Manager - Strategic Research Group

We have an exciting opportunity for a Manager - Strategic Research Group to join our Research and Library team, based in A&O Shearman's London office.

Research and Library team - London

Global Research and Library proactively serves internal and external clients with trusted, actionable and technology-enabled intelligence and resources across nearly 50 offices. The department provides four key services:

Library (global service): firm wide support in procurement and management of information resources.

Research (global service): transactional day-to-day research support and a bespoke strategic research service.

Global community liaison: guidance and support to local research and library teams through the development and management of global systems; provision of advice, expertise and coordination of projects.

Client services: contribution to client-facing products and the development of A&O Shearman Research and Library branded products.

What you will do

The Strategic Research Group provides in-depth, bespoke analysis and research support to client teams and business development. They work across the global firm, supporting both management initiatives that drive new business opportunities for the firm and client teams as needed. SRG are embedded into the business and build close relationships with partners, sector and practice leads and BD teams; understanding the needs of BD and client teams and providing analysis that drives new business opportunities, shape strategic initiatives and support directly on live matters.

The Strategic Research Manager will seek to proactively engage with key stakeholders and establish close relationships. The post holder is tasked with understanding stakeholder needs and developing creative analysis to meet these. The Strategic Research Manager will proactively identify opportunities; liaise with fee earners and the Business Development community; offer their expertise and input in respect of the best use of our information assets; and determine the most relevant approach to support the firm's analysis requirements.

The Strategic Research Manager uses a variety of resources to provide considered, comprehensive research outputs that support the firm. This involves interpreting data, analyzing trends and writing reports as required. In detail the role involves:

Producing detailed, insightful research and analysis that brings deep, timely insights to inform our internal clients and external clients of the firm;

Building on the team's existing relationships, as well as actively seeking to develop new relationships, with fee earners, senior BD and other key stakeholders across the firm;

Taking responsibility as the expert for one or more sectors, as well as being a product expert, both in terms of different practices that the firm serves and key databases;

Interviewing requesters to understand and scope their needs and requirements, proactively making suggestions as to how research requests and projects can be enhanced;

Responsible for managing large research and analysis projects, from scoping to resourcing and delivery of the final output;

Producing detailed reports that provide in-depth analysis of clients/sectors, highlighting business opportunities; potential impact on the firm and for clients;

Inputting into external content and thought leadership for the firm. Developing ideas for topics that will impact clients; developing bespoke analysis to support hypothesis; writing content alongside Global Content Team.

Selecting the appropriate resources - and on occasion identifying new resources - to address the needs of the business. This involves checking resources for accuracy, consistency and timeliness;

Deliver inductions to senior lateral hires and newly promoted partners, to ensure that they understand the value of the function

Collaborating with colleagues across the network on the development of research and analysis approaches, methodologies and final output;

Contributing to the training of colleagues and act as a mentor, as and when required.

The post holder will both manage and contribute to a range of projects. Examples include:

Identifying opportunities to use information assets to develop new SRG Research branded reports, as the business requires;

Providing recommendations on research and analysis approach, the merits of different data sets in support of firm initiatives and projects;

Building stakeholder engagement, designing products and testing them with users;

Identifying key data providers and then working with colleagues to determine if the firm should invest in them;

Assessing the cost (both monetary and in terms of staff time) of products and making recommendations on their implementation.

What you will have Relevant professional experience as a research analyst or data analyst

Direct management experience in an analysis and research setting;

Excellent all-round analysis and research skills, covering business, sector and financial research;

Ability to manage expectations and negotiate deadlines, along with strong organizational skills;

Strong writing skills, including the ability to abstract and summarize complex arguments and draw conclusions that align to the firm's interests and/or help to identify opportunities;

Numerical fluency and the ability to present data in an effective way, either through graphics or text;

Ability to build and develop relationships at all levels of the organization, including senior executive level, and have credibility as an expert;

Strong technical skills in key financial products, particularly Capital IQ, Pitchbook, FactSet and LSEG;

Experience of creating reports using the functionality of Word and PowerPoint, and competency in the use of Excel; Power BI experience a plus;

A strategic and commercial mindset, with the ability to think about the bigger picture in respect of how research can play a part in supporting the success of the organization;

Proactive approach with the ability to work on own initiative and manage own workload;

Takes a collaborate approach on larger projects, engaging colleagues with the objective of delivering the best outcome for our internal clients.

The Strategic Research Manager must be a credible, capable professional who is able to build and maintain productive relationships with senior lawyers, senior BD people, key stakeholders and peers across the business;Be confident in promoting Strategic Research Group Services to the firm, globally, and seek opportunities to do this; be comfortable presenting to senior execu