Trend & Foresight Researcher

Job Title/Job Description: [Jr Trend & Foresight Researcher]

Length of assignment: 6 months / 40 hours per week (with the option to renew contract if approved)

Location Address: 1 W 37TH ST. NEW YORK

Remote or Onsite:

• Hybrid - 2 days per week in office / field research minimum

Specific Skills Needed:

Top 3-5 mandatory and/or minimum requirements

1. Proficiency in Adobe creative suite, ppt, keynote and Microsoft office
2. At least one full-time experience in fashion, trend, design or marketing field - trend agency/consultancy experience preferred
3. Bachelors degree in design, trend forecasting, marketing or related field
4. Lives in NYC / Brooklyn - High familiarity with New York trend scene
5. Excellent understanding of cultural insights, consumer behavior and fashion trends.

Top 3-5 desirable attributes/qualifications?

1. AI Creative Ideation

2. Design Experience

3. Premiere Video Editing

4. Strong understanding of Eyewear market

5. Comfortable shooting street style photography

Required levels/ Years of Experience education – discuss whether there is flexibility

1-3 years of experience with flexibility depending on profile & Skillset

Reason for request (Example: project base, staff augmentation, replacement or other). Can you please provide 4-5 detailed sentences as to why this temp labor is needed and why the assignment cannot be completed by an internal resource? The more details that you can provide the better your chances are of avoiding delays.

A dedicated Junior researcher is needed in the New York office in order to continue to support the growing number of projects requested and ensure protection of time for research. We are currently operating with only one headcount for Style Trends, covering all of the Americas.

Key Focus Areas:

• Licenses and design teams: Currently functioning with only one member covering 15 licensed brands
• Intra-group collaboration: Growing collaboration and needs between marketing, lenses and PR teams hungry for trend content with only one representative to cover all events, training, and market week interactions.
• Field research: A crucial part of the role, is suffering due to the lack of resources and ample time to complete projects and research. The growing number of services and stakeholders interactions takes away from the ability to cover the amount of field research required for the role.
• Global Trend research: A dedicated research role would help with the ongoing global trend research and new team framework used to funnel information across regions, monitor trend signals and on the scene market analysis. This would create a more consistent and scalable forecasting process while reducing the burden on one sole team member.
• Trend Analysis: Assist in building efficiencies towards content creation, focus on execution, templates, graphics, formatting.

With a junior researcher the function could move beyond reactive research toward a more proactive identification and analysis of emerging trends, faster delivery and broader insights.

• The temporary Jr Trend Researcher is needed to provide additional capacity to the Trend & Foresight function and support the growing volume of business requests across the Americas. The team currently operates with a single resource covering Style Trends across a broad portfolio of 15 licensed brands, while demand for trend research, market insights, field research, and content continues to increase across Design, Marketing, Lenses, PR, and other stakeholders.
• The additional resource will help ensure adequate coverage of critical activities such as global and local trend research, fashion and cultural insights, market and competitor benchmarking, street style and field research, and the translation of findings into actionable eyewear opportunities. This additional capacity is particularly important to maintain the quality and timeliness of insights while enabling the team to be more proactive in identifying emerging trends rather than primarily responding to ad hoc business requests.
• The role cannot be fully absorbed by existing internal resources without impacting current priorities, timelines, and the level of market coverage required. A temporary resource provides a flexible and cost-effective solution to address the immediate workload increase while supporting key business initiatives and establishing a more scalable research framework. The initial 6-month assignment will allow the business to assess the ongoing need and determine whether an extension is warranted based on business demand.