Research Senior Manager

Middle East Research Lead

Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

About Accenture

Accenture is a leading global professional services company that helps the world’s leading businesses, governments and other organizations build their digital core, optimize their operations, accelerate revenue growth and enhance citizen services—creating tangible value at speed and scale. We are a talent and innovation led company serving clients in more than 120 countries.

Technology is at the core of change today, and we are one of the world’s leaders in helping drive that change, with strong ecosystem relationships. We combine our strength in technology with unmatched industry experience, functional expertise and global delivery capability.

We are uniquely able to deliver tangible outcomes because of our broad range of services, solutions and assets across Strategy & Consulting, Technology, Operations, Industry X and Accenture Song. These capabilities, together with our culture of shared success and commitment to creating 360° value, enable us to help our clients succeed and build trusted, lasting relationships.

We measure our success by the 360° value we create for our clients, each other, our shareholders, partners and communities.

This role is part of Accenture Research team with a focus on the Middle East region.

We are seeking a seasoned research leader to lead Accenture Research’s agenda for the Middle East, bringing deep expertise in business strategy and a strong understanding of the region’s economic, technological, and competitive landscape. This role will play a critical part in shaping thought leadership and delivering client-relevant research that supports Accenture’s growth in the region. The role will support Accenture Reinvention Services business agenda with a particular emphasis on Data & AI.

The successful candidate will have a passion for reimagining the future of business and a demonstrated ability to connect macro trends (technological, social, environmental, regulatory, and geopolitical) to actionable insights for clients.

Key Responsibilities include:

Influence and Execute Thought Leadership Agenda, including

Shape and lead development of external thought leadership, in close collaboration with senior business leaders.

Design and deliver innovative and complex research projects.

Drive research innovation by combining advanced tools, methodologies, and emerging techniques.

Act as a Subject Matter Expert recognized inside and outside Accenture, including

Serve as the go-to expert on Middle East market dynamics, bringing insight and perspectives on business trends and their impact on current and prospective clients.

Contribute to external publications medium.

Publish and present in leading conferences, workshops and journals.

Support Business Development and strengthen Accenture's marketplace reputation,

Equip client teams and business leaders with market-relevant insights and help shape proposal content and client conversations.

Demonstrate expertise internally (e.g. presentations to internal audiences, participates in community of practice, etc.) and externally (e.g., presentations in conferences, to clients).

Build strong relationships with internal networks, academic institutions, and partner organizations to amplify Accenture’s voice and impact.

Build and develop a research team focused on Middle East

Build a cross-regional team including both local talent and researchers from India

Recruit, coach, and mentor team members to build deep expertise and research excellence.

Foster an inclusive, collaborative team culture.

Experience and skills:

Recognized subject matter expert on the Middle East region.

Good understanding of how Data & AI are transforming industries.

Strategic thinking and problem solver with the ability to take an issue and turn it into a researchable question

Analytical skills, including understanding of how to leverage advanced analytics and generative AI to address research questions

Ability to design, lead and deliver highly complex and innovative thought leadership research

Proven ability to create a project plan and execute against it

Ability to craft original, relevant and compelling business storylines

Strong client-centric mindset with the ability to translate research insights into client value and business outcomes.

Ability to address complexity in team management as well as project management

Ability to lead discussions with and manage senior stakeholders

Excellent communication (written and oral) and interpersonal skills

Excellent leadership and management skills

Experience developing high-performing teams.

Ability to work in a global, multi-cultural team

Additional Information

Reports to: Thought Leadership Principal Director

Supervision: Team leadership role with responsibility for supervision and development of a team.

Qualifications: A Bachelor’s degree (preferably in business, economics, statistics, engineering or science), plus a full-time Masters/post-graduate degree (preferably in business, economics, statistics, engineering, science, such as business (MBA) or equivalent).

Work Experience: 10+ years business research, thought leadership research and management consulting experience.

Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia