Strategic Research Lead

Strategic Research Lead - Singapore/Sydney/Perth/Hong Kong Know-how, Library & Training Hong Kong SAR Hybrid (combination of office & remote working) A&O Shearman is a new global industry‑leading law firm, with nearly 50 offices in 28 countries worldwide. Our fluency in English law, US law, and the laws of the world’s most dynamic markets, enables us to provide unmatched insight and seamless delivery to clients. We work on challenging and important deals and disputes that have the potential to shape the future. We offer exceptional opportunities for our people; opportunities to work for the world’s leading businesses; to transform the status quo, and to deliver your best work, helping you and your career to thrive, while delivering unparalleled outcomes for our clients. Whether you’re helping clients solve complex challenges, transforming the ways we manage our business, or ensuring the smooth‑running of our operations, this is an environment where you can belong and excel. We provide first‑rate training and development, we are committed to diversity, equity and inclusion and we provide support and ways of working that help you optimise your wellbeing. What truly defines a career with us? We recruit the best and ask for the best of you. And together, we will redefine success. Department purpose Global Research and Library proactively serves internal and external clients with trusted, actionable and technology‑enabled intelligence and resources across nearly 50 offices. The department provides four key services: Library (global service): firm‑wide support in procurement and management of information resources. Research (global service): transactional day‑to‑day research support and a bespoke strategic research service. Global community liaison: guidance and support to local research and library teams through the development and management of global systems; provision of advice, expertise and coordination of projects. Client services: contribution to client‑facing products and the development of A&O Shearman Research and Library branded products. Role purpose The Strategic Research Group provides in‑depth, bespoke analysis and research support to client teams and business development. They work across the global firm, supporting both management initiatives that drive new business opportunities for the firm and client teams as needed. SRG is embedded into the business and builds close relationships with partners, sector and practice leads and BD teams; understanding the needs of BD and client teams and providing analysis that drives new business opportunities, shapes strategic initiatives and supports directly on live matters. Role and responsibilities Producing detailed, insightful research and analysis that brings deep, timely insights to inform our internal clients and external clients of the firm; Building on the team’s existing relationships, as well as actively seeking to develop new relationships, with fee earners, senior BD and other key stakeholders across the firm; Taking responsibility as the expert for one or more sectors, as well as being a product expert, both in terms of different practices that the firm serves and key databases; Interviewing requesters to understand and scope their needs and requirements, proactively making suggestions as to how research requests and projects can be enhanced; Responsible for managing large research and analysis projects, from scoping to resourcing and delivery of the final output; Producing detailed reports that provide in‑depth analysis of clients/sectors, highlighting business opportunities; potential impact on the firm and for clients; Inputting into external content and thought leadership for the firm; developing ideas for topics that will impact clients; developing bespoke analysis to support hypothesis; writing content alongside Global Content Team; Selecting the appropriate resources – and on occasion identifying new resources – to address the needs of the business; this involves checking resources for accuracy, consistency and timeliness; Partnering with our Practice Librarians to deliver inductions to senior joiners and newly promoted partners, to ensure that they understand the value of the function. The post holder will both manage and contribute to a range of projects. Examples include: Identifying opportunities to use information assets to develop new SRG Research branded reports, as the business requires; Providing recommendations on research and analysis approach, the merits of different data sets in support of firm initiatives and projects; Building stakeholder engagement, designing products and testing them with users; Identifying key data providers and then working with colleagues to determine if the firm should invest in them; Assessing the cost (both monetary and in terms of staff time) of products and making recommendations on their implementation. Relationship management The Strategic Research Lead must be a credible, capable professional who is able to build and maintain productive relationships with senior lawyers, senior BD people, key stakeholders and peers across the business; Be confident in promoting Strategic Research Group Services to the firm, globally, and seek opportunities to do this; be comfortable presenting to senior executives in the business and at clients; Collaborate with colleagues across the network on the development of research and analysis approaches, methodologies and final output; Contribute to the training of colleagues and act as a mentor, as and when required. Key requirements A Bachelors, or Masters degree is preferred; with at least 5-7 years experience as a research analyst or data analyst and at least 2-5 years of direct management experience in an analysis and research setting; Excellent all‑round analysis and research skills, covering business, sector and financial research; Ability to manage expectations and negotiate deadlines, along with strong organisational skills; Strong writing skills, including the ability to abstract and summarise complex arguments and draw conclusions that align to the firm’s interests and/or help to identify opportunities; Numerical fluency and the ability to present data in an effective way, either through graphics or text; Ability to build and develop relationships at all levels of the organisation, including senior executive level, and have credibility as an expert; Strong technical skills in key financial products, particularly Capital IQ, Pitchbook, FactSet and LSEG; Experience of creating reports using the functionality of Word and PowerPoint, and competency in the use of Excel; Power BI experience a plus; A strategic and commercial mindset, with the ability to think about the bigger picture in respect of how research can play a part in supporting the success of the organisation; Proactive approach with the ability to work on own initiative and manage own workload; Takes a collaborative approach on larger projects, engaging colleagues with the objective of delivering the best outcome for our internal clients. Advanced requirements Experience of, and an interest in, delivering research and analysis that offers real insight; The ability to interpret and then articulate key trends from raw data, e.g. deal data, and present it to our internal audience in an engaging, decision‑ready format; Able to source and then evaluate third‑party output in order to determine opportunities that match the firm’s interests, and proactively surface them to key stakeholders and explain why they are relevant; An interest in proactively taking ideas to our internal stakeholders and working with them to enhance our offering; Trusted to work on matters relating to the firm’s strategy and deliver research output to senior members of the firm (and ultimately seek to be retained by these people going forward); Financial modelling experience desirable; Strong sector and investment banking product knowledge, drawing on this knowledge to produce insightful output that can support the strategy of our practice groups and the firm. Who we are looking for A candidate with excellent all‑round communication skills, both oral and written; At least 5-7 years’ experience in a similar research analyst role; A proactive, positive person who really believes in the value that research and analysis can bring to the business; A resourceful, creative and solutions orientated person; A positive mindset that can challenge others constructively and be challenged with the focus on delivering the best outcomes for our business; A character that is resilient yet adaptable; Team orientation at all levels; Be enthusiastic in providing a quality service to our clients; Demonstrate a professional standard of behavior at all times; Treat colleagues and clients with respect and courtesy at all times. Key relationships Strategic Research Group Senior Manager Strategic Research Managers in the Strategic Research Group Global Head of A&O Shearman Research and Library Partners and other client facing fee earners Business Development UK & US Research Desks Knowledge lawyers Practice Librarians #J-18808-Ljbffr