Inside the Research team with Joe Harrington

“I get a lot of fulfillment from bringing people in, training them up and seeing them grow in confidence.”

As European Research Manager for Library at Third Bridge, Joe Harrington oversees the Research function across five sector teams - Consumer, Technology, Industrials, Healthcare and Financials. While the role involves strategy, process improvement and managing complex relationships across teams, it increasingly requires thinking about how new tools and workflows, including AI, can be integrated to help the function scale effectively.

However, what motivates him most is helping people develop. It’s a philosophy he describes through what he calls the ‘academy principle’ - the idea that the Research team is a place where talented people come to learn, grow, and discover where their careers can take them.

Finding Third Bridge after five years of adventure

Joe’s route to Third Bridge wasn’t exactly conventional. After studying ancient history at university, he wasn’t rushing into corporate life.

“I always knew I needed to go travelling,” he says. “I knew I could never go straight into a corporate role.”

What was supposed to be a single gap year ended up lasting five; Joe worked ski seasons in the Alps, took summer jobs in the south of France, backpacked for two years and lived in Australia for eighteen months.

Those years gave him something he still uses every day: an ability to connect with and understand people from diverse backgrounds.

“I worked in so many different environments; restaurants and hotels, building sites, in sales roles and in law” he explains. “All those experiences are really valuable in giving you the ability to read and engage with different personalities.”

Eventually, just before the COVID-19 pandemic began, Joe returned to the UK and started looking for a full-time role. “I wanted something intellectually stimulating and somewhere with an international culture,” he says.

The majority of his offers were for roles in Sales and Recruitment, but one opportunity stood out.

“Third Bridge was the only one that was research-based,” he says. “I wanted something where I’d be out of my depth and surrounded by really intelligent people who would push me out of my comfort zone.”

Starting out in Healthcare research

Joe joined Third Bridge six years ago as a Healthcare researcher, despite having no background in the sector. But that challenge was part of the appeal:

“I’d actually vowed at school that I wouldn’t do anything science-related,” he laughs. “So my options were to go do a commercial role where my skills naturally lay, or really throw myself in at the deep end.”

He chose the deep end.

His first 18 months in the role were also unusual. Because he joined at the start of the pandemic, Joe spent that entire period working remotely. Without the usual office distractions, he focused intensely on learning the job.

“I was probably more engaged in the work because I didn’t have much else to do,” he says with a chuckle. “That investment gave me a clear sense of what I needed to do to be good at the job.”

Support from colleagues made a huge difference. Senior Researchers helped him learn the ropes, while the Sector Analyst he worked with at the time - now a Global Team Lead - was deeply engaged in his sector. “His passion for the content was formative in my engagement with the role,” Joe says.

Stepping into leadership

After two years as a Researcher, Joe had the opportunity to pursue the Analyst path. Instead, he realised his strengths and interests lay elsewhere.

“I love people. I like interacting with them,” he says. “As much as I enjoy analysis, I don’t think I’m the type of person who could just sit down and read reports all day.”

So, he applied for a Research Management position in New York. Despite being what he jokingly describes as a “left-field candidate”, he was supported by his manager and selected for the role.

The transition turned out to be a natural next step. Joe had already begun taking informal leadership responsibility within the Healthcare team, and his background outside corporate environments had given him plenty of experience working with people.

“Also being the eldest of four brothers helps with managing different personalities,” he says with a smile.

After more than a year managing the teams between London and New York, Joe returned to London to take on an even broader role, overseeing all five Research teams across Europe. He’s been excelling in that role for almost three years now.

Leading through structure

When Joe stepped into the Research Manager role, one of the first things he noticed was inconsistency: “There was not much structure to the role,” he says. “It was very idiosyncratic across lots of teams.”

Joe introduced a framework based on a system that had already proved successful in the Healthcare team, which helped improve alignment and performance across the teams. More recently, he has been working closely with product teams on incorporating new tools and workflows, helping ensure that these developments translate into practical improvements in how researchers operate day to day.

But process improvements aren’t just about efficiency. Joe was equally focused on building Researchers’ confidence and engagement with the content they work on every day. One initiative that emerged from that thinking was Coffee and Content.

Building confidence with Coffee and Content

Coffee and Content is a weekly session where a Researcher presents a news topic related to their sector. The team gathers in a meeting room, coffee in hand, and discusses it together.

The idea was simple: create a safe space where researchers could ask questions, share opinions and practice presenting.

