Analyst, Business Development

About the Role

Spencer Stuart seeks to recruit an Analyst, Business Development to work closely with a senior Partner and their core team. This role combines direct apprenticeship with a trusted advisor to CEOs and boards, with the mandate to help build a modern, AI-enabled platform. The Analyst will gain exposure to consequential questions facing CEOs, board directors, and investors, and help transform ideas, conversations, and relationships into a platform that reaches more leaders and creates more meaningful connections. This is not a traditional marketing, business development, or social media role, but sits at the intersection of executive relationships, artificial intelligence, research, writing, media, and business development. Position location Seattle or San Francisco is strongly preferred; exceptional candidates in other U.S. locations, ideally in the Pacific time zone, may be considered.

Key Responsibilities

• Conduct rigorous research on leadership, governance, organizational performance, technology, private equity, and other relevant topics.
• Synthesize executive conversations, academic research, company information, datasets, and market signals into clear hypotheses and distinctive points of view.
• Develop and manage a pipeline of articles, social content, presentations, executive surveys, podcasts, videos, and longer-form projects, ensuring each offers a useful idea.
• Research and prioritize CEOs, board directors, investors, founders, academics, authors, journalists, and other relevant leaders and connectors.
• Identify timely and credible reasons to engage priority relationships and prepare concise executive briefings.
• Support selected business development initiatives by bringing together Firm experience, market intelligence, relationship context, and relevant points of view.
• Capture insights, commitments, and next steps following conversations.
• Use generative AI and automation to strengthen research, synthesis, idea capture, meeting preparation, content development, relationship intelligence, and knowledge management, complying with Spencer Stuart’s confidentiality, data-security, and professional standards.
• Build repeatable systems that connect research, ideas, content, audiences, relationships, conversations, and opportunities.
• Coordinate priorities, production timelines, approvals, and follow-through to ensure strong ideas consistently become finished work.
• Maintain accurate and usable records of priority relationships, conversations, commitments, intellectual capital, and next steps within approved Firm systems.
• Track meaningful indicators of audience quality, relationship development, and opportunity creation.

Requirements & Tech Stack

• Recent college graduate or up to three years of relevant professional experience.
• Exceptional research, writing, synthesis, and analytical skills, with the ability to work across qualitative and quantitative information and make complex ideas clear.
• Excellent project management, organization, attention to detail, and follow-through across multiple priorities.
• Demonstrated curiosity about people, companies, leadership, technology, and how organizations make decisions.
• Practical fluency with generative AI tools such as Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT, or Claude.
• Understanding of LinkedIn and professional social media and how technology and digital engagement can be used thoughtfully to advance ideas and relationships.
• Professional judgment, discretion, and credibility in work involving senior executives and confidential information.
• Permanent U.S. work authorization.
• Helpful but not required: experience with CRM or relationship-management systems, podcast production, student journalism, long-form writing, or structured academic research.

Qualifications

• Intellectually curious, self-directed builder energized by turning ambiguity into action and ideas into something tangible.
• Strong trajectory, initiative, judgment, and quality of thinking.
• Ability to read broadly, challenge conventional interpretations, test evidence, and use AI to sharpen thinking.
• Ability to move fluidly between research, writing, executive briefings, engagement analysis, and high-value meetings and interviews.
• Experience with project management, handling multiple projects with competing deadlines, working with individuals of differing styles, and turning strong ideas into finished work.
• Ability to take ownership from idea through completion, including coordination, follow-up, and measurement.
• Ability to anticipate next steps and act independently with minimal direction, seeking clarification when it materially changes the outcome.
• Ability to reassess priorities as conditions change, raise risks early, and propose practical solutions.
• Ability to synthesize research, executive conversations, market signals, and performance data to form a succinct, accurate, and useful point of view.
• Ability to identify the issue beneath the initial request and connect ideas across leadership, business, technology, research, and culture.
• Ability to listen carefully and ask incisive questions.
• Ability to subject researched facts to analysis and interpretation before drawing conclusions.
• Ability to make responsible inferential leaps despite incomplete information and clearly label assumptions.
• Ability to use strong writing and storytelling to produce clear, distinctive, and credible work for senior audiences.
• Ability to recognize clichés, unsupported claims, AI hallucinations, and false precision; verify important claims against authoritative sources.
• Ability to communicate naturally with executives, colleagues, and external partners, adapting style and format to the audience and channel.
• Ability to prioritize relationships based on relevance, timing, accessibility, and mutual value; identify specific and credible reasons for engagement.
• Ability to remain poised under pressure and communicate expectations, decisions, and next steps clearly.
• Ability to use professional social media and content thoughtfully, distinguishing reach from relevance and impressions from influence.
• Ability to treat personal, professional, and confidential information with care.
• Ability to obtain and incorporate knowledge to enhance client and business development work in a meaningful way.
• Ability to develop informed perspectives on leadership, governance, organizational performance, technology, private equity, media, and other topics relevant to the Partner’s work.
• Ability to find and evaluate the most relevant internal and external information.
• Ability to build awareness of key leaders, organizations, market developments, and the ecosystem of critical influencers and connectors.
• Ability to connect research and content to audiences, relationships, conversations, and opportunities.
• Ability to demonstrate self-awareness, learning agility, and a genuine commitment to continuous development.
• Ability to reflect on experiments and outcomes, then shift effort toward the highest-value topics, formats, and relationships.
• Ability to share useful knowledge, workflows, and lessons with colleagues.
• Ability to adjust behavior and working style for the benefit of the team.
• Ability to champion the Firm’s values, culture, and Code of Conduct.
• Ability to engage, participate, and collaborate with others.
• Ability to build trust by consistently pairing curiosity and initiative with sound judgment, humility, and discretion.
• Ability to embrace diverse opinions and encourage teamwork.
• Ability to promote inclusivity by bringing cultural awareness and sensitivity to every interaction.
• Ability to participate in and contribute to internal activities and the broader Firm community.
• Ability to represent Spencer Stuart well and conduct yourself in a manner consistent with the Firm’s values and professional standards.