Gravity Research is hiring a Principal, Client Advisory for our societal and reputational intelligence service.

Gravity Research, an advisory company incubated at National Journal, is a premier custom research and insights organization supporting corporate, association, and nonprofit clients. Our mission is to empower organizations to anticipate risk, spot opportunities, and rationalize reputational concerns against a backdrop of evolving public pressures.

What is Gravity Research's Societal and Reputational Intelligence Service?

Gravity Research’s newest product is a research service that helps Fortune 500 companies make informed decisions about when and how to engage on societal issues, such as racial equity, LGBTQ+ rights, climate, and human rights. We support clients by monitoring the current conversation around these issues, benchmarking our clients’ actions compared to their peers, and analyzing the advantages and risks of engaging on specific issues.

We are looking for a strategic consultant and client executive to advise our corporate clients on how to smartly navigate society’s most important and challenging issues and represent Gravity Research in industry events and thought leadership opportunities.

The Role:

The Principal, Client Advisory is a critical member of the societal and reputational intelligence leadership team, serving as the face of our research and strategically translating our research to a wide variety of Fortune 500 executives. Gravity Research clients benefit from having an advisor on-call, able to translate the research findings to their specific contexts and brief C-Suite executives on the risks their company may need to consider when debating weighing in on politically-contentious societal issues. The Principal, Client Advisory will develop strong, consultative relationships with C-Suite executives and facilitate dinners, panel discussions, and broader events to build Gravity Research’s thought leadership in the social and reputational risk management space.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Manage a portfolio of several dozen client relationships, serving as the on-call advisor for senior corporate executives.
• Leverage subject matter expertise across a variety of industries and societal issues to deliver custom insights to clients to help facilitate decision-making.
• Provide crisis and on-call support to C-Suite executives when debating weighing in on societal issues.
• Conduct virtual and in-person research briefings, including individual client briefings, broader webinars, and roundtables.
• Serve as a liaison between both the research team and the revenue team, ensuring research is appropriately customized based on client needs and supporting the account renewal process.

Qualifications of the Ideal candidate:

The ideal candidate will have strong familiarity with the range of contentious societal issues currently at play, a solid understanding of the media and political environment, and excellent public speaking and consulting skills. The candidate will have the ability to develop trusted relationships with corporate executives, translate complex and nuanced research for clients, and facilitate engaging discussions on societal issue risk management practices.

Specific qualifications include:

• 6+ years of experience in client-service roles. While all backgrounds will be considered, experience working at a strategy or management consulting firm, political consulting firm, or corporate law firm is preferred.
• A highly analytic, natural problem solver, able to respond to client questions in real-time and facilitate engaging discussions.
• Excellent oral presentation skills with a proven track-record of hosting executive-level briefings and larger scale events, keeping audiences engaged and delivering clear insights.
• The ability to highlight key insights within a complex set of data, synthesize large amounts of information, and then clearly explain these insights to clients.
• Earned Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree preferred (MBA, MPP, JD).
• Willingness to travel to clients (up to 25%).
• An extrovert with a passion for client services and facilitating dynamic conversations.
• Entrepreneurial spirit; Track record of building new initiatives from conception to execution.
• Prodigious work ethic and spirit of generosity.
• A full course of the COVID-19 vaccination is required for employment at National Journal.
• Active contributor to a diverse and inclusive workplace

Employment Type: Full-time

Compensation: The salary range for this role is $150,000-$200,000 in base pay with the possibility of performance-based bonuses.

Location: This job is based in Washington, DC. Gravity Research operates on a hybrid schedule, with employees required to be in the office every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. This role will include up to 25% travel for client engagements and events.

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About Us

Across Gravity Research, generally, the firm looks for three “pillar gifts” in you, and everyone else. In all of us, these are more aspirational than actual, but they are central in our intentions –

• Force of Ideas: At the center of Gravity Research’s work are the ideas within our work. We believe that ideas—the good and not—have consequences. Our ultimate objective is to bring rigor, insight, and intellectual honesty to the goal of separating the bad from the good, and giving voice, argument, and flight to maintaining the latter.

• Spirit of Generosity: Gravity Research seeks in its ranks a spirit of generosity: a natural disposition in each colleague toward service and selfless conduct. Our writing should be cut from the same cloth—critical on the merits, but informed by charity and forbearance in measuring motive and personal character.

• Radical Responsibility: We give our people a lot of responsibility early on, and our top performers embrace it. We believe in holding ourselves and our colleagues accountable, taking ownership over big things, striving for excellence, and celebrating success.

Gravity Research is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We do not discriminate against our applicants because of race, color, religion, sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation, and pregnancy), national origin, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, or any other status protected by applicable law.