Research Assistant

About Blue Oak Consulting Blue Oak is a London-based commercial advisory firm. We advise boards, investors, and senior operators on pricing, margin, capital allocation, and transaction logic. Our work tends to sit at the point where a commercial decision is material and the answer is not obvious.

The Research Assistant function Every engagement we run depends on a factual base that holds up under scrutiny. Market sizes, competitor pricing, transaction comparables, regulatory context, cost benchmarks, and sector data are not background. They are the substrate of the recommendation.

What the role involves

• Gathering, organising, and verifying data from public filings, earnings calls, broker notes, regulatory disclosures, trade publications, and paid databases
• Building structured research packs on companies, sectors, and transactions
• Tracking pricing, margin, and volume benchmarks across the sectors we work in (SaaS, industrials, financial services, healthcare and pharma)
• Summarising long documents into clean briefings the senior team can act on
• Maintaining source trails so every figure we publish can be traced
• Flagging inconsistencies between a company’s public narrative and its underlying numbers

What we need from you Essential

• A degree, in progress or completed, in a field that required you to read and analyse seriously. Economics, finance, accounting, mathematics, statistics, history, law, and the sciences all qualify.
• Written English at a professional standard. Short, clear, and accurate matters more than stylish.
• Basic working fluency with spreadsheets. You can build a table, write a formula, and keep a file organised.
• The habit of checking a number before using it. When a figure looks wrong, you investigate rather than guess.
• Patience. A lot of research work is not fast, and the value comes from getting it right the first time.
• Reliable availability during UK business hours.

Helpful but not required

• Prior exposure to financial research through an internship, society, or personal project
• Basic familiarity with Bloomberg, Capital IQ, Pitchbook, Statista, or equivalent
• Any experience reading a 10-K, an annual report, or a prospectus, even if only as coursework
• Light SQL or Python
• A second language

What we are not looking for You do not need to have worked in consulting or banking. You do not need a target-school CV. You do not need three prior internships. If you are early in your career and the work above sounds like work you want to do properly, apply.

Working at Blue Oak

• Fully remote, UK hours
• Close working relationship with senior advisors from day one
• Exposure to live client work rather than training exercises
• Clear progression path into analyst-level responsibilities once the fundamentals are in place