“I noticed people were often quite intimidated about expressing their opinions,” Joe says, particularly if Senior Analysts were present. So, the sessions were intentionally informal.

“I make a big effort to ask the most stupid questions,” he says, laughing. “Because a lot of the time people didn’t understand things at a basic level, but they were afraid to appear ignorant in front of their colleagues - so that responsibility fell to me!”

Over time, the impact has been clear. Researchers have grown more confident presenting, discussions have become deeper and Analysts now join the sessions as well. What started as a small team initiative has since been rolled out more widely across the organization.

The academy principle

For Joe, initiatives like Coffee and Content are part of a bigger philosophy about how the Research team should work: “I see it through an academy principle,” he says.

The idea is simple: Researchers join the team knowing that if they commit to learning and improving, opportunities will follow. In return, he promises a clear and meritocratic structure for progression.

“I make a deal with people when they come here: commit yourself and work hard for 18 months and the opportunities will come” he explains. “The structure is clear, there’s no politics and no favouritism - everyone knows exactly what they need to do to progress, and that consistency is what drives both performance and development.”

That clarity motivates people to perform and helps them see a future full of opportunities. As a result, productivity across the Research teams has nearly doubled in the last three years. But Joe’s biggest sense of achievement comes from seeing the impact at the individual level.

“I get the most fulfilment from bringing people in, training them up, seeing them grow in confidence and go on to take opportunities they would not have otherwise achieved” he says.

What makes a great Researcher?

Despite the complex topics researchers work on, Joe believes that success is tied more closely to who you are as a person, rather than the experience you bring with you to the role.

“You don’t need a technical background,” he says. “As long as you’re intellectually curious and committed to your own development, you’ll do very well.”

Instead, he looks for qualities such as proactivity, perseverance and emotional intelligence. Just as important is the ability to handle competing priorities in a fast-moving environment.

“You’re managing relationships with Experts, Analysts and Management all at once,” Joe explains. “So being a people person is really important. And you have to be able to manage your own time and workload effectively.”

Giving people a launchpad

Reflecting on his own time spent travelling before starting his career, Joe is quick to point out that the Research role is not designed to be a lifelong destination for everyone. Instead, he sees it as a launchpad.

“It gives people the space to understand their strengths and weaknesses, and to figure out the path that suits them best,” he says. “When starting out, most people struggle to see the way forward. The Research role can really help define that.”

“It’s a role that offers broad exposure, builds essential soft skills, and develops technical and financial understanding,” he adds. “It also gives people the time and space to reflect on where they want to go next. No doors are closed as a result - the experience is broad enough to open many different pathways.”

The Research team has become the primary pipeline for new Analysts. Other researchers have transitioned into Management, Commercial teams, Product, Project Management, Compliance, or entirely new areas of the business.

“I’m really happy for people to move on,” Joe says. “If they’ve taken a step up, that’s a win for me.”

A culture built on trust

Joe describes the Research team as a high-trust environment.

“We give people all the support they need to do the job well,” he says. “And we give them the bandwidth to develop at their own pace. It’s about coaching rather than micromanaging.”

That trust extends to career progression, too. Joe believes one of Third Bridge’s biggest strengths is its commitment to promoting people from within.

“So many people in the management structure have been promoted internally,” he says. “I’m definitely a beneficiary of that.”

Life outside work

Outside the office, Joe’s life is just as active as his career. He travels whenever he can and spends as much time as possible skiing or snowboarding with friends. He’s also a keen sportsman, enjoying football, rugby, boxing, cycling and most recently has joined the Padel hype!

He’s also a passionate Leeds United fan, attempting to convert several members of the Senior Leadership team to support the club with him when he was based in New York and even adorning them all with Leeds kit.

“It turned out to be an awful season,” he laughs. “We got relegated and failed to attract any new fans.”

Advice for future joiners

Joe’s advice to anyone thinking about starting their career in a Research role at Third Bridge is to lean in to the idea of seeing it as a launchpad.

Most people don’t know exactly where they want their careers to go when they start out. “What’s good about this job is that it gives people space to figure that out,” he says.

The important thing is being open to learning what you’re capable of.

“When someone comes in and discovers what they’re really good at and then takes that next step in their career, that’s the best part,” Joe adds.

For those willing to work hard, stay curious and invest in their own development, Research at Third Bridge can be the start of something much bigger. And helping people realise that potential is exactly what Joe enjoys most about working here.

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