Qualitative Research Manager

at  Ipsos

WHAT WILL I BE DOING?

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced qualitative or mixed-methods Research Manager to run high profile studies which influence government policy and decisions. You will use your strong qualitative skills to work with a range of research participants, including businesses, industry bodies, and policy experts. You will be able to lead project teams and be the first point of contact for our clients . You will train, mentor and delegate to junior team members, while learning from experienced project directors who will give support and guidance.
You will be able to work closely with our associated policy teams, the Energy and Environment team, and Transport and Infrastructure team, as well as our evaluation, economic analysis, stats analysis and qualitative methods experts in Ipsos Public Affairs.
Our team is a diverse and exciting place to work within Ipsos Public Affairs. We run regular knowledge sharing sessions, encourage our team to gain experience across a range of disciplines, and have regular social activities.

The overarching responsibilities, and the key opportunities this role offers, include:

• Writing and contributing to research proposals, to help us win exciting new work and develop your proposal writing skills
• Supporting the development of our team including training and mentoring junior researchers to improve their qualitative skills. This will include getting involved in line managing junior staff, being supported to run training for the team, or taking on specific business development roles (e.g. building your policy knowledge for specific client accounts)

Specific responsibilities might include:

• Ensuring projects are delivered on budget and to time, through effective project planning (including planning ahead and managing risks) and delegation
• Designing high-quality drafts of topic guides and stimulus materials to meet client/study objectives (and for review by project directors)
• Designing participant recruitment materials including questionnaires. For mixed method researchers – designing questionnaires and tab specs
• Designing effective approaches to qualitative data management and analysis. Designing appropriate sampling approaches for qualitative projects
• Reviewing draft deliverables (e.g. presentations and reports) to ensure that they are client-ready and providing feedback to junior team members
• Moderating in-depth interviews and workshops
• Leading on narrative-driven reports and presentations that deliver the insights to meet our clients’ objectives
• Effectively managing relationships with suppliers and freelance researchers, to ensure successful fieldwork
• Building and managing effective client relationships through strong communication with individual client teams and their stakeholders (e.g. policymakers)
• Monitoring projects’ financial progress, identifying problems and suggesting solutions

Ipsos UK offers a hybrid working environment, 3 days in the office and working the rest from home. We have offices in London, Manchester & Edinburgh and invite applications from candidates who are able to work from one of these locations.

WHAT IS IN IT FOR ME?

Ipsos UK offer an attractive basic salary and a rewards package including 25 days annual leave, a pension scheme and a great range of flexible benefits to suit your personal needs. For roles at Research Manager level and above we also offer private healthcare.
In addition to this we have a fantastic Learning & Development offer delivered through a mix of face to face, online or on-demand; you can read more by clicking here .
We realise you may have commitments outside of work and will consider flexible working applications - please highlight what you are looking for when you make your application.
Ipsos is committed to equality, treating people fairly, promoting a positive and inclusive working environment and ensuring we have diversity of people and views. We also recognise that this is important for our business success - a more diverse workforce will enable us to better reflect and understand the world we research and ultimately deliver better research and insight to our clients

ROLE OVERVIEW

The Trade, Innovation and Enterprise team within Ipsos Public Affairs is a fast-growing team of social researchers and evaluators. We work to understand and shape the interactions between businesses, government and the public. We carry out a wide range of qualitative and quantitative projects. These address some of the most important challenges facing society, including:

• How and why businesses grow and prosper
• The challenges faced by different types of businesses, such as SMEs, or those in creative and tech industries
• How the UK works and trades with other countries, and what businesses and the UK public think about this
• How UK organisations can meet their Net Zero commitments
• Managing qualitative research projects from inception through to the final reports and presentations

Our work has influenced trade policies (e.g. around the NI Protocol) and strategies (e.g. the National AI Strategy), strengthened the evidence base for various business tax reliefs (e.g. Video Games Tax Relief) and supported new businesses to deal with challenges like cyber crime.

The overarching responsibilities, and the key opportunities this role offers, include:

• Writing and contributing to research proposals, to help us win exciting new work and develop your proposal writing skills
• Supporting the development of our team including training and mentoring junior researchers to improve their qualitative skills. This will include getting involved in line managing junior staff, being supported to run training for the team, or taking on specific business development roles (e.g. building your policy knowledge for specific client accounts

Specific responsibilities might include:

• Ensuring projects are delivered on budget and to time, through effective project planning (including planning ahead and managing risks) and delegation
• Designing high-quality drafts of topic guides and stimulus materials to meet client/study objectives (and for review by project directors)
• Designing participant recruitment materials including questionnaires. For mixed method researchers – designing questionnaires and tab specs
• Designing effective approaches to qualitative data management and analysis. Designing appropriate sampling approaches for qualitative projects
• Reviewing draft deliverables (e.g. presentations and reports) to ensure that they are client-ready and providing feedback to junior team members
• Moderating in-depth interviews and workshops
• Leading on narrative-driven reports and presentations that deliver the insights to meet our clients’ objectives
• Effectively managing relationships with suppliers and freelance researchers, to ensure successful fieldwork
• Building and managing effective client relationships through strong communication with individual client teams and their stakeholders (e.g. policymakers)
• Monitoring projects’ financial progress, identifying problems and suggesting solution

The role requires someone with expert qualitative research skills, ideally mixed methods so also able to and would like to work on quantitative projects. This role will suit candidates that enjoy a fast paced working environment, ability to manage and juggle multiple projects and a keen interest in our policy areas, such as trade, enterprise and/or economic policy

• Expert level qualitative social research skills, and ability to comfortably manage projects and deliver day-to-day
• Experience in writing discussion guides and creating stimulus materials
• Ability to synthesise qualitative data to find insights and narratives
• Experience in contributing to proposals and business development activities
• Time management skills, working across multiple projects, prioritising tasks efficiently and meeting demanding deadlines
• Excellent attention to detail, organisational skills, and a focus on solutions
• Proven ability to work well in teams, handle clients and negotiate with suppliers
• Confident and clear written and verbal communication skills, with a high level of accurate use of English, and the ability to write in a variety of styles
• Curiosity and drive to help to grow our busines