Associate Director - Project Management (7 month fixed term contract)- Channel Performance in Milton Keynes

This role is very important to the success of the Delivery team and the wider UK Channel Performance business. You will support the Head of Delivery as a senior member of the Mystery Shopping PM team - at times you will lead on larger projects but primarily will be supporting the rest of the team and ensuring their success with our clients. Focus will be on ensuring the team deliver high levels of accuracy, achieving timelines, advising on best practice and ensuring automation is used where possible. Building relationships with our Client Success, Operations, IT and Commercial Support teams will be key to the success of this role as well as coaching junior team members and building knowledge of capabilities that other teams have that can be utilised within Delivery.

This role is offered on an initial 7 month fixed term contract, with hybrid working, 3 days working from either Milton Keynes/St Albans/London and the rest from home.

Your 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:

• You will be part of an experienced mystery shopping delivery team and will ultimately be responsible for ensuring multiple projects are delivered across various key clients from set up through to fieldwork completion and data checks. Although each client and project is different, the overall goal for this role is to ensure clients receive their mystery shopping data accurately, within scope, efficiently and to budget.

Project Setup & Launch

• Guide & Review Setup: Coach PMs on translating complex client briefs into robust survey forms, clear guidelines, and accurate platform scoring logic.
• Oversee Launch Preparedness: Review project schedules and brief outlines created by the team to ensure quotas, timelines, and field briefs are set up for success.

Fieldwork & Operations

• Drive Delivery Performance: Mentor PMs on tracking daily completion rates and proactively managing risks across active locations.
• Escalation Support: Act as the escalation point to help PMs troubleshoot complex field issues, complaints and navigate client conversations.

Data Quality & Delivery

• Audit Quality Standards: Guide team members on data validation best practices, spot-checking their QA processes (receipts, audio, photos) to maintain top-tier accuracy.
• Oversight & Sign-Off: Review and sign off on client-facing progress updates and final dashboard/dataset deliverables before formal handoff.

To be successful in this role you will need the following skills and experience:

• Project Delivery: Proven track record in managing multiple research or mystery shopping projects end-to-end (from project setup and fieldwork to data checks and delivery).
• Financial & Budget Management: Demonstrable experience with project financial performance, scope management, and managing budgets to prevent cost overruns.
• Line & Operational Management: Experience in direct line management (e.g., managing Senior Project Managers, Senior Project Execs, or Project Execs) and broader team support.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Strong experience working closely with internal teams like Operations, IT, and Client Success to deliver complex projects seamlessly.

These are the skills that would add value to the role but are not critical:

• Commercial & Pitch Support: Previous experience supporting Client Success teams with pitch decks, proposal development, or tender responses.
• Process & Tech Optimisation: Experience identifying and implementing automation, operational workflow enhancements, or systems improvements.
• Feedback Systems: Familiarity with gathering and acting on Client Satisfaction feedback to drive continuous operational improvements.
• Sector Knowledge: Familiarity with mystery shopping methodology or channel performance research.

Behaviours:

• Strategic Leadership: Proactively steps up to support the team head, contributes to team strategy, and provides clear direction in leadership meetings.
• Client-Centric & Trusted Advisory: Relentlessly focused on client satisfaction while confidently holding boundaries and challenging clients when necessary to protect business interests.
• Problem-Solving & Agility: Takes ownership of operational challenges, actively identifies practical solutions, and ensures effective implementation.
• Supportive & Inclusive Mentorship: Operates with an ‘open door’ approach, fostering growth, training, and development for junior team members.
• Commercial Drive: Demonstrates commercial awareness in decision-making to balance delivery quality with business profitability.

We recognise 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.

About the Team

The Channel Performance Service Line is home to the largest mystery shopping agency in the world. We complete over one million shops every year in 100+ countries across all industry segments and organization sizes. We also offer Geolocation Surveys, Site Audits & Installations, and foundational research within our portfolio of services. Our purpose is to help our clients improve their business performance across all channels in which they serve their customers – brick and mortar retail, digital e-commerce, and contact centers. We do this by helping them size channel opportunities, measure the delivery of brand promises, and drive compliance and sales conversion across these channels.

About Us

Ipsos is one of the world’s largest research companies and currently the only one primarily managed by researchers, ranking as a #1 full-service research organization for four consecutive years. With over 75 different data-driven solutions, and presence in 90 markets, Ipsos brings together research, implementation, methodological, and subject-matter experts from around the world, combining thematic and technical experts to deliver top-quality research and insights. Simply speaking, we help the biggest companies solve some of their biggest problems, serving more than 5000 clients across the globe by providing research, data, and insights on their target markets. And we are proud of our continuous efforts in making Ipsos the best place to work!