Senior Research Lead (Thought Leadership), Customer Insights

Leadout Capital; Atlanta (GA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Salesforce’s Customer Insights team is seeking a Research Lead to own Buyer Insights and Thought Leadership programs, shaping internal strategy and external narrative. You’ll design credible studies, translate findings into stories, and work closely with PR and Marketing to ensure accuracy and impact.

You’ll lead a hands‑on research program, drive data visualization and storytelling, and bring AI‑driven speed to the research lifecycle while coordinating external suppliers and partners.

Qualifications

• Experience in primary research design and execution.
• Ability to synthesize findings into actionable insights.
• Experience collaborating with PR/Marketing and external vendors.
• Proficiency using AI to accelerate research workflows.
• Strong storytelling and writing capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Lead and execute primary research across Buyer Insights and Thought Leadership programs.
• Drive and manage major public-facing research portfolio, from study design to publication.
• Design and execute mixed-method studies with qualitative and quantitative approaches.
• Synthesize findings across programs to surface integrated conclusions.
• Drive stakeholder alignment and articulate research value to budget holders.
• Translate quantitative findings into clear visuals and compelling narratives for diverse audiences.
• Leverage AI tools to scale research processes from design to storytelling.
• Manage suppliers and research partners to maintain quality and timelines.

Skills

Genuine Curiosity

Research Experience

AI Fluency

Comfort with Ambiguity

Editorial Storytelling

Job description

About the Role

Join Salesforce's Customer Insights team, a core function within the marketing organization responsible for delivering objective, actionable insights that shape our marketing strategy and external narrative.

As Research Lead you will own research across two of the team's most visible programs: Buyer Insights, which informs how Salesforce goes to market, and Thought Leadership, which shapes our external narrative through major public-facing reports. You bring both research rigor and editorial instinct: you know how to design a credible study and how to make the findings land.

This is a hands‑on role for someone with strong research instincts, a curiosity about buyers and the broader market landscape, and the drive to turn findings into stories that influence real decisions. Experience using AI to accelerate and enhance research work is a must.

What You’ll Do

• Lead and Execute Primary Research.

  • Lead Buyer Insights Research:Design and execute research that builds a deep understanding of Salesforce's buyers (e.g., CIO, CDO studies), their motivations, pain points, and decision‑making dynamics to deeply inform internal decision‑making and strategic marketing for key products like Agentforce. Translate findings into recommendations that inform go‑to‑market strategy, product marketing, and competitive positioning.

  • Drive Thought Leadership Research Programs:Own your portion of the team’s major public‑facing research portfolio, including large‑scale annual "State of" reports (e.g., State of Service, State of IT). Manage the full lifecycle from study design through external publication, working closely with PR and Marketing to ensure findings are accurate, compelling, and ready for the world.

  • Design and Execute Mixed‑Method Studies:Translate business questions into research plans that draw on the right mix of qualitative and quantitative methods. Work with external suppliers for most studies, and get hands‑on when speed demands it, whether that means programming a survey or pulling a crosstab yourself.

• Synthesize Across Programs.Connect dots across buyer insights, thought leadership findings, and other team research to surface integrated conclusions. The most valuable insights often live at the intersection of multiple studies.

• Drive Stakeholder Alignment and Research Strategy.Scope studies with a clear point of view on what they'll answer and why it's worth the investment. Build the case compellingly when budget needs to comes from stakeholders — connecting the research to decisions they already care about. Proactively engage stakeholders to ensure research is scoped, prioritized, and positioned to drive real decisions.

• Data Visualization & Storytelling.Translate quantitative findings into clear, compelling visuals that communicate a "so what" to any audience. Strong data storytelling — choosing the right chart, framing the right narrative, and building slides that drive decisions — is as critical in this role as strong writing.

• Bring a Storyteller's Instinct.Understand how findings connect to the market’s broader narrative, what resonates with media and business audiences, and how to position insights for external impact — not only accuracy, but also value and influence.

• Leverage AI to Scale Your Impact.Use AI tools across the research lifecycle, from study design and analysis to synthesis and storytelling. Bring a curious, experimental mindset to finding where AI accelerates your work, and share what you learn with the broader team.

• Manage Suppliers and Research Partners.Own day‑to‑day relationships with external research agencies and vendors, holding them to high standards of quality and keeping projects on track.

What We’re Looking For

• Genuine Curiosity — About buyers, business, technology, and the world. The best researchers bring outside context in, not just the data they collected.

• Research Experience — A strong foundation in primary research, quant crucial, qual a plus. You know how to design a credible study, interpret the results honestly, and know the limits of what the data can tell you.

• AI Fluency — You’ve built workflows around AI tools and have a point of view on what works. You’d never let AI distort a finding in the name of a cleaner story.

• Comfort with Ambiguity — You know how to make progress when things are unclear, and when to **escalate** rather than push through alone.

• Strong Editorial Instincts — You write and edit well. You know the difference between a finding and a story, and you can close that gap. You’ve worked in or alongside communications, content, or PR — or you’ve just always written like it mattered.