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Research Lead

Job Title: Research Lead
Reports To: Founder/CEO
Level: Senior
Location: Remote (Nigeria)
Job Type: Full-Time

About Communiqué

Communiqué is a media and intelligence company that produces high-quality data, insight, and stories about Africa’s media and creative economy, an ecosystem that has historically grown with very little structured information to guide investors and operators. Through our media, research and advisory, and events pillars, we help the decision-makers building this industry see clearly and act with confidence.

About the Role

Research is integral to what we do at Communiqué. It spans our editorial output, the advisory engagements clients pay for, and the reports funders commission. It also directs how we feed data into our Intelligence platform. We are hiring a Research Lead to own that function end-to-end.

This hire will move research into a unit that runs and grows on its own. That means:

- Setting the research agenda rather than waiting for briefs

- Refining the quality of methodology and output across everything that carries our name

- Finding and winning funded research work, including grants, commissions, tenders, and partnerships

- Building the institutional relationships that make Communiqué a reference point

This is a leadership role. You will work with external researchers, consultants, and colleagues across the team to deliver projects. Your value is in what you scope, who you bring in, what you refuse to publish, and what you go after next.

Remote Working Arrangement

This role is remote and open to candidates based anywhere in Nigeria. The work itself is not desk-bound.

You will need to be available to:

- Join client, funder, and partner calls during West Africa business hours

- Travel occasionally for fieldwork, conferences, and stakeholder engagements, including outside Nigeria

- Represent Communiqué in rooms where the person across the table expects to be speaking to an expert

Key Responsibilities

- Research agenda: Set the direction of Communiqué’s research function. Identify the questions we should answer, the themes we should own, the market gaps our work should fill, and the instruments we need to fill them. You will also govern the development of our Intelligence platform. - Methodology and quality assurance: Own the standards and review our methodologies before fieldwork starts and outputs before we ship them. You should have the taste and judgment to decide what we should publish and what needs more evidence. - Funded and commercial research: Identify and work with the business team to pursue paid research opportunities, including grants, commissions, tenders, and institutional partnerships. You will work with the business team to build proposals, scopes of work, and budgets that we can actually deliver against. - Knowledge products: Guide the development of reports, white papers, policy briefs, indices, and datasets. Turn findings into products clients and funders will pay for and journalists will cite. - Institutional relationships: Build and hold relationships with universities, research institutions, funders, and multilateral bodies. Represent Communiqué at forums, conferences, and stakeholder meetings.
- Team and consultants: Provide direction, mentorship, and quality oversight to junior researchers, interns, and external consultants. Give feedback that makes the next output better than the last one.
- Internal support: Supply research insight and strategic input into proposals, advisory engagements, editorial, and events across the business.

Requirements

- Demonstrated experience in research, research management, policy, consulting, or intelligence

- Strong command of qualitative, quantitative, and desk research methodologies, and the judgment to know when each applies

- A track record of leading or contributing significantly to published research projects

- The ability to translate complex findings into clear, actionable insight for people who will not read the methodology section

- Excellent written and verbal communication

- Experience developing research proposals, funding applications, or commercial research opportunities is a strong advantage

- Working knowledge of Africa's creative economy, media, culture, or technology sectors is desirable

- Able to work independently and hold your own priorities within a remote team.

Compensation & Benefits

As a startup, we offer a fixed salary of N7.2 million annually (gross). Our benefits include:

- Flexible working arrangements

- Internet subscription up to N20,000 per month, and co-working space allowance up to ₦20,000

- Annual performance bonus

- Up to 20% annual rent contribution (up to ₦1 million) after one year

- Maternity and paternity leave aligned with industry standards

- Remote work equipment

Tell us about yourself

How did you hear about this job?

Name one widely circulated statistic about African media, culture, or the creative economy that you believe is wrong, unverifiable, or being quoted far beyond what its source can support. Tell us where it actually came from, and what you would do to replace it with something defensible.

Pick one thing happening in African media, culture, or the creative economy right now that nobody has (or few people have) documented properly. Pitch it as a Communiqué research product. What is the question, who pays for it, roughly what does it cost to produce, and why can it not wait another year??

What is one part of research work you are genuinely bad at or actively dislike that this role would still require you to do well? (Don’t say “none.” The odds are that you would be lying.)

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