Associate Analyst
Why Spend Matters?
You are: intelligent, maybe a little under-challenged, intellectually curious, a strong business writer, tech savvy and have some familiarity with B2B enterprise (SaaS/cloud/ERP) software. Perhaps you are a management consultant, market analyst, or a software product manager.
We are: fast-growing, intellectually curious, hard-working yet fun. Creating career paths for our team members and a chance to advance quickly. Flexible about where you work and value your health and well-being.
Chicago-based Spend Matters® is a leading procurement technology research & intelligence company. It has 1M+ annual site visitors and a rich book of business.
Deep analysis, market intelligence and benchmarking lie at the core of Spend Matters success in addition to its editorial roots. Procurement corporate buyers, manufacturers, consultants, technology vendors and investors alike rely on Spend Matters for in-depth procurement technology benchmarking and buying strategies. With subscription-based Spend Matters SolutionMap & PRO, the company is increasingly capturing the technology market mindshare that used to be limited to the big technology analyst firms (like Gartner and Forrester).
We are seeking to fill the position of Associate Analyst.
The Associate Analyst is primarily tasked with in-depth procurement technology solution analysis and regular authoring in support of several Spend Matters services (i.e. competitive market intelligence, procurement technology selections). The analyst team is jointly managed by a production analyst team leader and operations project manager. Analysts contribute cross-functionally to meet commercial, editorial, product and marketing deliverables.
Minimum Requirements
- At least 2 years of experience in technology-oriented consulting, management consulting, product management or market analyst/research; preferably with B2B enterprise software. (entry level candidates will be considered based on internship experience)
- A bachelor's degree (Liberal Arts preferred, i.e. History, English, Economics) or higher
- Strong English proficiency required
- Strong written communication skills with the ability to write to a deadline
- Effective and professional oral communication skills for in-person, video and audio presentations/discussions
- Strong analytical skills — both textual and numerical
- Excellent time management/project management skills
- Business content development skills
- A proven self-starter
- Entrepreneurial drive
- Team player
Key Technical Skills
- Long-form prose and business-based writing (submit writing samples alongside your application)
- Database/data analysis/data visualization experience (e.g. Tableau, R, Python would be a plus (but not required))
- Research experience (Digital surveys, market/product research and analysis)
- Google Docs, Microsoft Office (notably Excel and PowerPoint)
Key Duties
- Conduct research to inform content and analysis (i.e. vendor technology demos, industry research surveys, interviews)
- Develop 2+ pieces of in-depth content weekly in support of Spend Matters subscriptions and services (PRO, SolutionMap, Insider, blog) pertaining to procurement technology
- Primarily written content (1,000+ word articles, landscape reports, multi-part vendor analyses) but increasingly using different formats as well (i.e. vidcasts, podcasts, templates)
- Primary coverage of procurement technologies based on vendor intel, although practitioner angle increasingly desirable as well
- SolutionMap technology scoring twice annually based analysis of vendor self-scores, supporting documentation and tech demos to generate reliable benchmark intel
- SolutionMap intel forms basis of procurement technology benchmark rankings and Insider subscription content (i.e. vendor head-to-head comparisons)
- Update SolutionMap requirements as needed to reflect technological advancements
- Rapidly grow into a subject matter expert role to “own” multiple market areas (e.g., e-sourcing, supplier management) and become a thought leader on your topics
- Reliably meet research, analysis and content deliverables
- Active use of project management tools
- Deadline-centric
- Work closely with the Spend Matters editors and analyst team to identify key trends, business issues and solutions impacting procurement professionals and write persuasive, well-researched articles to help these organizations see the value of using technology to solve complex business issues
- Research the procurement professionals’ “buyer’s objections” to various procurement technologies; develop engaging content around these objections
- Develop your own POV (point of view) over time to challenge behaviors, assumptions and outcomes
- Create other content (slideshows, video, etc.) as requested in support of analyst, sales, marketing, editorial and project (buyer- or vendor-client) objectives
- Assist with commercial analyst team projects as needed, including presentation building support, proofreading, vendor identification and outreach, and survey analysis
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