Senior Expert - Tech & Innovation Thought Leadership

The Economist Group • Washington, DC

3h • Hybrid

About The Position

The Economist Group (TEG) is an organisation dedicated to driving progress through innovation, independence, and rigour. It empowers individuals and organisations to understand and address critical global challenges by providing analytical rigour, global expertise, and evidence-based insights across its four businesses: The Economist, Economist Impact, Economist Intelligence, and Economist Education. Economist Impact specifically combines the depth of a think-tank with the creativity of a media brand to engage influential global audiences, believing that evidence-based insights can foster debate and progress. Its Policy & Insights team uses qualitative and quantitative research to generate insights for businesses, governments, and international organisations. The Senior Expert, Tech & Innovation role is crucial for delivering Economist Impact’s independent thought leadership research programmes, ensuring high editorial quality. Senior Experts manage multiple research projects, act as key contacts for funders and clients, and lead content leads and analysts, providing direction, oversight, and challenge to research and outputs. Based in New York or London, this role reports to the Global Head, Tech & Innovation, with a strong global mandate. The Senior Expert will shape and deliver high-quality research and thought leadership on technologies and innovation systems transforming economies, industries, and societies. The role focuses on content and intellectual leadership, including designing distinctive research programmes, ensuring analytical rigour, sharpening editorial quality, and developing compelling, policy-relevant insights for senior audiences. It also supports proposal and business development efforts without direct commercial targets. A successful candidate will possess demonstrated expertise in Tech & Innovation, strong editorial sensibilities, analytical and critical thinking skills, and superior written and oral communication skills, ensuring content reflects The Economist Group’s values of independence and integrity while delivering client value.

Requirements

• Ten years or more of research, consulting or journalist experience, with at least two years in a managerial position.
• Demonstrated subject-matter expertise in Tech & Innovation, including one or more of the following: artificial intelligence, digital policy, frontier technologies, innovation systems, industrial strategy, technology governance, digital infrastructure, cybersecurity, productivity or competitiveness.
• Strong knowledge of global policy, business and technology dynamics.
• External credibility as a subject-matter expert based on publications, public speaking, media appearances or related profile.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including demonstrated ability to translate complex research and analysis into clear and jargon-free prose highlighting key findings and policy implications.
• Strong editorial sensibilities and demonstrated expertise on the relevant topic area, showing a clear understanding of target audience concerns and interest areas, key trends and the ability to identify unique insight that will resonate and stand out.
• Strong data and policy analysis skills, with experience working with both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies; ability to resolve complex and unfamiliar problems in a timely manner.
• Client management experience; comfort with client interaction and interest in building relationships.
• Strong interpersonal skills to create effective working relationships with clients, partners and internal teams.
• Proven ability to motivate and lead project teams and meet deadlines under pressure.
• Experience contributing to proposal development and supporting business development activities.
• Energy and desire to grow as part of a highly entrepreneurial team.

Nice To Haves

• Experience working across regions, and particularly with US and international issues, would be an advantage.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the Senior Expert for sponsored thought leadership programmes aligned with Tech & Innovation, with a particular focus on global themes in artificial intelligence, frontier technologies and innovation policy, while also contributing to selected regional and cross-practice projects as needed.
• Contribute to programmes across other expertise areas, including trade and geopolitics, sustainability, health and economic competitiveness, as needed.
• Be responsible for designing and developing programmes, in addition to overseeing the production of thought leadership content outputs, including reports, briefing papers, articles and infographics, ensuring they reflect the latest trends and context and offer genuinely new insight.
• Design, direct and leverage Economist Impact research teams to produce original insight and analysis.
• Provide strong content leadership across projects, setting the intellectual direction of programmes and ensuring outputs are analytically rigorous, editorially sharp and relevant to target audiences.
• Write and communicate in clear, Economist-style, jargon-free prose.
• Direct external contributors and edit content outputs to ensure they meet quality standards and deliver value to clients and target audiences.
• Manage multiple research projects and client relationships simultaneously.
• Leverage both qualitative and quantitative methodologies to deliver high-quality content.
• Undertake qualitative interviews with experts in order to inform and support the production of high-quality insight and content.
• Take initial responsibility for final results, quality of content outputs and overall client satisfaction, working closely with Impact Partnership Leads who hold ultimate accountability for programme outcomes, and at times serving as Partnership Leads directly.
• Present interim and final project deliverables to clients.
• Serve as an expertise lead for core thematic areas and initiatives within Tech & Innovation, staying on top of the latest global trends and developing ideas for research and flagship initiatives.
• Help strengthen Economist Impact’s Tech & Innovation presence by identifying themes, debates and policy developments that can be translated into distinctive thought leadership and commercially relevant programme ideas.
• Produce high-quality, compelling and insight-led editorial content in multiple formats, developing a clear editorial line and distinct Impact voice.
• Moderate, present research and represent Economist Impact at external, high-profile events.
• Contribute to the development of Economist Impact’s perspective on major technology and innovation issues, with a focus on practical, policy-relevant and commercially relevant insights for business and government audiences.
• Support the development and articulation of Economist Impact’s house view on the most consequential technology questions facing business leaders, policymakers and wider society, in close collaboration with the Global Head, Tech & Innovation and other colleagues across The Economist Group.
• Actively support business development activities through the generation of compelling ideas and proposals, particularly in relation to Tech & Innovation opportunities.
• Partner effectively with commercial colleagues to shape client propositions, contribute to pitches and bring subject-matter authority to programme design.
• Build and maintain relationships with key clients and external stakeholders to support the development and renewal of business.
• Contribute to business development and proposal work as a senior content lead, without holding direct commercial or revenue targets.
• Coach, train and mentor other team members in matters of career and personal development.
• Work with other parts of The Economist Group to secure valuable input to Economist Impact research projects.
• Manage Managers, Senior Analysts and Analysts, including planning and overseeing project resourcing and the career development of team member(s).
• Provide day-to-day direction and quality assurance across projects, while escalating broader team or strategic decisions to the Global Head as appropriate.
• Help define and evolve coverage in Artificial intelligence and the economy, including AI and the labour market, productivity, growth and competitiveness, AI governance and steering towards good, geopolitics of AI, trust, information integrity and the social impacts of AI.
• Help define and evolve coverage in Frontier and exponential technologies, including quantum technologies, biotechnology and bio-innovation, space and the commercial space economy, advanced manufacturing and robotics, next-generation connectivity and infrastructure, energy- and climate-adjacent innovation.
• Help define and evolve coverage in Policy, business and innovation systems, including innovation policy and industrial strategy, technology adoption and diffusion across sectors, competitiveness, resilience and economic transformation, the intersection of technology, regulation, trade and economic security, public-private collaboration to accelerate innovation and implementation.

Benefits

• Highly competitive pension or 401(k) plan
• Private health insurance
• 24/7 access to counselling and wellbeing resources through our Employee Assistance Program
• Work From Anywhere program, which allows you to work from any location where you have the legal right to do so for up to 25 days per year
• Generous annual leave
• Parental leave
• Dedicated days off for volunteering
• Dedicated days off for moving home
• Free access to all The Economist content, including an online subscription, our range of apps, podcasts and more

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed