/nontechnical career tracks

Market & Business Growth

Decode market dynamics at both macro and micro levels, charting courses for sustainable expansion. Cultivate a deep understanding of user desires and needs, and translate these into products and services that deliver value.

Aerial view of a city at night illuminated by vibrant green lights. Tall buildings and smaller structures are visible, with roads weaving through the cityscape. Bright lights dot the horizon, creating a glowing urban atmosphere.
A modern conference room with a long white table, surrounded by black leather chairs. Large windows on the left let in natural light. The back wall features green panels and hanging lights, creating an open and bright atmosphere.
A 3D green bar chart with vertical lines on a grid background. The bars vary in height, representing data fluctuations, with a futuristic design. The scene is set against a blurred dark background with a subtle glow.
A spacious, modern corridor with tall glass walls and a reflective green floor. Symmetrically lined with lush potted trees, the corridor is well-lit with natural light streaming in from large windows at the end.
A digital rendering of upward-trending green bar and line graphs on a black grid background. The chart includes glowing dots and diamond-shaped markers, conveying a sense of growth and progress.
A digital screen displaying a green-themed financial graph with line charts and bar graphs. The background features abstract horizontal lines, enhancing the high-tech and dynamic feel of data visualization.

// 001 // Market Research // 001 //

// 001 // Market Research // 001 //

A modern conference room with a long white table, surrounded by black leather chairs. Large windows on the left let in natural light. The back wall features green panels and hanging lights, creating an open and bright atmosphere.
/deep tech career tracks
//market & business growth

Market Research

conduct in-depth and multifaceted research to help businesses gain competitive advantage.

Key Functions
What are the key areas of focus in this role?
  • Position companies for success through the development of competitive intelligence.
  • Identify growth opportunities and untapped markets to increase market share.
  • Peer into the minds of customers by analyzing demographic and psychographic factors.
Problems Solved
What are the types of challenges this role takes on?
  • What are the key drivers of customer loyalty, and how can we leverage those drivers to retain more customers?
  • What are the most effective social media or other channels for reaching our target audience, and how can we optimize our marketing mix accordingly?
  • How can we use conjoint analysis to determine which features of our product are most important to customers?
  • How can we use discrete choice modeling to determine which product features to prioritize in our product development process?
  • How can we use cluster analysis to segment our target market based on demographic, behavioral, and psychographic factors?
Overview
What does a typical day look like?

As a Market Research Analyst, you’ll play a vital role in helping your organization make data-informed decisions about its products and services. You’ll research competitors, regulations, trends, user behaviors, and demographics to gain insights into the markets in which your company operates. 

Your analyses will dive deep into the demographic and psychographic factors of both current and potential markets. You’ll evaluate the effectiveness of different marketing approaches, designing and conducting surveys and interviews to gain insights directly from customers, clients, and other stakeholders.

As a Market Research Analyst, your analyses will drive the development of new marketing strategies, campaigns, and even new products or features. And by developing competitive intelligence, you’ll position your company strategically in the marketplace, using descriptive modeling as well as forecasts to maintain a competitive edge.

As new strategies and products are implemented, you’ll continue to analyze data and make iterative improvements. You’ll use your research and analytical skills to help your organization thrive in a competitive marketplace.

Roles

Market Research Analyst; Market Data Analyst; Research Analyst - Marketing Science; Market Analyst; Analyst - Customer Insights.

// 002 // Business Development // 002 //

// 002 // Business Development // 002 //

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/deep tech career tracks
//market & business growth

Business  Development

identify opportunities and developing strategies to expand market reach

Key Functions
What are the key areas of focus in this role?
  • Assess new avenues for business growth.
  • Analyze competitors’ market positions and strategies to develop plans to increase market reach.
  • Embrace a dynamic role in which you can combine analytical skills, strategic thinking, and relationship-building acumen to contribute to a company’s expansion.
Problems Solved
What are the types of challenges this role takes on?
  • Should we use a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) for each of our competitors, or do we need to conduct more detailed analyses of their pricing strategies and business models?
  • What are the potential risks of expanding into a new geographic market, and how can we understand the local competitive landscape and cultural factors that might impact our success?
  • How do we identify the key success factors for our vendor relationships? Should we prioritize transparency and communication or focus on building strong personal relationships to foster collaboration?
  • Should we focus on developing personalized content and messaging that speaks directly to the needs of our target accounts, or should we leverage AI to automate and streamline our account-based marketing efforts?
  • How do we identify the most effective methods for gathering customer feedback? Should we conduct surveys, or should we use analytics tools to track user behavior and gather insights about how they use our products?
Overview
What does a typical day look like?

