Director Market Research

Role: Market Research Director - Market Development

Level T3

Team

Travel

About Gsm

• GSM is the EV mobility platform of Vingroup, Vietnam's largest private conglomerate.
• Our scope is global, and our model is unusually broad - we operate at the intersection of
• electric vehicle solutions, vehicle financing, EV charging and depot infrastructure, technology development, and ride-hailing and adjacent mobility services
• .
• We are scaling internationally with an ambitious multi-year expansion programme spanning several regions.
• The Market Development team is being built now to drive that expansion.
• The Market Research function inside it is the operating-intelligence engine: every new market launch depends on the insight it produces about customers, pricing, channels, partners, and local context.
• The role
• You will be the
• primary Customer Development and Market-Insight partner to the Deputy CEO of Market Development
• , and the senior leader who builds, runs, and scales the field-oriented research function.
• You will own the operating intelligence that every market launch depends on: who the Customers are, what they want, what they pay, who the Partners are, and what works locally.
• This is a builder role.
• You will set the research standards, hire the team, design the engagement model, and establish the in-market presence.
• You will partially work hands-on yourself in markets, while shaping how the team operates.
• What you'll own:
• Per-market deep dives
• Lead the research engagement for each new market launch: customers, demand patterns, commercial design, competitive landscape, partners, local context
• Set the methodology, scope the work, run the engagement, deliver the playbook
• Quality-control the team's output before it hands over to the country leadership at launch
• Commercial and launch design
• Own the launch pricing structure, incentive design, channel mix recommendation, and brand-and-messaging callouts for each market
• Validate willingness-to-pay through primary research; bring the numbers that the financial model needs
• Translate insight into commercial playbooks the incoming launch team can act on day one
• Local intelligence and partnerships
• Build a working view of competitive products, pricing, channels, and brand positioning in each market through hands-on benchmarking
• Identify, qualify, and initiate conversations with potential local partners (telcos, fleet operators, charging, insurance, payment providers)
• Maintain a working-knowledge overview of local rules on advertising, promotions, pricing, and data; flag commercial-regulatory risks early
• Team leadership
• Hire and lead the research squad: a small, field-oriented team that travels, engages experts, runs primary research, and gets out of the office to understand markets
• Set the operating model, the engagement standards, and the quality bar
• Develop people into senior researchers who can run their own engagements
• Stakeholder partnership
• Be the Deputy CEO's primary partner on in-market insight and operating intelligence
• Co-author the consolidated handover document for each new market launch with internal partners
• Brief senior leadership on launch readiness, market dynamics, and emerging risks
• Who you are:
• You understand businesses and feel customers, with research depth to back it up.
• You've spent enough time inside marketplaces, mobility, fintech, or similar consumer-platform businesses to see how the business actually works and what really moves a customer.
• You learned market research, customer insight, and commercial design by doing them in real situations, not by sitting in a pure research function.
• You have an instinct for what's worth knowing versus what's noise, and the rigour to back it up when the stakes are high.
• You understand commercial mechanics.
• You can read a P&L, design pricing that holds up against competition, set commission and incentive structures that work for both sides of a marketplace, and recommend a channel mix that delivers acquisition at the right cost.
• You don't need a pricing analyst to tell you when unit economics break.
• You learn markets by being in them.
• You'd rather spend a week riding with drivers and talking to riders in a new city than spend a month reviewing reports.
• You know the best insight comes from the field, and you've built the habits and the network to get there fast.
• You communicate at executive level.
• Your writing is sharp, your presentations land, and you can take a week of messy field research and turn it into a clear set of recommendations senior leaders can act on.
• You build small, fast-moving teams.
• You know how to hire researchers and operators who can travel, work in ambiguity, and produce at quality.
• You set high standards from a standing start and develop people into independent operators.
• You move easily across markets and cultures.
• You've worked across multiple regions, you read context quickly, and you'd rather get smarter from the local team than try to tell them what their market looks like.
• You're a builder.
• You don't need a fully-formed playbook; you'd rather write one.
• You're energised by ambiguity and frustrated by bureaucracy.
• What you bring
• **Commercial or operational leadership background**
• in mobility, marketplace, fintech, consumer platforms, or similar (Head of Commercial, Country Lead, Head of Growth, or comparable)
• **Multi-market launch experience**
• you've actually stood up a new market or product, not just observed others doing it
• **Strong analytical and commercial toolkit**
• pricing design, unit economics, channel ROI, segmentation, primary-research methods at working-knowledge level
• **Track record of building and leading small teams**
• hiring, coaching, setting standards from scratch
• Previous experience in top-tier management consulting or a similar strategic advisory role is a distinct advantage
• English fluency as the working language
• Things that would make us excited:
• Industry exposure in any of: ride-hailing, mobility, automotive, EV, vehicle solutions, marketplace / consumer platform, fintech, e-commerce, delivery, logistics
• **Multi-market international experience**
• operated across more than one region
• **Additional languages**

• French, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian

• Familiarity with emerging-market commercial and operating environments
• Hands-on experience with consumer research (agency-side or in-house) as a complement to operating background
• What we offer:
• **Function ownership**
• you build and lead the in-market research and insight function for a once-in-a-generation global expansion
• **Builder role**
• no inherited team, no inherited playbook; you set both
• **Field role, not a desk role**
• hands-on, in-market, close to customers and drivers
• **EV mobility frontier**
• work at the intersection of vehicles, financing, infrastructure, and platform services
• **Direct reporting line to the Deputy CEO**
• no middle layer to navigate
• **Competitive compensation**
• – competitive package, with relocation and allowance support

How To Apply

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