Associate Director - Impact Polling in Westminster

About the role

The Research and Insights team at Public First is expanding and we have an exciting opportunity to join in a mid-senior role as Associate Director for Impact Polling. This is a genuinely unique role in a small but impactful global organisation where you will have the freedom to explore your interests, and have a real impact on the direction and strategy of the polling and impact teams.

The opportunity would suit someone who is passionate about the role opinion research plays in complementing economic impact analysis, enjoys managing every aspect of multi-market research projects from the research design to analysis and write-up, and has an interest in the transformative potential of AI. We are looking for someone who is entrepreneurial, and excited by the opportunity to build a dependable team in a rapidly growing organisation.

About us

Led by former Government policy and communications advisers and journalists, Public First specialises in policy, communications and opinion research for clients in Government, the media, the public sector, charities, think tanks and global commercial brands. Opinion research is at the heart of everything we do.

Public First's research covers a huge variety of topics. In the last year alone, the polling team has:

• Delivered consumer and business polling on the impact of a variety of tech products around the world, including markets in APAC, across the EU and in North America.
• Carried out hyper-localised face-to-face polling on experiences of crime and policing in a major UK city.
• Produced impactful research on UK public attitudes to R&D, Brexit, higher education, Net Zero, AI and the rising cost of living, to name a few topics.

We are increasing our work in economic impact reporting, where we have an increasing pipeline of work primarily working with Technology companies (including Mag 7 companies) assessing their economic impact within particular geographies, and the opportunity that AI creates. This work typically involves combining economic modelling with opinion research. This role will focus on the opinion research, designing and managing research inputs, whilst following projects through the full life-cycle with the client; from design, to field, to analysis, to report.

We are looking for a candidate with experience delivering interesting and engaging research, who is looking for the opportunity to explore their interests in an environment that rewards independent thought and innovation. No role at Public First is the same as another, and given the variety of work that we do we do not hold many preconceptions about the candidate who would be best suited for this role. If you feel like you tick some of the boxes below, do not hesitate to submit an application.

The Associate Director for Impact Polling role will involve:

• Managing and being the first point of contact on a variety of quantitative opinion research projects across a number of topics and markets, with the primary focus being multi-market economic impact research projects that will often have an AI and technology focus.
• Designing questionnaires, running polls, analysing data and contributing to reports and write-ups. The successful candidate will enjoy owning the polling elements of an Impact project, and contributing to the overall running of all aspects of the project.
• Being involved in strategic decisions on the direction of the team, including having a view towards new business opportunities and innovation, and team growth and the hiring pipeline.
• Assisting in the management of Junior Staff in the polling team, including on professional development and training.

Personal specification

Essential:

• 7-8 years of experience in quantitative opinion research. A particular focus on technology sector clients, B2B methodology, developing market research, and/or research feeding into economic modelling is a plus.
• A keen interest in questionnaire design, and particularly how to phrase questions in a way that avoids bias and gets to the heart of an issue.
• A knack for clearly explaining the results of research, and very strong writing skills. You might have experience with writing up the results of research for media, academic journals or for public-facing reports.
• Extensive experience with data analysis in the context of opinion data, including technical methods such as running attitudinal segmentations or regressions. It is likely the successful candidate would have practical experience with data analysis in R, Python or STATA as well as Excel.
• Personal experience with every aspect of the quantitative research process including questionnaire and experimental design, recruitment and sampling, scripting and fieldwork management, and analysis and dissemination.
• Impeccable project and client management. The successful candidate will be able to hit the ground running taking over large accounts, communicating clearly with clients, and managing complex workstreams to both budget and timelines.

What would be helpful, but not essential for you to apply:

• A mixed-methods approach to research, including experience of qualitative research methods. This is a quantitative role, but Public First will often use a range of methods in our research projects.
• Experience of bidding for and winning new business, and a view on how to grow client accounts.
• Some experience of line management.

Other information

We pride ourselves on welcoming people from a range of backgrounds and with a mix of political opinions. Our leadership team has backgrounds across the major political parties, and the bipartisan nature of our work means we actively encourage debate and discussion on the topics we are researching from a range of different points of view. You would be working in a lively office, getting involved in all stages of our projects with colleagues across all of our policy teams.

We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion in employment and we would particularly like to encourage applications from women, disabled and Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority (BAME) candidates.

Benefits

The salary range for this role is from £62,000 to £80,000 per annum depending on experience. A flexible work environment, and the ability to work your own hours around our core schedule. We also offer a bonus programme, 5% pension contribution, 25 days annual leave, and private healthcare. Hybrid working. We come into the Westminster office on Mondays and Thursdays, but access is available 24/7.