Research Manager (Consulting & Analytics)
Confirmed on the employer's own hiring board on Nov 2, 2026. First seen by Alion on Nov 2, 2026.
About us
At Focaldata, we’re building a new kind of tech-enabled research agency - that offers clients deep insight at the speed of software. You’ll get the opportunity to work alongside a highly collaborative team of researchers, client leads, engineers, data scientists and product specialists. We do impactful work with leading organisations, from brands like New Balance to campaign groups like Hope not Hate and foundations like the Gates Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation. Join us.
About the role
Want to use research to help foundations and non-profits change the world? Focaldata is hiring a Research Manager to lead public opinion projects for the third sector, with the ownership and responsibility that make our team great. The work is primarily with quantitative survey data, but will involve some qualitative research too
If you’ve got around four years of social or political research and you’re ready to step up, sharpen your AI skills, help shape a growing team and drive where the sector is going, we’d love to hear from you.
Please note that this role is predominantly in-office (4 days a week).
Salary: £52,000 - £60,000
What you'll be doing
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 work with foundations and non-profits. 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 ongoing 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
- Run your own research, write thought leadership and host events with existing and potential new stakeholders to advance the goals of the third sector
- 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 processes
- Be involved in developing new methods and improving workflows of research to take advantage of advances in technology
Who you are: skills and experience
This role will require someone who already has learned and successfully applied their quantitative research skills in working with foundations, non-profits, think tanks or others in the third sector. 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 research experience exploring public opinion around social and political issues
- Experience of independently completing quantitative public opinion research, from project scoping, through questionnaire design, data analysis and visualisation, and delivering compelling presentations
- Strong experience of communicating with clients and building relationships with them
- Some knowledge about writing proposals for new business
- Strong organisational skills with the ability to manage multiple projects at any given time
- A genuine drive to work with clients and exceed their expectations
- Knowledge of how to analyse data in R or Python
- Comfort with, and curiosity about, using AI in research workflows
- Mixed-methods background that includes any form of qualitative interview experience is a bonus
- Working with publicly-available datasets is a bonus
If you feel like you have consolidated your traditional political and/or social research skills and are now looking to widen your skillset, such as using AI in research, as well as stepping up to lead in client and project management we are looking for you!
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 which helps them advance their strategic goals. In order to achieve this the ideal candidate:
- Is self-driven and wants to learn new skills
- Enjoys working in a team
- Takes ownership for their work and speaks up when needed
- Creates momentum to ensure the project moves from one stage to the next
- Is curious about and pays attention to what’s happening in the world
- Wants to make a positive contribution to people’s lives beyond their own
Focaldata is proud to be 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.