Research Strategist

Cengage Group

About The Position

We believe in the power and joy of learning At Cengage, our employees have a direct impact in helping students around the world discover the power and joy of learning. We are bonded by our shared purpose – driving innovation that helps millions of learners improve their lives and achieve their dreams through education. Cengage's portfolio of businesses supports student choice by providing a range of pathways that help learners achieve their goals and lead a choice-filled life. Our culture values inclusion, engagement, and discovery Our business is driven by our strong culture, and we know that creating an inclusive workplace is absolutely essential to the success of our company and our learners, as well as our individual well-being. We recognize the value of diverse perspectives in everything we do, and strive to ensure employees of all levels and backgrounds feel empowered to voice their ideas and bring their authentic selves to work. We achieve these priorities through programs, benefits, and initiatives that are integrated into the fabric of how we work every day. To learn more, please see https://www.cengagegroup.com/about/inclusion-and-belonging/. At Cengage, we prioritize building products advised by deep customer understanding, continuous learning, and positive relationships with our customers. This position plays a significant role in enabling product teams. It focuses on crafting, scaling, and sustaining research using multiple methods for market and product development. This role focuses on building engaged research communities that strengthen customer rapport, enable continuous discovery, and provide trusted feedback loops. The Research Strategist will collaborate with cross-functional partners to identify the most efficient ways to conduct research. They will apply innovative ways to increase the speed, scale, and efficiency of insight generation while maintaining high research quality and participant experience.

Requirements

Proven experience in user research, research operations, community management, or related fields
Demonstrated experience building and managing research communities, panels, or customer engagement programs
Strong understanding of qualitative and quantitative research methodologies used in product development
Experience collaborating with teams on research approaches and methodology selection
Familiarity with AI-enabled research or analysis tools to scale insight generation
Excellent communication, facilitation, and stakeholder-management skills

Nice To Haves

Experience supporting product, UX, or market research teams
Background in market development, customer engagement, or go-to-market research
Experience applying AI tools for qualitative synthesis, tagging, sentiment analysis, or insight generation
Excitement working across multiple teams and influencing without direct authority
Experience developing research governance, consent, and data-management practices

Responsibilities

Design, launch, and lead research communities (e.g., customer panels, advisory groups, insight forums) that support ongoing product discovery and validation
Build long-term relationships with customers to cultivate trust, engagement, and sustained participation in research
Actively engage community members to gather feedback across the product lifecycle, including discovery, concept testing, validation, and post-launch learning
Support market development efforts by using research communities to understand customer needs, behaviors, and market dynamics
Surface insights that advise product positioning, messaging, and go-to-market strategies
Collaborate with product, marketing, and strategy teams to align community insights with broader business objectives
In consultation with product teams, recommend the most effective research methodologies based on goals, timelines, and strategies
Educate and enable teams on protocols for community-based research and customer engagement
Design and operationalize scalable research frameworks and playbooks tailored to product team needs
Leverage the latest tools and methods to accelerate research workflows, including participant segmentation, thematic analysis, insight synthesis, and reporting
Balance efficiency with human judgment to ensure insights are accurate, ethical, and actionable
Track and report on community health, engagement, and research impact for product teams