healthcare systems, research universities, and market research firms.
How many research director jobs are remote?
About 24% of research director openings are fully remote or hybrid as of June 2026, with the highest remote share in market research, consumer insights, and policy research roles. Clinical and laboratory research director positions tend to require on-site presence due to hands-on oversight responsibilities.
How do you become a research director?
Most research directors start with an advanced degree and spend several years as individual contributor researchers before moving into lead or principal roles. Building a track of completed projects, developing grant-writing or client-facing experience, and taking on team oversight in a senior researcher capacity are the clearest steps. Demonstrating that you can translate research output into decisions or strategy accelerates the path considerably.
Can you get hired as a research director with limited leadership experience?
It depends on the organization's size and structure. Smaller research teams, startups, and nonprofits often hire researchers into director titles when the candidate has deep subject matter expertise but limited formal management history. Emphasizing mentorship experience, project coordination, and any budget or vendor oversight you have held closes the experience gap in those contexts.
What does the research director interview process look like?
Research director interviews typically involve a recruiter screen, a panel interview with senior leadership and potential direct reports, and a presentation or case exercise where you walk through past research work or respond to a hypothetical challenge. Late-stage conversations often include stakeholders from adjacent functions such as product, marketing, or clinical operations who would rely on your team's output.
Where can I find and apply to research director jobs?
You can find and apply to research director jobs on Migrate Mate, which lists current openings from across the United States. Find roles that fit your background and apply directly to each listing from the results page.
See All 712+ Research Director Jobs
Jump back to the full list of openings and apply to any research director role that fits.
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