Project Lead II - Thought Leadership

About Zinnov Zinnov is a global management consulting firm that helps organizations make decisions that actually get used — and deliver results that matter. For over two decades, we’ve partnered with leading enterprises, high-growth technology companies, and investors to answer some of the toughest questions they face: Where should we invest? How do we scale globally? What capabilities will win in the next decade? Our work shapes market entry strategies, global operating models, M&A decisions, and long-term growth bets. We’re known for being data-led, execution-focused, and outcome-driven — not opinion-heavy slideware. At Zinnov, how you work matters as much as what you deliver. We value independent thinking, crisp communication, and early ownership. With 450+ professionals across 10 global offices, we work across industries including Digital Services, ER&D, Enterprise Software, Semiconductors, Healthcare, BFSI, Automotive, Media & Telecom, and Private Equity. Zinnov isn’t for everyone. It’s for people who want steep learning curves, honest feedback, and the chance to see their work influence real business decisions — not just presentations. Why Globalization Excellence (GE) Zinnov's Globalization Excellence practice helps enterprises build and scale Global Capability Centers end-to-end, from Design & Discovery to Build, Scale, and Run. In GE, you don't work in silos. You own complex, end-to-end client journeys, work across GCC advisory, managed services, and BOT/outsourcing models, and influence leadership decisions that shape long-term talent and operating strategies. This is where strategy meets execution, and talent plays a defining role. About The Role The GE practice is building a dedicated Thought Leadership & Research function, modelled on the internal think tanks of the world's leading consulting firms. As Research Lead, you are the intellectual engine of this function. You won't be rotating across client engagements. You will go deep: spending months on a focused research agenda, developing original frameworks and methodologies that the GE practice can deploy with clients, and producing work that is credible enough to be published, cited, and recognised in the GCC ecosystem. This role sits at the intersection of rigorous research and practical consulting impact. You will work closely with a rotating bench of consultants who bring ground-level client context, and with senior GE leadership who will channel your outputs into the practice's go-to-market, advisory, and capability agenda. Zinnov isn't for everyone, and this role especially isn't. It's for someone who thrives on intellectual ownership, is energised by building something new, and wants their ideas to shape how the GCC market thinks. WHAT YOU'LL DO Research Agenda & Intellectual Development Define and own the GE practice's annual thought leadership research agenda, identifying the 2-3 big questions worth answering deeply and the frameworks or methodologies worth building around them Design and execute multi-month research projects on GCC-relevant themes: workforce models, operating design, capability building, technology adoption, and ecosystem dynamics Build original, named frameworks and diagnostic tools grounded in empirical evidence, synthesising primary research, practitioner interviews, datasets, and literature into outputs that stand independently of any single engagement Develop a structured, evolving point of view on signature topics over time, deepening expertise rather than breadth-hopping Analysis & Synthesis Lead rigorous quantitative and qualitative analysis: econometric modelling, survey design and analysis, benchmarking, regression, and systematic synthesis of qualitative data Extract genuine insight from complex, multi-source data rather than repackaging conventional wisdom, and build defensible, evidence-backed conclusions Validate findings with a calibrated eye: know when a result is strong enough to publish and when it needs more rigour O…