Senior Research Manager - Product & AI

About this role

<h2>About Understood</h2> <p>Understood is a nonprofit focused on shaping the world for difference. We raise awareness of the challenges and strengths of people who learn and think differently. Our resources help people navigate challenges, gain confidence, and find support and community so they can thrive.&nbsp;</p> <p>Having a shared commitment to our values is a key factor in any hire we make. We have five core values:&nbsp;</p> <ol> <li>Continuously learn.</li> <li>Act with intention.</li> <li>Champion difference.</li> <li>Inspire change.</li> <li>Grow together.&nbsp;</li> </ol> <p>Come be part of an organization with an entrepreneurial spirit that’s helping to shape the world for difference. Together, we can build a world where everyone can reach their full potential.&nbsp;</p> <p>To learn more about Understood, please visit:<a href="http://www.understood.org"> www.understood.org</a>.</p> <h2>Who you are&nbsp;</h2> <p>To advance Understood’s mission and to further our impact, we’re hiring a Senior Research Manager, reporting to our Director of Ecosystem Research.&nbsp;</p> <p>You are a researcher who works at the intersection of competitive market intelligence and AI. You build AI-driven workflows—such as bots and scraping pipelines—to deliver a steady stream of product landscape insights to cross-functional teams. You use LLMs like Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity to automate secondary research, and you maintain an always-current view of the market so Understood’s product decisions are evidence-based and ahead of trends. You excel at delivering cutting-edge market insights to product and other functional teams, providing the daily and weekly insights that fuel innovation.</p> <h2>What you’ll do</h2> <p><strong>Product Landscape Automation &amp; Embedded Support</strong></p> <ul> <ul> <li>Own the "always-on" scraping and updating of product landscapes to ensure Understood remains ahead of market trends</li> <li>Design and maintain AI bots (e.g. Gemini GEMs) to create automated data pipelines that streamline secondary research data collection and analysis</li> <li>Serve as the research partner for Product, Product Marketing, and UXR teams, providing rapid-response analysis and weekly Slack updates on competitor moves</li> </ul> </ul> <p><strong>Insights</strong></p> <ul> <li> <ul> <li>Produce high-quality, business-driven insights for many teams, with a focus on the product side of the business (marketing, partnerships, external research, and more)</li> <li>Partner with teams to clarify and sharpen research questions, ensuring findings address the real strategic need rather than the surface-level ask</li> </ul> </li> </ul> <p><strong>Partner Support</strong><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <ul> <li> <ul> <li>Review deal memos for Difference Partners (DiffPar) and facilitate knowledge exchange between the portfolio and internal product teams.</li> <li>Own the ad hoc scraping partner product landscapes as part of our external Universal Design revenue-driving partnership offering</li> </ul> </li> </ul> <p><strong>Execution&nbsp;</strong></p> <ul> <ul> <li>Independently carry out research projects from start to finish, delivering high-quality findings for specific product initiatives.</li> <li>Proactively solve problems to deliver high-quality work, adapting easily to change and ensuring the research has meaningful results</li> <li>Create and manage processes for both our team and cross-functional needs</li> </ul> </ul> <p>This is a hybrid role that requires a minimum of three (3) days a week in our NYC office, with a focus on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. We are a Mac-based environment, and team members are provided a Mac laptop for their work.&nbsp;</p> <h2>Minimum qualifications</h2> <p>In this role, you bring applied expertise and the ability to own components of a project or workstream end-to-end. You work with cross-functional partners, manage project-level milestones and risk, and contribute to budget planning.</p> <p>We don't expect a perfect match across every category. What matters is relevant experience, genuine interest in the work, and a mindset for growth</p> <p><strong>Leadership and people</strong></p> <ul> <li><strong>Experience</strong>: 5–7 years of experience in the same or similar roles, including performing field scans and secondary research to evaluate markets for product creation. You have contributed to projects or workstreams beyond assigned tasks.</li> <li><strong>Stakeholder and cross-functional partnership</strong>: You work with teammates and key cross-functional partners for the project or workstream. You coordinate cross-functional work and hold partners accountable for on-time delivery.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Strategy, execution, and data</strong></p> <ul> <li><strong>Domain expertise</strong>: Strong background in product research, ideally within EdTech or social impact. You bring applied knowledge of market evaluation methods, including field scans and secondary research, and you're building depth within a project or workstream. Ability to use low-code/no-code solutions to fuel AI-driven data scraping in major company-approved platforms like Claude and/or Perplexity.</li> <li><strong>Strategic thinking and execution</strong>: You own components of a project or a routine workstream within a team. You solve problems within your assigned work and identify cross-project or cross-team issues. You connect your work to broader team goals.</li> <li><strong>Project management</strong>: You plan and manage components of a project or workstream, including cross-functional dependencies. You set milestones, flag risks, and hold contributors accountable to deliver.</li> <li><strong>Secondary Data and analytics</strong>: You use secondary data to develop insights and make decisions within owned components of a project or workstream, synthesizing research findings into clear, actionable insights.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Communication, collaboration, and technology fluency</stro