The Pensions Regulator

Careers at the Pensions Regulator

Role: Market research manager

Team: DB research
Salary: Up to £42,264
Closing date: 28 August 2007

Main purpose of the role:

The market research manager leads the delivery of the internal and external market research conducted for the Pensions Regulator, conducting research directly, supervising others, taking overall responsibility for managing the team and ensuring high quality research is delivered to time and budget.

They are responsible for providing excellent customer service, with well focused research produced in partnership with client teams. Moreover they will demonstrate and develop professional expertise in market research.

Key accountabilities and responsibilities:

• The market research manager will lead the small team which delivers the full range of market research for the regulator
• The team is responsible for conducting market research which has some of the highest internal and external profile of the regulator's activities. The person will be responsible for ensuring that quantitative and qualitative work reflects high professional standards, focuses on answering the requirements of the in-house customers and is presented in a compelling and clear way
• The person will be responsible for directly conducting their own market research projects and ensuring quality control in surveys taken forward by other team members. As stressed in the skills criteria, this will require extensive direct experience of developing market research projects from design, procurement, through fieldwork, analysis and presentation to clients, and a track record of delivering results
• The role will require experience of working with external agencies, being an intelligent customer in assessing the quality of market research proposals and ensuring best value for money for the regulator. There will be responsibility for developing relationships with external agencies, and ensuring the regulator has a range of choice of high quality providers who can produce robust market research in what can be a technical area
• The range of surveys conducted span those providing key performance indicators to the senior management team, to regular surveys to provide information on developments in the industry,  through to bespoke projects to inform particular policy and operational areas. In addition, there is an annual staff survey, plus ad-hoc surveys ranging from testing new IT systems with users, to assessing the performance of individual teams with internal and external audiences
• The range of responsibilities will include being comfortable with working very closely with the senior executive team, as well as working with a wide range of internal customers, in both technical and non-technical areas. In addition, you should be comfortable with being able to work on projects that take an overview across the whole organisation, through to those focusing in detail on a particular area. In all these areas you will work skilfully in partnership to ensure the right balance in getting internal customers to take ownership of the surveys whilst providing the expertise to ensure the surveys successfully deliver the right product for the organisation, increasingly developing knowledge of pensions if this is not something you already possess
• The team sits within a wider research and strategy team designed to bring together a full set of research and analytical skills to ensure the regulator can take a lead in understanding and responding to the in-house and external information on pensions. So the role will suit a person who is good at working with other disciplines and keen to help build a centre of excellence in research, analysis and strategy

Essential knowledge and skills:

• Significant direct experience of developing market research projects from design, procurement, through fieldwork, analysis and presentation to clients. This could be in a previous market research agency, in-house research, or Government body, with a track record of results and good customer service
• High professional standards of technical skills and knowledge in market research including both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, with the ability to be a champion for high-quality business focused market research, to develop the skills of the rest of the market research team, and to ensure that the survey programme is conducted effectively and efficiently
• Strong communication and presentation skills and the ability to be an effective and credible voice internally and externally when presenting findings
• Strong inter-personal and partnership skills; in particular working across an organisation with a wide range of different customers for research, including the chief executive, executive team and individual teams, in order to inform strategic or operational decisions, through to staff surveys and IT development projects
• Good all-round people management skills, with strong organisational, project management and budget management skills
• Previous knowledge of pensions is an advantage but not essential. The candidate should be comfortable with providing market research in a technical area, and be able to develop their pensions specific knowledge to work effectively with teams across the organisation

Interested in applying for this job?

If you're interested in applying for a vacancy at the Pensions Regulator and want to find out more, please email your current CV and a covering letter to the recruitment team or contact Paula Johns by phone: 01273 648465.