At its core, Business Development is about growing and improving a business through a variety of activities. As a Business Development Analyst, your focus will be on expanding the business by reaching new clients and markets. This might involve forming partnerships with other businesses that already serve your target market, or finding influencers to partner with. You’ll use data analysis to drive the strategies you design and implement. 

In your daily work, you will conduct extensive research to identify business opportunities. This includes researching customer behavior and demographics, analyzing industry trends and forecasts, and developing competitive intelligence to understand the market positions and strategies of your competitors. You’ll analyze a variety of data, such as product usage data, client satisfaction data, data from surveys and social media, and sales data stored internally by the company. 

Building and maintaining long-term relationships with vendors, partners, clients, and other external stakeholders is also a key aspect of working as a Business Development Analyst. Your overall goal will be to identify opportunities for growth, think strategically and creatively to deliver value to clients, and develop plans to implement strategic growth. A career in Business Development offers the opportunity to be creative, strategic, and analytical and can be rewarding for those who enjoy driving growth and improvement for a business.

Roles

Business Development Analyst; Growth Analyst; Business Development Sales Representative; Prospect Development Lead; Development Analyst.

// 003 // Sales Engineering // 003 //

// 003 // Sales Engineering // 003 //

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/deep tech career tracks
//Market & business growth

Sales Engineering

effectively communicate the value of complex technological products and solutions

Key Functions
What are the key areas of focus in this role?
  • Blend technical expertise, interpersonal skills, and a knack for communicating technical concepts clearly.
  • Design and deliver engaging product demonstrations that highlight technology benefits.
  • Analyze customer requirements and tailor solutions to meet their specific needs.
Problems Solved
What are the types of challenges this role takes on?
  • What are the common technical challenges that our customers face, and how can we address these challenges through our products and services?
  • What are the best practices for designing and delivering effective product demonstrations, and how can we tailor our approach to different audiences?
  • How can we use customer feedback to improve our products and services, and what processes should we have in place to gather and analyze this feedback?
  • How can we use analytics to identify which products or features our customers use most, or are most interested in, and which ones we should focus on improving?
  • How can we use our understanding of customers’ business objectives to position our products not just as a technical solution, but as a strategic advantage?
Overview
What does a typical day look like?

If you excel at explaining technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences, a career in Sales Engineering can allow you to combine your skills for communication and technology. While some sales roles have a negative reputation, the world of B2B sales (B2B = Business to Business) is about complex technological and scientific products, and has very little of the duplicity that is typically associated with sales. 

As our economy becomes increasingly reliant on advanced technologies, technical aptitude is necessary for those involved in the sales process. In the role of a Sales Engineer, you will be responsible for understanding the technicalities of the product being sold and explaining the value of those products to a variety of audiences. You’ll design and deliver demonstrations for prospective customers and answer questions during the sales process. Once a sale is complete, you might maintain frequent contact with your clients to support them in their usage of the product to gather feedback for making continual improvements. 

Similarly, as a Technical Account Manager, you will work with existing clients to understand their technology needs and provide technical expertise for the usage of the product. You will engage in consistent communication with your clients and gather requirements for new features and functionality to ensure that they get the most value from the product(s). Additionally, you’ll identify opportunities to upsell and/or cross-sell other products to help your clients meet their business objectives. 

Sales roles in B2B sales are highly valued in the tech and scientific industries, and if you have a knack for communicating technical concepts intuitively, this could be a good fit for you.

Roles

Sales Engineer; Sales Lead - Technical Sales; Solutions Sales Engineer; Technical Account Manager; Technical Account Executive.

/deep tech career tracks

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