Research Manager, Audience Insights

About the Role

We’re looking for an Audience Insights, Research Manager to build and lead a team of researchers who will turn data into powerful insights, shaping the future of our content, business strategy, and product development. Reporting to the VP, Media, you will collaborate closely with our editorial, product, and strategy teams to produce market-leading research reports that SaaS executives rely on to make key decisions.

Your mission?

Develop and manage a research program that delivers original data, deep insights, and compelling storytelling—making our content indispensable and our strategy data-informed. You will architect the research framework, oversee data collection and analysis, and ensure insights are actionable, engaging, and accessible across teams. This is an opportunity to shape how we leverage research to inform business strategy, power market reports, and build a knowledge-driven content portfolio.

Who You Are

You’re a strategic thinker with a passion for data-driven storytelling. You thrive at the intersection of research and content, understanding how data can be transformed into insights that influence decision-making. You’re a natural leader who enjoys mentoring teams, setting research standards, and delivering high-impact reports that go beyond surface-level observations. You're energized by both storytelling and systems-thinking.

What You'll Be Doing (Responsibilities)

• Lead the Research Function – Establish and oversee a structured research framework that combines primary and secondary, qualitative and quantitative methodologies to generate meaningful insights.
• Deliver High-Impact Reports – Produce market research reports, industry benchmarking studies, competitive intelligence briefs, and SaaS trend analyses that guide both external audiences and internal business strategies.
• Turn Data into Strategy – Work with content, strategy, product, and revenue teams to ensure research findings shape editorial direction, go-to-market plans, audience growth strategies, and monetization models.
• Ensure Research is Actionable and Usable – Structure, tag, and document data in ways that make it easily discoverable and applicable across content, product, and revenue teams. Design and implement taxonomies and metadata frameworks to enhance data usability.
• Scale Research Operations – Implement tools, automated systems, and best practices to make research workflows efficient, repeatable, and high-quality. Ensure scalability and compliance through data governance.
• Stay Ahead of Industry Trends – Track SaaS market movements, emerging technologies, and competitive dynamics to keep our research relevant and forward-looking.
• Engage with Thought Leaders – Conduct structured interviews with SaaS power users, consultants, community members, vendors, product managers, and industry analysts to bring real-world perspectives to our insights.
• Develop & Mentor a Team – Lead and grow a high-performing team of analysts. Provide mentorship, clear feedback, and developmental opportunities to help them become strategic thinkers and storytellers.
• Enable Internal Teams – Provide training, documentation, and tools that empower other teams to interpret and use research insights effectively in their own work.
• Experiment with Insight Delivery – Explore innovative formats such as interactive dashboards, forecasting tools, executive briefings, and visual storytelling to increase the reach and impact of our insights.

How Your Success Will Be Measured

• Audience & Business Impact – How research influences internal decision-making and external content engagement.
• Cadence of Delivery – Volume of surveys, interviews, and reports delivered per month by type.
• Data Usability – How well research findings are structured, tagged, and utilized across teams.
• Industry Influence – Whether our reports become a trusted source for SaaS executives and industry leaders.
• Team Growth & Development – The performance, development, and strategic maturity of your research team.

Your Skillset Includes

• 5+ years of experience in market research, business intelligence, or industry analysis (preferably in SaaS, tech, or digital media).
• Strong ability to turn data into insights that drive decision-making.
• Curiosity and ambition to turn data into strategic foresight, not just validation.
• Experience leading a team of analysts or researchers.
• Proficiency in quantitative and qualitative research methodologies.
• Expertise in survey design, data analysis, and competitive research.
• Strong storytelling skills—able to create compelling narratives from complex data.
• Excellent communication skills (written and verbal).
• Experience with data visualization, reporting tools, and research automation.
• Ability to collaborate across content, product, and strategy teams.

Nice to Haves

• Experience in SaaS industry research or technology market analysis.
• Knowledge of tools like Tableau, Power BI, or SQL for data analysis.
• Background in journalism, content strategy, or editorial research.
• Experience presenting insights to executive leadership or investor stakeholders.
• Familiarity with SEO and audience research methodologies.

Salary Statement:

This full time position is available as a remote position, with an annual salary in the range of $100,000 to $160,000 CAD. The range is a guide for the expected skills, knowledge and experience for new hires based in Canada only. Seniority level and salary ranges are determined through interviews and a review of education, experience, knowledge, skills, abilities of the applicant, equity with other team members, and alignment with market data. This means ranges will vary for candidates based outside of Canada and/or at different seniority levels. In addition to annual salary, full time employees are eligible for a discretionary bonus and a comprehensive benefits package.

About Us:

Black and White Zebra is a rapidly growing, independent media tech company headquartered in Vancouver, B.C. Canada. Since 2012, our portfolio of influential digital publications has been helping millions of people succeed at work.

We got our start in 2011 as The Digital Project Manager blog, founded by our CEO Ben Aston. Since then, we’ve grown into an international team of 70+ creators, strategists, and innovators with a portfolio of more than 14 online publications. We enjoy an impact-driven environment that combines the agility of a startup with the creativity of an agency and the diversity of a global company.

All of this growth is driven by our commitment to our mission: In a world of evolving skills, practices, and technology, we’re creating a playbook for the future of work and empowering communities to create it with us.

Want to learn more? Watch this video to learn why the team love working at BWZ!

Diversity Equity and Inclusion: 

Black and White Zebra is an equal opportunity employer and considers all candidates for employment regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, citizenship, age, disability, marital status, military or veteran’s status (including protected veterans, as may be required by federal law), sexual orientation or any other category protected by law. We celebrate all backgrounds and attributes that continue to help make our team impactful, iterative, adaptable, and fun!