Research Writer
Produces evidence-backed protocol, market, or ecosystem analysis for readers who need more than news but less than a formal technical paper.
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Also listed as
Research Analyst Writer · Protocol Research Writer · Editorial Researcher
What this role actually does
The job becomes concrete when the practitioner has to read sources, maintain notes, test claims, write sections, and review data definitions.
Its decision rights usually cover research question framing, source collection, and analysis, while real-time news reporting by default and token recommendations remain outside the default remit.
Where the role sits
Research Writer usually sits inside Marketing, Editorial, Growth, Brand, or regional content teams. Common reporting lines include Head of Marketing, Editorial Lead, Social Lead, Brand Lead, or Growth Lead. Work may be full-time, freelance, retainer-based, agency-based, or market-specific. Ownership and approval rights vary sharply by model. The role usually collaborates with Protocol Researcher, DeFi Analyst, Crypto Journalist, Technical Writer.
Core responsibilities
- Define a research question and the decision or reader need behind it
- Read protocol documentation, governance forums, code-adjacent material, dashboards, and first-party statements
- Compare mechanisms, metrics, competitors, and historical context
- Interview contributors or specialists where public evidence is insufficient
- Write with source notes, caveats, and a clear distinction between evidence and interpretation
- Update or correct work when material facts change
Daily, weekly, and reactive work
A typical day
Read sources, maintain notes, test claims, write sections, and review data definitions.
Weekly or monthly
Publish or revise a memo, review the research backlog, interview sources, and document open questions.
When conditions change
Pause publication when primary sources conflict, a metric definition breaks, or new information materially changes the thesis.
Deliverables
How success is judged
- Accuracy
- Usefulness of the research question
- Quality of primary sources
- Clarity of uncertainty
- Reader trust
- Corrections handled transparently
Read signals in context. Read accuracy together with usefulness of the research question. Neither signal is meaningful without the relevant launch, incident, market, workload, or attribution context.
Tools in practice
- Docs or Notion
- Draft, review, and maintain research memo and executive summary, with owners, source links, and change history.
- Dune
- Collect and analyse the evidence used in research memo and executive summary, with definitions and reproducible steps.
- DefiLlama
- Compare protocol TVL, fees, chains, and categories, then verify the definitions before using the figures in analysis.
- block explorers
- Verify transactions, contract addresses, events, token movements, deployment state, and incident claims against chain data.
- Google Sheets
- Structure the records behind research memo and executive summary and make review status visible.
- citation and archiving tools
- Preserve source pages, announcements, edits, and dates so later claims can be checked even when a page changes.
Skills and prerequisite knowledge
Hard skills
- Primary-source research
- Analytical writing
- Basic onchain and financial interpretation
- Interviewing
- Citation discipline
Working skills
- Editorial judgment
- Audience awareness
- Feedback tolerance
- Deadline discipline
- Clear collaboration
Prerequisite knowledge
Know basic blockchain architecture, token and protocol terminology, metric definitions, and how to evaluate source incentives.
Expectations by level
Entry level
At entry level, a candidate should be able to complete a scoped assignment with review. That includes the ability to define a research question and the decision or reader need behind it, to read protocol documentation, governance forums, code-adjacent material, dashboards, and first-party statements, and to produce reviewable artifacts such as a research memo and an executive summary.
Mid level
At mid level, the practitioner normally owns research question framing, source collection, and analysis without constant supervision. They can coordinate adjacent teams and improve the workflow behind a research memo and an executive summary, including when the role must pause publication when primary sources conflict, a metric definition breaks, or new information materially changes the thesis.
Senior
At senior level, the work shifts toward standards, decision rights, and review quality. A senior Research Writer defines how research question framing, source collection, and analysis are handled, reviews high-risk cases, and builds systems that do not depend on one person.
Proof of work and portfolio
Reviewers should be able to inspect a research memo and an executive summary, trace the inputs or decisions behind the work, and understand what the candidate personally owned.
Strong proof
- A 1,500-word protocol memo
- A comparative analysis with explicit methodology
- A source log
- A revision note showing how new evidence changed the conclusion
Weak evidence
- A long article built mostly from secondary summaries
- Confident conclusions without limitations
- Dashboard screenshots without metric definitions
Common mistakes and misconceptions
- Taking responsibility for real-time news reporting by default and token recommendations without the mandate or approval to do so
Common misconception
Research Writer may overlap with Protocol Researcher, but the hiring evidence is different. This role is judged on research question framing, source collection, and analysis, not on ownership of real-time news reporting by default and token recommendations.
Scope boundaries
Usually owns
- Research question framing
- Source collection
- Analysis
- Fact and opinion separation
- Methodology disclosure
- Clear long-form writing
Usually does not own
- Real-time news reporting by default
- Token recommendations
- Unreviewed legal conclusions
- Pure data engineering
- Protocol design authority
Interview focus
Expect questions about primary-source research, analytical writing, and basic onchain and financial interpretation, plus a scenario where the role must pause publication when primary sources conflict, a metric definition breaks, or new information materially changes the thesis. Interviewers are looking for evidence that the candidate knows where research question framing and source collection stop and real-time news reporting by default and token recommendations begin.
How do you decide which source is authoritative when protocol materials disagree?
Tell us about a conclusion you changed after finding stronger evidence
How would you explain a metric that is useful but easy to misinterpret?
Compensation and role risks
Web3-specific salary evidence is inconsistent. Technical writing, analysis, journalism, and marketing may be adjacent, but each has different scope. Numeric ranges should appear only with direct matching evidence; freelance work should use project or retainer context.
No reliable role-specific range
KRAFT did not find a reliable role-specific range that meets the evidence standard. Compensation may still exist through salary, contract fees, retainers, grants, commissions, token or equity packages, creator revenue, or business economics. These models are described separately rather than compressed into an invented number.
Wider Web3 market, for scale
Typical advertised averages $65,000 – $200,000 / year
Individual postings run from about $40,000 to $350,000.
Across the role categories this index tracks, advertised averages sit between roughly $65,000 and $200,000 per year, with individual postings from about $40,000 to $350,000. This is whole-market scale from advertised roles - not a figure for this specific role, and not verified paid compensation.
Role risks
- Publishing outdated claims
- Conflicts of interest
- Source capture
- Pressure to produce a bullish thesis
- Overconfidence from incomplete onchain data
Compensation can change materially by geography, seniority, employment model, company stage, market cycle, and the mix of cash, bonus, commission, equity, token, vesting, royalties, or fees. A published range is useful only when those dimensions match the role being considered.
How to read compensation evidence
- Direct
- Evidence from the same or a materially equivalent role.
- Adjacent
- Evidence from a neighbouring occupation, used only for context.
- Broad market
- Category-level Web3 or labour-market evidence.
- Unverified
- Estimates without enough source or methodology detail.
Confidence reflects the quality and comparability of the evidence, not the value or legitimacy of the role.
Career path and role fit
Common progression
May fit people who
People who enjoy slow source work, are comfortable saying what cannot be known, and can turn complex evidence into useful prose.
May not fit people who
People who need constant novelty, dislike citations, or prefer strong opinions before the research is complete.
Practical next steps
How this guide is built. Role content is drawn from current first-party hiring material and reputable industry evidence, with compensation labelled by confidence and evidence tier rather than a single number.
Turn this role into evidence.
Choose a proof-of-work project, package the result, and practice the questions this role is likely to ask.