Research Manager (Political and Social Consulting)

About us

We at Focaldata are on a mission to close the "understanding gap" between what organisations believe about people and reality. By leveraging AI, we provide deeper, more accurate insights at a fraction of the cost and time of traditional methods. We have built an amazing team of research industry experts and great engineers to reimagine what is possible in research. We do impactful work with amazing organisations ranging from well‑known brands to life‑changing non‑profits. Join us!

About the role

Focaldata builds research tools and works with clients to close the “understanding gap” between what organisations believe about people and what's actually true. Our team combines research expertise with in‑house engineering to reimagine what is possible in research. Our stellar research team is the cornerstone of achieving this, and we’re looking to expand. This Research Manager role sits within the Social and Political Consulting team. You'll lead quantitative research end‑to‑end, from study design and fieldwork through to analysis and client deliverables, and work with our proprietary AI‑led qualitative interview system to run mixed‑methods projects at speed and scale.

What you’ll do

In this role, you will have the opportunity to own research projects from start to finish and act as the key client contact for each of your projects as well as contribute to growing Focaldata’s business. To achieve this you will:

• Be responsible for the end‑to‑end delivery of projects, including client management, creation of surveys and fieldwork management, analysis and insight report creation and presentation.
• Lead client comms – providing weekly updates, answering queries, ensuring clients are happy with their experience of working with Focaldata and get actionable and meaningful insights.
• Engage and communicate with clients with the aim of furthering our relationship and identifying other opportunities for research to grow existing client accounts.
• Support senior team members with writing proposals and demonstrating Focaldata’s capabilities to potential clients.
• Be involved in building out Focaldata’s research team by training junior team members and supporting the implementation of new tools and processes.

Who you are – skills and experience

This role will require someone who has already learned and successfully applied their quantitative social and political research skills. You should have experience of communicating with clients and contributing to proposals but should now be looking for greater ownership and to be the key client lead on all your projects. Specifically, you will have:

• Approximately 4 years of social and political research experience
• Experience of independently completing quantitative research including questionnaire design, creating analysis specs and data tables, and developing compelling presentations with data charts
• Experience in designing political opinion polls and interpreting the results
• Willingness to run qualitative research projects using Focaldata’s proprietary AI‑led interview system
• Strong experience of communicating with clients and building relationships with them
• Some knowledge about writing proposals
• Be highly organised with the ability to manage multiple projects at any given time
• Keen to work in client service and desire to exceed client expectations
• The ability to interpret and visualise data
• Knowledge about coding and analysing data in R or Python is strongly preferred

If you feel like you have consolidated your traditional political and social research skills and are now looking to widen your skillset, using AI in research within a high‑calibre consulting and analytics setup, as well as stepping up to lead in client and project management, then join our team.

Who you are – mindset

We are looking for someone who is curious to take on a new challenge and help us to deliver outstanding work to our clients. In order to achieve this the ideal candidate:

• Is self‑driven and wants to learn new skills
• Enjoys working in a curious team in a fast‑paced, high‑learning environment
• Takes ownership for their work and speaks up when needed
• Experiments constantly with AI
• Creates momentum to ensure the project moves from one stage to the next

Please note that this role is predominantly in‑office (4 days a week). The pay range for this role is 50,750 – 63,000 GBP per year (London). Focaldata is an equal opportunities employer. We believe in the value of a diverse and inclusive workforce for our business, team and customers. We encourage all applications regardless of age, disability, gender, marriage, pregnancy, maternity, race or nationality, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. We also understand that certain groups may not feel empowered to apply unless they match every single requirement. Please do apply even if you don't match 100% of every single requirement!