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Director of Research

Location:

Washington DC - HQ

Job Code:

1873

# of Openings:

Description

Join CoStar Group's Research Team in Washington, DC.

CoStar Group is the leading commercial real estate information provider for the United States. Our products are used by over 180,000 commercial real estate professionals who rely on our services for their important information and marketing needs. CoStar data is vital to commercial real estate brokers, owners and other CRE professionals to make smarter decisions about their markets and investments. To put it simply, we are the Bloomberg of commercial real estate information.

We are looking for a Research Director to offer distinctly superior leadership through data and content mastery, commercial support and the development and execution of strategies that deliver on CoStar's business objectives to join our industry-leading research team in downtown Washington, DC!

Joining CoStar Group puts you in the heart of the dynamic, fast paced commercial real estate industry. CoStar changed the way commercial real estate works by empowering professionals with the industry's largest database of researched, unbiased commercial property information. Today, CoStar Group (Nasdaq: CSGP) is the premier information, marketing and analytic solution for tens of thousands of commercial real estate brokers, owners, developers, investors, lenders, appraisers and more. We have invested over $1 billion in our research operations and we are currently seeking enthusiastic, customer-focused Research Associates at our state-of-the-art headquarters Washington, DC.

Directors of Research are responsible for maximizing database Accuracy and content quality related to their assigned Geo(s) or specialty research area. Directors lead 3-5 Research Managers on four interrelated missions

Research Directors offer distinctly superior leadership through data and content mastery, commercial support, and the ability to pro-actively maximize operational efficiencies by collaborating with peers across the department.

Many of the world's most prestigious organizations rely on the information services provided by CoStar and its subsidiaries. Our Research Associates collectively provide the data facilitating over $500 billion dollars in real estate transactions annually--can you imagine yourself being a part of leading this integral team?

Primary Responsibilities of the Research Director:

Producing Accurate Data and Outstanding Content:
Directors are responsible for leading multiple teams that collect data and enter it into the research system. They strive to achieve 100% data Accuracy for their clients. They proactively work to ensure that their managers and teams proactively minimize all forms of errors and special project work through reinforcement of correct research process. They reinforce the standard for efficient creation of Market data, related reports and the communication of business insight from CoStar data. They are highly motivated to continually develop levels of CRE expertise that both improve Researcher engagement and give clients confidence in their mastery of CoStar data and its implications.

Delivering Client Service Excellence:
Directors are responsible for working closely with the largest clients across their Geo to deliver outstanding service, reinforce all client relationships in each of their Markets and work with the sales group to support renewals and new business. They build and deepen trusted relationships with all Market participants across their Geo in a way that enables their CoStar teams to improve data Accuracy. They earn the trust and respect of senior sales force executives because of their superior client engagement skills. They deliver high quality presentations in client meetings of all types. Directors work together and with other groups to continuously improve CoStar’s standard for communicating the value of CoStar data and its business implications.

Management, Coaching and Development:
Directors spend the majority of their time closely interacting with their Research Managers to drive ownership of results, create a positive and engaged work environment, ensure correct research process, provide feedback, maintain a “floor presence,” and support client service. Directors continuously coach their Managers to adopt a range of communication and improvement strategies that best drive RA performance by reflecting different levels of skill and learning styles.

Driving Department-wide Operational Efficiencies:
Directors are expected to work together as a group to improve performance results by cost-efficiently load-balancing resources across Markets and Geos, and to implement department-wide initiatives and projects. They effectively coordinate work across all affected parties to ensure consistent execution and high performance without requiring intervention by senior leadership. Directors are passionate about driving efficiencies, improving quality and responsiveness by transferring knowledge and best practices with each other and across the Department. Directors work together to proactively reduce reliance on special projects and remedial action—whether at the micro level (e.g. by teaching teams to find and exploit data leads in every touch point with contacts) or at the macro level (e.g. by pre-empting the need for major rework in core processes).

Attracting, Hiring, Engaging and Retaining the Best Staff:
Directors take a leadership role to ensure Recruiting initiatives are effectively deployed across their center and to participate directly in recruiting through phone screens, interviews and attending career fairs. They are also responsible for working with senior leadership to maintain turnover at 20% or less. Directors deliver on retention goals by creating a positive, merit-based environment and by implementing their own and center-wide initiatives.

Essential Functions:

Provide high-level, pro-active commercial support on renewals and new business development
Ensure department wide coordination of data flow and project management across all internal research functions to ensure increasing Accuracy and business growth
Lead department-wide process improvement and strategic projects; collaborate on firm-wide process improvement and strategic projects
Develop relationships with key contacts across the Territory's commercial real estate community
Reporting and statistical analysis
Constantly review the Accuracy of the Territory's data

Skills and Qualifications:

Proven outstanding communication skills in the following environments: 1:1 supervision, team supervision, management committees, 1:1 client engagement, multi-client engagement, sales and prospect engagement.
Passion for leading teams through learning and continuous improvement
Intrinsic motivation to develop content knowledge in self and others through a commitment to 100% accurate data
Ability to learn and apply new concepts quickly and to teach others to do so
Ability to absorb feedback rapidly in self and across teams
Ability to identify root causes of problems, to deliver improvement.
High aptitude for working in fast-paced technology-intensive environments
Strong interpersonal, written and verbal communication skills
Ability to interact with all levels of organization adopting a supportive approach to the role
Demonstrated ability to coach and provide feedback effectively
Excellent listening skills, problem solving, research and analytical skills
Attention to detail and ability to exercise professional judgment when necessary
Proven ability to effectively communicate and build positive external relationships with existing and potential customers

Requirements: qualified candidates must possess the following

BA/BS Degree Required, top tier Master's Degree or Professional Degree strongly preferred
Demonstrably successful commitment to a particular field, with a strong current or potential interest in the commercial real estate market
Minimum 2 years supervisory experience in a research, data-intensive, pay for performance or merit-based environment
US work authorization

Performance Objectives:

All direct reports should meet or exceed quarterly percentage-of-goal expectations for Accuracy
All direct reports should meet or exceed quarterly percentage-of-goal expectations for Research Process Quality
Retain or increase previous year's growth rate for listings, comps, inventory, tenants, and deals on a per person basis, depending on the market
Continuously look for ways to increase the accuracy of CoStar data, build process efficiencies and collaborate work with analytical and commercial functions to make data and content more actionable to clients

Benefits:

Join CoStar and enjoy our new office space in the heart of the nation's capital, situated near 3 Metro stations, the Verizon Center, the national mall, and hundreds of shops and restaurants. Enjoy a state-of-the-art environment, with an open floor plan, rooftop patio, and staff lounge. CoStar provides free healthy snacks, onsite yoga classes, a brand new fitness center, onsite concierge for dry-cleaning and shoe repair, many additional staff discounts and Metro subsidies. Enjoy the free use of company bikes and segways to get around even faster!

CoStar offers a benefits plan ranked among the top 10% of employers nationwide, including generous medical, dental, prescription, and vision insurance (through Aetna); a 401k plan with company match and employee stock purchase plan; and extensive paid training throughout your career.

Extensive four-week paid training
Comprehensive medical, dental, prescription and vision benefits through Aetna with a choice of two plans
Company-paid life insurance for one time's your annual base salary to a maximum of $300,000 per year
Company-paid long-term and short-term disability benefits
12 days accrued paid vacation 1st year; 5 days sick leave per year, and 2 personal days.
A 401(k) plan with immediate eligibility with enhanced Company match.

Come grow with us--CoStar Group is seeking talented individuals like you to join our winning team!

We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer m/f/d/v.
We maintain a drug-free workplace and perform pre-employment substance abuse testing.