Search Research Analyst

At Coconut 🥥 , we connect founders and businesses with top-tier remote talent while prioritizing meaningful, reliable partnerships. We believe success happens when everyone wins. Clients achieve their goals, and our virtual professionals find purpose and growth in their work. We're currently looking for top talent to fill the role below:

Role : Search Research Analyst

Monthly Rate : $1800 - 2150/month

Availability : Full-time - 40 hours/week

Time Zone : EDT Business Hours

==================================================

To streamline your application, please carefully review and complete ALL THREE items below before proceeding to the application form.

What to Prepare:

1️⃣ English Proficiency Rating – You will need to enter your CEFR English proficiency level in the application form. If you’re unsure of your rating, you can take a quick assessment here: EF SET Quick Check .

2️⃣ Coconut VA Profile (Resume) – Before submitting your application, please create your Coconut VA profile using this template: Coconut VA Profile Template . ⚠️⚠️⚠️ YOUR RESUME MUST FOLLOW THIS FORMAT AND SHOULD BE IN ENGLISH. This is a test of how keen you are with details and how well you follow instructions. ⚠️⚠️⚠️

3️⃣ 1-Minute Introduction Video – Record a short introduction video (preferably using Loom ) and provide the link in your application. Before you do, check out these video tips and sample videos . Important: By submitting your video, you grant Coconut permission to share it on our platforms to help increase your chances of being matched with a client. Videos with broken or dummy links will result in disqualification.

Requirements

Experience Needed :

The Search Research Analyst will work directly with the founder to systematically map leadership and senior talent within designated organizations and markets throughout the United States.

This is not a recruiter role.

You will not be responsible for cold calling candidates, developing clients or determining the company's market strategy.

The founder will establish:

The sectors.

The cities.

The target firms.

The search priorities.

The relationships to pursue.

Your responsibility is to understand the people inside that universe.

You will transform a list of target organizations into detailed, actionable talent intelligence.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

1. TARGET-FIRM MAPPING

Working from organizations selected by the founder, develop comprehensive talent maps.

For example:

Sector: Hospitality Design

Market: Miami / South Florida

Target Organization: Provided by the company

Identify relevant professionals including:

• Founders
• CEOs / Presidents
• Partners
• Principals
• Managing Directors
• Studio Leaders
• Practice Leaders
• Design Directors
• Creative Directors
• Associate Principals
• Directors
• Emerging leaders
• Relevant professionals with approximately 10+ years of experience

The objective is to understand the talent structure of the organization, not simply collect names.

1. CAREER + LEADERSHIP RESEARCH

Develop meaningful profiles of relevant professionals.

Research may include:

• Current title
• Current responsibilities
• Career history
• Previous employers
• Years of experience
• Tenure
• Promotions
• Geography
• Discipline
• Sector expertise
• Relevant project experience
• Education
• Professional credentials
• Leadership responsibilities
• Portfolio / professional work
• Publicly available professional information

Research should be concise enough to be useful but thorough enough to support senior-level search decisions.

1. ALUMNI + TALENT-MOVEMENT MAPPING

We are interested not only in who works at a target organization today, but in the talent ecosystem surrounding it.

Identify relevant senior alumni.

Research:

Where did they go?

Who became a Partner elsewhere?

Who launched a firm?

Who moved to another market?

Who moved from architecture/interiors into development or ownership?

Who has moved between our other target organizations?

Over time, this research will help the company understand the movement and relationships connecting the most influential firms in each market.

1. BUILD THE COMPANY'S NATIONAL LEADERSHIP INTELLIGENCE

The company's initial national expansion will focus heavily on two interconnected sectors:

HOSPITALITY DESIGN

Luxury hotels

Resorts

Restaurants

Hospitality architecture

Hospitality interiors

Branded residences

LUXURY RESIDENTIAL DESIGN

Luxury residential architecture

High-end interior design

Private residential

Branded residences

Luxury development

Design-led residential practices

Initial geographic markets are expected to include:

Miami / South Florida

Los Angeles

San Francisco

with additional markets selected strategically.

The objective is not to create the largest database.

The objective is to develop exceptional knowledge of a deliberately defined market.

1. CROSS-REFERENCE EXISTING COMPANY RELATIONSHIPS

Every person identified through research must be cross-referenced against the company's existing network.

Before creating a new record, determine whether the individual already exists within Bullhorn.

If so:

• Review existing history.
• Preserve previous notes.
• Update outdated information.
• Identify previous company interactions.
• Identify prior interviews or searches.
• Flag meaningful relationship history.
• Enrich rather than duplicate the record.

This is particularly important because many professionals originally known to the company through New York may now hold leadership positions elsewhere nationally.

1. CREATE EXECUTIVE-QUALITY PROFILES

Research should result in clean, useful profiles that allow the company's founder to understand an individual quickly.

A strong profile should answer:

Who are they?

What have they accomplished?

Where have they worked?

What do they specialize in?

How senior are they really?

How are they connected to the market?

What history does the company already have with them?

Not every publicly available detail matters.

Judgment about what information is useful is important.

1. PREPARE FOUNDER OUTREACH BRIEFINGS

The company's founder will personally determine and conduct important senior-level outreach.

