Research Associate

Profound is on a mission to help companies understand and control their AI presence. As a Research Associate, you will develop a deep understanding of how people use AI to search, evaluate products, and make decisions. You will transform real user conversations and AI model outputs into high quality research that guides product direction, supports client strategy, and informs how the world adapts to AI powered experiences.

• Conduct rigorous analysis to uncover how users interact with AI across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, and emerging AI interfaces

• Identify behavioral shifts, usage patterns, and platform changes before they become visible to the broader market

• Translate complex datasets and model behavior into clear insights and research artifacts

• Engage with media, industry experts, and academia to share evidence grounded findings and educate the market

• Support and influence the AI strategy of the world’s most sophisticated brands through compelling analysis and insights

• Collaborate with product and research teams on frameworks, metrics, and findings that advance our understanding of AI powered search and shopping

• Ensure rigorous research methodology including clear hypothesis framing, robust validation and sensitivity checks, defensible assumptions, well-documented workflows, and reproducibility of results

• Experience conducting analytical or research driven work in industry or academia

• Proficiency in SQL and R or Python for data exploration and modeling

• Ability to communicate insights clearly to both technical and executive audiences

• Strong pattern recognition and structured thinking

• Ownership mindset with a commitment to quality and accuracy

• Background in economics, analytics, strategy, public policy, or data driven fields

• 2+ years of experience in consulting, market research, competitive intelligence, or applied research

• Understanding of search systems or LLM behavior including how information is surfaced, ranked, or cited

• Client facing experience with strong storytelling skills

• Access to rare and unmatched datasets on real AI usage and how models source and surface information

• Opportunities to produce research and frameworks that define how organizations adapt to AI

• Direct exposure to how leading global companies are transforming their digital strategy for the AI era

• Close collaboration with experienced researchers and product leaders

• A fast paced, high trust environment where impactful work is recognized quickly

• Competitive compensation and meaningful equity in a rapidly growing company