[Hiring] Director, Research Innovation & Enablement @Cengage Group

Role Description

We are seeking a Director of Research Innovation & Enablement to lead the integration of advanced AI capabilities into our research ecosystem. This role also involves building and empowering a high-performing community of researchers. This role will define and operationalize an AI-enabled research strategy that augments methodological rigor, enhances the pace of insight generation, and scales institutional knowledge across the organization.

• Define and execute the strategy for embedding AI and automation across qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method research workflows.
• Architect AI-augmented research systems that accelerate synthesis, automate signal detection, and scale institutional knowledge.
• Identify and prioritize high-impact opportunities for automation, augmentation, and predictive intelligence within the research lifecycle.
• Develop or work with AI team to develop AI-enabled research assistants to support instrument design, synthesis, and strategic insight generation.
• Manage and champion a team of researchers, focused on strategic approaches and enablement, and encouraging advanced methodological expertise and AI proficiency.
• Equip the team with AI-enabled tools, standardized playbooks, and consistent methodologies that materially improve research velocity and depth.
• Redesign research operating models to integrate AI augmentation while preserving critical thinking and human judgment.
• Establish training programs and hands-on experimentation initiatives to build confidence and sophistication in AI-assisted research practices.
• Support the adoption of groundbreaking research methods across teams by coordinating training, documentation, and best-practice sharing.
• Track and communicate the impact of AI-enabled research, including efficiency gains and insight acceleration.
• Define and supervise benchmarks for community health, research throughput, AI-enabled efficiency gains, and collaborator satisfaction.
• Ensure all research activities enforce ethical standards, privacy requirements, and participant consent practices.

Qualifications

• More than five years of tried experience in research operations, UX research, community management, market research, or related fields.
• More than two years of experience in using and developing AI-enabled research tools, workflows, machine learning & data science, synthetic populations, and appropriate methodologies.
• Two years or more of experience directing people, ideally leading research or community teams.
• A passion for innovating research methods, project management, and insight delivery using technology and automation.
• Strong project management and prioritization proficiency, along with the competence to balance multiple complex initiatives.
• Ability to synthesize insights from diverse sources and communicate them clearly to non-research collaborators.
• Experience coordinating with external vendors and handling vendor-run research projects.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, demonstrated proficiency in influencing without authority.

Skills You’ll Bring (Preferred)

• Experience supporting product teams during discovery, prototyping, or agile sprint cycles.
• Background in education, education technology, or workforce development markets.
• Experience with community platforms, research recruitment tools, or insight repositories.
• Understanding of applied AI research, prompt engineering, or automated research workflows.
• Experience building or scaling research operations functions.
• Ability to design and facilitate community activities, discussions, or feedback sessions.

Compensation

At Cengage Group, we take great pride in our commitment to providing a comprehensive and rewarding Total Rewards package designed to support and empower our employees. The full base pay range has been provided for this position. Individual base pay will vary based on work schedule, qualifications, experience, internal equity, and geographic location. Sales roles often incorporate a significant incentive compensation program beyond this base pay range.

In this position, you will be eligible to participate in the company’s discretionary incentive bonus program. This position's bonus target amount, which is not guaranteed and is dependent on individual performance and overall company results among other factors, is provided below:

• 25% Annual: Individual Target
• $138,200.00 - $180,000.00 USD