Director of Research & Insights - London

Job description

About Flagright: Flagright is an AI operating system for financial crime compliance used globally by Fortune 500 companies, large banks, fintechs, and fast growing startups. Flagright enables real-time risk detection, automated investigations, and intelligent decisioning, helping compliance teams operate at their full potential in the fight against financial crime. We operate as a lean, high-performance team with high individual ownership and direct access to leadership. Role overview: Our Marketing team drives our brand presence across target markets. From customer engagements to integrated campaigns, they champion Flagright’s story, drive pipeline acceleration, and help customers discover our value through strategic, impactful programs. We are hiring a Director of Research & Insights to lead how Flagright produces and publishes industry insights, positioning us as a trusted thought leader in financial crime compliance. You will own the research agenda end to end, identifying key themes, conducting deep analysis, and translating findings into high-quality reports and perspectives that shape industry conversations. You will work closely with Product, Sales, customers, and industry experts to research emerging trends, regulatory developments, and evolving risks across financial institutions and fintechs. You will turn these insights into clear, data-driven narratives and uphold a high standard of rigor, clarity, and originality in everything we publish. People who thrive at Flagright: - Have been knocked down before and gotten back up - Are resourceful — figure it out with whatever tools exist - Have strong opinions, defend them, and drop them when proven wrong - Would rather own targets than a task list - Run toward ambiguity, not away from it - Want to work with no-BS people People who struggle here: - Confuse ambitious goals with unreasonable ones - Want 9-to-6 and a predictable week - Need priorities to hold still for a quarter - Take blunt feedback or lost deals personally - Say — or think — “that’s not my job” Key responsibilities: - Define and own Flagright’s research and insights agenda, ensuring topics are timely, relevant, and aligned with commercial priorities - Conduct research on market trends, regulatory developments, emerging risks, compliance operations, customer challenges, and product-relevant themes - Write, produce, and publish research-led content, including reports, whitepapers, executive perspectives, regulatory briefs, and insight articles - Provide pre and post sales teams with expert support in specific customer scenarios surrounding AML and regulatory topics - Act as editor-in-chief for Flagright’s flagship publications, maintaining editorial quality, analytical rigor, and consistency - Interview customers, partners, internal teams, and external subject-matter experts to gather primary insights and validate research perspectives - Partner with the Financial Crime Industry Engagement lead and other experts to incorporate practitioner perspectives into research outputs - Translate product capabilities, customer experiences, and market signals into clear narratives that support positioning and campaigns - Turn events, roundtables, webinars, and customer conversations into structured insights and follow-on content - Build internal research processes, source standards, editorial frameworks, and repeatable formats for insight production - Maintain high standards for accuracy, clarity, originality, and source quality Who we are looking for: - Strong working knowledge of AML, financial crime, fraud, sanctions, compliance, regulatory developments, or financial services risk - Demonstrated experience producing research-led content such as reports, whitepapers, industry analysis, regulatory briefs, or executive perspectives - Strong research, synthesis, and analytical skills, with the ability to turn complex topics into clear and useful narratives - Excellent writing and editorial judgment for enterprise, technical, financial services, or regulated audiences - Experience interviewing experts, customers, practitioners, or stakeholders to extract meaningful insights - Ability to translate product capabilities and customer pain points into compelling market narratives - Strong attention to accuracy, source quality, and editorial consistency - Comfortable working cross-functionally with Marketing, Product, Sales, customers, and external experts - Self-directed, proactive, and able to take ownership from concept to publication - Based in or near London with right to work in the UK (visa sponsorship not available) Preferred experience - Experience in financial crime, compliance, risk, regtech, fintech, banking, enterprise SaaS, analyst research, advisory content, or technical content - Experience building or contributing to a research/editorial agenda - Familiarity with transaction monitoring, AML screening, investigations, fraud, sanctions, regulatory compliance, or compliance operations - Experience working with senior subject-matter experts to produce credible market-facing content What we offer: - Direct exposure to leadership and influence on publications - Product with clear, real-world differentiation - High-bar environment focused on execution, learning, and continuous improvement - Get equity from day 1 at a Y Combinator startup - Work alongside a highly competent, top-tier team, including professionals from Y Combinator, ex AWS, and Palantir - Enjoy a low-bureaucracy environment, minimal meetings, and an asynchronous communications culture