Associate Director, Financial Services & Business-to-Business

As an Associate Director in the Financial Services and B2B Client Success Team, you will play a critical part by building client relationships, designing research and ensuring that we drive quality data and insights into their businesses with impact. You will be joining a team that delivers both syndicated and ad-hoc focused insights to financial institutions, fintechs, insurance and related service providers, alongside other sectors and organisations with a B2B focus – both in the UK and internationally. You will also engage closely with Directors on the team to identify new opportunities both with existing and with new clients.

You will actively participate in research design and play a key role in writing proposals and presenting in pitches to help drive the success of our business growth strategy. Working with colleagues in adjacent teams, broader Ipsos and offshore, you will be responsible for bringing the best of Ipsos to your clients.

Day to day

These are the types of things you can expect to be doing during your day to day, although as Ipsos is a dynamic organisation, this may vary as different opportunities arise:

• In the Client Success Team, we focus on client engagement and relationship management, research design, questionnaire creation and landing the data and insights with clients.
• Connecting regularly with clients and seeking out opportunities to engage clients with hooks related to our offer and utilisation of our syndicated insights.
• Taking ownership of pitches and proposals for ad hoc pieces large and small (with support from Directors where appropriate).
• Leading the team to craft questionnaires and deliverables with the business objectives at the core.
• Ensuring quality of presentations in terms of accuracy, having a strong narrative and clear recommendations.
• Presenting with confidence and charisma, both virtually and in person to ensure the research lands with impact and coaching team members to present with impact.
• Leading client management for the projects on which you work, responding quickly to requests and managing the team to deliver to these.
• Spending quality time with clients outside project work to ensure that you are truly their trusted advisor.

About You

Background

These are the areas of knowledge and expertise that matter most for this role:

• Extensive experience in quantitative market research, familiarity with ad hoc research and sound methodological expertise, including surveys and working with advanced analytics.
• The ability to front ad hoc projects with clients as well as the desire to apply commercial thinking to generate new business opportunities.
• Confidence in crafting research designs, tailored to meet client needs, often leveraging AI or synthetic data.
• A high level of comfort with data interpretation and analytics, with a focus on ensuring accuracy and appropriate interpretation.
• A passion for collaborating with clients to identify meaningful insights rooted in consumer behaviour and to advise upon commercially compelling recommendations to drive their business growth.
• An enthusiasm for Artificial Intelligence and its applications in market research, including a willingness to test new AI-driven methodologies and tools.

Skills

A good understanding of research techniques and their applications within organisations. Knowledge and experience with Financial Services and B2B clients is desirable but not essential – skills, attitude and a growth mindset are primary criteria:

• Excellent client management/servicing skills.
• Strong communication skills, both written and verbal.
• Ability to grapple with complexity and problem-solve.
• Great organisational skills as well as the ability to multi-task and balance multiple deadlines.
• Strong numeracy skills and attention to detail.
• Proficiency in using data visualisation and dashboard tools like Excel, Harmoni, Data Liberation or similar.
• Ability to work equally well independently and as part of a larger team.
• Comfortable with networking both within Ipsos and externally.

Behaviours

These are the areas of knowledge and expertise that matter most for this role:

• Highly self-motivated and proactive.
• Client-focused.
• Confident and personable.
• Fully Engaged.
• Supportive.
• Analytical thinker.
• Detail-oriented.
• Resilient, flexible and agile.
• Empathetic, with good active listening.
• Commercial.

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. 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. We have a hybrid approach to work and ask people to be in the office or with clients for 3 days per week. We are committed to equality, treating people fairly, promoting a positive and inclusive working environment and ensuring we have diversity of people and views. We 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. We are proud to be a member of the Disability Confident scheme, certified as a Level 2 Disability Confident Employer. We provide an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. Your application will be reviewed by someone from our Talent Team who will be in touch either way to let you know the outcome.