For selected individuals, prepare concise pre-contact briefings including:

• Current role
• Career summary
• Specialization
• Notable work
• Recent promotion/move
• Previous company relationship
• Relevant shared connections
• Firm context
• Potential reason for introduction/reconnection

You may assist in drafting highly personalized outreach.

You will not conduct high-volume automated executive outreach.

1. SUPPORT LIVE RETAINED SEARCHES

When the company wins an executive-search mandate, your market-mapping skills become directly applicable to live searches.

You may:

• Develop target-company universes.
• Map competitor organizations.
• Identify potential candidates.
• Research adjacent talent pools.
• Build candidate longlists.
• Prepare candidate intelligence.
• Research organizational structures.
• Track relevant market movement.
• Support compensation and market research.
• Assist with search progress reporting.

The company's founder will personally lead client strategy, candidate engagement, assessment and closing.

1. IDENTIFY PATTERNS + CONNECTIONS

As the database grows, we want someone capable of noticing what the information is telling us.

Examples:

Several leaders moved from Firm A to Firm B.

A particular studio consistently produces future Design Directors.

Multiple hospitality leaders are moving into branded residential.

Several senior designers have moved from New York to Miami.

A boutique firm is quietly attracting talent from much larger competitors.

These observations can become valuable search intelligence.

You should be naturally curious about connections, movement and patterns.

Good to have:

WHO WE’RE LOOKING FOR The ideal person enjoys research almost like detective work. Give you a firm and you want to understand: Who runs it? Who actually matters? Who worked there before? Where did they go? Who trained under whom? Who is moving up? How does this organization connect to others in the market? You don’t simply gather information. You make sense of it. IDEAL QUALITIES EXCEPTIONAL RESEARCHER You know how to locate and verify professional information efficiently. INTELLECTUALLY CURIOUS You naturally want to understand organizations, careers and markets. ANALYTICAL You see relationships between pieces of information. HIGHLY ORGANIZED Your research is structured and reproducible. STRONG JUDGMENT You can distinguish meaningful intelligence from irrelevant information. CONCISE WRITER You can turn an hour of research into a useful five-paragraph briefing. TECHNOLOGY FORWARD You are comfortable using AI and modern research tools intelligently while verifying important information. DETAIL ORIENTED Names, titles, dates and career histories need to be accurate. RESOURCEFUL You don’t stop at the first search result. DISCREET You understand the confidential nature of executive search. POTENTIALLY RELEVANT BACKGROUNDS

We are deliberately open-minded. Strong candidates could come from:

• Executive-search research
• Talent intelligence
• Competitive intelligence
• Recruiting research
• Strategic sourcing
• Market research
• Professional-services research
• Architecture/design business development
• Consulting research
• Investment / industry research
• Research-intensive recruiting environments

Architecture and design experience is valuable but not essential. Curiosity about architecture, interiors, hospitality, luxury and design is important.

WHAT THIS ROLE IS NOT This is not a traditional staffing recruiter. It is not a sales role. It is not measured by the number of LinkedIn messages sent. It is not high-volume résumé sourcing. And you will not independently determine the company's target markets or strategic priorities. The company determines where to look. Your job is to understand everything important about the people within that market.

Non-negotiable Requirements :

• **Exceptional research & resourcefulness** – Able to dig beyond the first search result, locate and verify professional information, and uncover meaningful connections between people, firms, and markets.
• **Strong analytical judgment & curiosity** – Naturally investigates organizations and career histories, connects information, and distinguishes useful intelligence from irrelevant details.
• **Highly organized & detail-oriented communication** – Produces accurate, structured research and can turn complex findings into concise, useful briefings while maintaining discretion.

Industry/Tools Experience :

• LinkedIn
• Bullhorn or comparable CRM/ATS
• Excel / Google Sheets
• Research databases
• AI research tools
• Microsoft / Google productivity platforms
• Web-based research tools

Benefits

We’re all about uplifting lives in Coconut and we make sure we provide benefits that support work-life balance, well-being, and growth. Here’s what you can look forward to as part of the Coconut Community! ✨

✅ Competitive Salary – We recognize your skills and experience with a great compensation package. ✅ 13th Month Pay – Enjoy an extra month’s salary—because who doesn’t love a little bonus?

✅ Paid Time Off – Recharge with 12 days of PTO to use however you like—vacation, self-care, or just a break from it all! ✅ US Holidays Off – Enjoy 12 paid US holidays throughout the year. ✅ Maternity & Paternity Leave – We support growing families with dedicated leave for new parents.

✅ Comprehensive Healthcare – We’ve got you and your family covered with quality healthcare benefits. ✅ Life Insurance * – Our full-time HMO plan includes life insurance for extra peace of mind. ✅ Mental Health Support – Prioritize your well-being with access to mental health consultations and wellness resources.

✅ Milestone Gifts & Birthday Treats – We celebrate your achievements and make your special day even better! ✅ Exciting Team Experiences – Think island getaways, virtual town halls, and regional meetups —because work should be fun, too!

✅ Stay Connected – Be part of a supportive network where you can learn, grow, and connect with amazing people.

Some benefits may vary. Full details will be provided during the onboarding process.