Political Research Associate
Research, writing and programme design in support of national political and policy work

Location Recent Delhi | Engagement Full-time | Experience Open

The role
This is a research and writing position supporting a national political office-bearer's public work — opinion writing, television debate preparation, a standing body of research on youth politics, technology policy and party organisation, and the design of public-facing research programmes for young audiences.
It is not a campaign job, a social media job, or an administrative role. The output is written argument and the intellectual architecture of programmes built on it. The person who does this well will spend most of their week reading, thinking and drafting.

What you would produce
Column briefs. For each opinion piece: the argument, the strongest case against it, the evidence that
survives scrutiny, and what has already been written on the subject so the piece is not derivative. Roughly two per month.
Debate briefs. Ahead of a television appearance: what the issue actually is, the numbers,



the likely lines of attack, and where the weak ground is. Often at short notice — the same day.
Standing files. Three or four themes maintained continuously rather than researched on demand — AI
and employment, youth political participation, technology policy and the state, and the movement of
political ideas: how narratives form and travel, how ideological positions are shifting among young Indians and internationally, and what is being argued online and by whom. These files are the foundation of everything else, and the last of them is what makes the rest timely rather than reactive.
Academic groundwork. Literature review and source work supporting doctoral research on party
organisation and political socialisation. Comparative political science, largely European.
Research programmes. Designing and running the intellectual content of public-facing initiatives —
currently a national seminar

📌 Political Research Associate (India)
🏢 Think Small Group
📍 India