A professional who directs and coordinates research and development activities for organizational products, services, or ideologies. Responsibilities include:

• Plans and formulates aspects of research and development proposals, such as objective or purpose of project, applications that can be utilized from findings, costs of project, and equipment and human resource requirements.
• Reviews and analyzes proposals submitted to determine if benefits derived and possible applications justify expenditures.
• Approves and submits proposals considered feasible to management for consideration and allocation of funds or allocates funds from department budget.
• Develops and implements methods and procedures for monitoring projects, such as preparation of records of expenditures and research findings, progress reports, and staff conferences, in order to inform management of current status of each project.
• May recruit, hire, and train department staff, evaluate staff performance, and develop goals and objectives for staff.
• May negotiate contracts with consulting firms to perform research studies.
• May specialize in one type of research and be designated Director, Marketing Research and Analysis; Director, Product Research and Development.