Director Market Research

Role: Market Research Director - Market Development

GSM (Green SM) - Vingroup-backed EV Mobility Platform

Level T3

Reports to Deputy CEO, Market Development

Team Leads the Market Research team (Managers and Analysts)

Location:Head office - Hanoi, Vietnam

Travel International travel; substantial in year 1 while building the function, lower steady-state thereafter

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:

Submit your CV to: [Confidential Information]