Director of Research

Organization Summary:

VisitGreenvilleSC (VGSC) is a not-for-profit, membership-based, economic engine, and accredited Destination Marketing Organization (DMO). We proudly represent and serve the City and County of Greenville, South Carolina, the hospitality industry, and hundreds of small businesses. As Greenville's official sales and marketing organization, our Mission is to maximize Greenville’s Visitor Economy by developing and promoting exceptional visitor experiences to elevate the quality of life and prosperity for our community.

VGSC is a values-based organization placing a great deal of importance on adhering to and embracing the following values in all that we do:

• Integrity. Doing the right thing all the time. We build trust through honesty, transparency and respect.
• Open. We actively seek new perspectives with the belief that we’re stronger because of our differences.
• Resilience. We believe our response to adversity, not the adversity itself, defines who we are. We are positive, flexible and persevere to find success.
• Passion. We are inspired by an authentic love for Greenville, and we strengthen our community by sharing it with the world.
• Excellence. Our team, our vendors and our stakeholders deliver bold, creative and high-performing solutions.
• Collaboration. Our success is greater when we effectively harness other’s expertise, experiences, and resources.

Position Summary:

The Director of Research leads VisitGreenvilleSC’s research, analytics, performance measurement, and business intelligence functions. This role transforms data into strategic insight that guides organizational priorities, improves sales and marketing effectiveness, supports destination development, strengthens stakeholder relationships, and demonstrates the economic and community value of Greenville’s visitor economy. This position helps establish a culture of evidence-based decision-making by connecting research, organizational performance, stakeholder needs, and strategic priorities.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Serve as a strategic thought partner to the President & CEO and VGSC Leadership Team by identifying trends, risks, opportunities, and implications for VGSC’s strategy, business plan, sales efforts, marketing investments, destination development, and stakeholder engagement.
• Lead the analysis and communication of Greenville’s visitor economy, including economic impact, tax generation, employment, visitor spending, hotel performance, resident quality of life, and broader community outcomes.
• Manage VGSC’s data governance by establishing standards for data quality, source documentation, dashboard governance, research methodology, privacy, and responsible interpretation of research findings, ensuring staff and stakeholders understand how data should be used in decision-making.
• Manage VGSC’s data platform, leveraging data visualization to facilitate evidence-based internal staff communication, prioritization, and decision making.
• Manage research vendors, data providers, and external partners to ensure timely, accurate, cost-effective, and strategically useful deliverables.
• Lead VGSC’s organizational performance measurement framework by defining, tracking, interpreting measures of effectiveness across visitor intelligence, audience behavior, Sales & Marketing activity, destination experience, stakeholder outcomes, and return on investment; helping teams evaluate progress, prioritize resources, strengthen accountability, and improve results.
• Establish a leadership role in understanding the Greenville, SC hospitality and tourism industry; demonstrating expertise in hotel performance, visitor behavior and spending, and competitive analysis of tourism product.
• Conduct regular market and competitor research, providing regular updates and reporting to support Sales & Marketing strategies, improve visitor experiences and inform future tourism product development.
• Lead staff, Board of Directors, and stakeholder reporting by developing clear, timely, and credible analysis of organizational performance, visitor economy trends, and stakeholder and community impact.
• Present research findings, performance results, and visitor economy insights to internal teams, the Board of Directors, public-sector partners, industry stakeholders, and community audiences in ways that are clear, credible, and actionable.
• Support grant applications, grant reconciliation, required reporting, and other funding-related documentation with accurate research, data analysis, and impact reporting.
• Assist in answering data inquiries from media, developers, VGSC members and other internal or external stakeholders.
• Support other strategic, research, reporting, and stakeholder initiatives as needed.

Candidate profile:

The successful incumbent will be one who understands and appreciates the importance of collaboration, teamwork, and hospitality. The successful incumbent is not merely a data producer; they are strategic advisors who help colleagues ask better questions, interpret evidence, understand tradeoffs, and make confident decisions. They combine analytical discipline with business judgment, curiosity, humility, and the ability to tell stories from complex information. They can influence change within the organization without direct authority. The incumbent should be comfortable working with and effectively communicating to a wide variety of stakeholders, including; VGSC Staff & Leadership Team, the VGSC Board of Directors, Elected Officials, Community Leaders, Hospitality Industry Partners, and others. 

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Statistics, Business Management, Economics, Data Science, Public Policy, or related field

• Proficiency with business intelligence, data visualization tools, analytics, and presentation tools required; experience with Tableau preferred, but familiarity with Microsoft Power BI, Excel, Power Query or other similar tools a plus

• Demonstrated ability to design and execute survey research that produces reliable, actionable insights, including defining research objectives, developing effective questionnaires, and evaluating methodology and sample quality

• Demonstrated ability to translate complex data into clear and actionable insights, executive-level recommendations, public presentations, and stakeholder-facing reports.

• Experience with economic impact analysis, public-sector reporting, destination marketing, community development, hospitality analytics, or economic development preferred

•  Seven (7) to ten (10) years of experience in a similar role required

•  Exposure to travel and tourism industry preferred; hotel, agency and/or DMO/CVB experience a plus

•  Able to effectively manage time and work independently with minimal supervision

•  Able to travel and work varied hours, including evenings and weekends, as needed

VisitGreenvilleSC is an employer that offers equal opportunities. We evaluate qualified candidates and do not discriminate against any employee or applicant on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), parental status, national origin, age, disability, genetic information (including family medical history), political affiliation, military service, or other non-merit-based factors as defined in federal and state laws, or any other characteristics protected by federal or state law.