Principal Research Strategist (San Francisco)

Principal Research Strategist

Be the face of Conveo's Insight function in the US: the research expert our biggest clients call first, and the commercial partner who helps us win our largest deals.

Location: San Francisco, with regular in-person time with the West Coast team + client travel expected

About Conveo

Conveo is the AI research platform enabling fast, affordable, and high quality consumer / B2B research. Global brands like Unilever, Google, and Orange use our AI video interviewer to generate insights across marketing, product, and research teams.

The Context

AI moderation is changing what research can do. Qual depth at quant scale, in days rather than months. Our US client base is growing fast, and the question our biggest clients now ask is no longer "does AI moderation work?" but "what can we do now that was never possible before?" Answering that question, rigorously and commercially, is how we win and grow our most important accounts.

That is why we're hiring a Principal Research Strategist for the US. You'll be the face of Conveo's Insight function in the market. Every major US client will know you. You'll touch all of them, their biggest projects, and their biggest initiatives. You'll work side by side with Sales on our largest deals, with Marketing to build our brand, with Product to invent new methodologies, and with our Research Impact team to crack the hardest client problems.

You’ll spend roughly 70% of your time winning and designing big client programmes with Sales, and ~30% on product, marketing and researcher support.

This is a role with a real say in the strategy of the whole business. It is not for someone looking for a 9-to-5. It's for someone who wants more impact than they've had at any company before.

Your Mission

1. Design research that sets the standard for AI moderation

You are the methodological authority. When a client has a hard research problem, you design the answer, and it is both innovative and rigorous.

• Design methodologies for our clients' most important programs, especially ongoing listening programs and trackers

• Bring quant rigor to AI-moderated research: sample composition, quotas, weighting, statistical testing, and consistency over time

• Solve clients' most difficult research challenges within the context of Conveo's AI moderation platform

• Combine approaches like MaxDiff, conjoint, price testing, JTBD, and A&U with AI moderation in ways that weren't possible before

• Set the methodological bar for how Conveo research is designed, run, and reported

2. Become the trusted insight partner to our biggest clients, and help close our biggest deals

You build relationships so close that clients come to you as their insight expert, whether the question is about Conveo or not.

• Own senior relationships with insight leaders and executives at our largest US accounts, up to C-suite

• Be involved in every major client's biggest projects and initiatives

• Partner with Sales on our largest deals: discovery, solution design, pitching, and closing

• Shape proposals that turn a first study into a multi-year, multi-team program

• Spot expansion opportunities early and bring them to the commercial team

3. Build Conveo's brand as the most trusted voice in AI moderation

With Marketing, you make Conveo the name the US insights industry trusts when it comes to AI moderation.

• Represent Conveo on stage at major industry conferences and events

• Lead thought leadership: talks, webinars, articles, and points of view on the future of research

• Publish research-on-research that proves the quality and validity of AI moderation

• Build a personal profile in the US insights community that elevates Conveo with it

4. Invent what's next with Product and Research Impact

You bring a creative, builder mindset to what research can become, and you raise the bar across the team.

• Work with Product to build new features and invent brand-new methodologies that were never possible before

• Bring the voice of our most sophisticated clients into the roadmap

• Be the go-to resource for our Research Impact team: unblock client issues, solve the hardest problems, and level up the team's craft

• Build our syndicated research offering: what it should look like, which topics we own, and how we commercialize it

• Help drive the strategy of the entire Conveo business as part of the senior leadership group

What We're Looking For

Must-haves

• 10+ years in research and insights, ideally across both agency and client side (not a requirement)

• In-depth knowledge of quant and qual techniques, including sample composition, weighting, statistical techniques, MaxDiff, conjoint, price testing, and ongoing tracking

• Strong command of research frameworks such as Jobs to be Done, unmet needs, A&U, and innovation research

• Hands-on experience with AI moderation, a clear understanding of the methodology, and real conviction about its future

• Extensive experience working with senior stakeholders up to C-suite level

• A charismatic presenter, someone people naturally gravitate towards

• Strong commercial instinct, with a track record of helping win or grow significant business

Mindset

• High agency, low ego

• Startup energy: you want to build something, not maintain something

• Creative and inventive: new methodologies excite you, and you don't wait for permission to try them

• Rigorous without being rigid: you know when precision matters and when speed does

• AI-native: you use AI tools every day and see where research is going before others do

Nice to have

• An existing network among insight leaders at major US brands

• A track record of speaking at industry events or publishing thought leadership

• Experience at a start up

What Success Looks Like

After 6 to 12 months:

• Every major US client knows you by name, and their insight leaders call you first when they have a hard question

• You have played a direct role in closing several of our largest US deals

• At least one flagship listening or tracking program you designed is live with a major client

• Conveo has a visible presence on the main stage at key US industry events

• You've shipped at least one new methodology or feature with Product that clients are using

• The Research Impact team solves hard problems faster and better because you're there

• Our syndicated offering has a clear shape, a commercial model, and a first product in market or in pilot

Why Join Conveo?

• Own a high-impact senior role at a hyper-growth, YC-backed AI company

• Competitive salary ($180k-$250k) and meaningful equity.

• Help define what great research looks like in the AI era, and be known for it

• Direct access to founders and senior leadership, with a real voice in company strategy

• Work with world-class enterprise clients

• Offices in London, Antwerp, and New York. This role is remote, but we expect you to be based close by to San Francisco for regular in-person meetings.

• Regular socials: rooftop drinks, team dinners, run clubs, and more.

• Twice-yearly off-sites to places worth travelling to. Austria, Las Vegas, and Portugal.

• Private health coverage (health, dental, vision)

• 401(k) with 4% company match

• 20 days vacation + US federal holidays

• Refer someone great and earn up to $5,000.