Opinion Leader

Research Director

Introduction

This brief provides information on the Research Director role at Opinion Leader and the organisation itself.

Opinion Leader

Opinion Leader is an organisation that influences.  We passionately believe that great research deserves to be centre stage – directly informing and influencing the top table, not relegated to being a service function that has slid down the food chain.  We develop bespoke approaches to help clients develop clear actionable insights.  Opinion Leader believes that research is an active part of the communications process enhancing the client’s reputation by positioning them as open, engaging, listening and responding.

Part of Chime plc and numbering around 50 people Opinion Leader has the benefit of having the infrastructure support and backing of a major player in communications and works alongside other businesses in the company including the public relations group Bell Pottinger and the advertising and marketing services group VCCP.  Chaired by Lord Bell, Chime plc had a turnover of £63 million in 2005.

Known as ‘the House of Influentials’, Opinion Leader is at the top end of the research market, using a comprehensive range of methods to develop integrated research solutions to meet the needs of clients from public, private and voluntary sectors.  We have developed sophisticated methods of recruiting traditionally ‘hard-to-reach’ audiences – be they captains of industry, Cornish fishermen or people living at risk of social exclusion.  We have developed the business through understanding influence both ‘institutional’ and social.  We know how to find and effectively engage with influencers and to develop research based recommendations that are incisive, actionable and grounded.

We are pioneers of methods that engage people in mature, informed debate to enable them to contribute to policies and practices that impact on their lives, be they citizens, customers, employees or stakeholders.

We are world leaders in deliberative and collaborative methods having conducted more than 200 deliberative consultations over the last decade ranging from Citizens’ Juries through to large scale Citizens’ Summits including the Department of Health’s Your Health, Your Care, Your Say and the Prince of Wales’s May Day Business Summit on Climate Change.

Opinion Leader also works with leading private sector clients. We have run programmes ranging from bringing together customers, staff, parents and other key stakeholders to discuss health issues for Sainsbury’s to helping Sky with “The Bigger Conversation” event to give both their customers and prospects the opportunity to have their say about the commitments Sky is setting out in The Bigger Picture.

We have also exploited pioneering techniques to harness the opinions of ‘social influencers’ and have worked with AEGON over the last two years to better understand needs in financial advice.  Now part of the Treasury’s Thoresen Review this work continues to provide compelling advice for this sector. Working with Bupa, we helped to implement their global strategy for 2012 through a programme of innovative international deliberative events to put the customer at the heart of everything that it does and to offer ground breaking services for the sector.

We also run The Opinion Leader Forum, our think tank specialising in behaviour and culture change.  The Forum leads the way and informs the rest of our work. Currently working on issues including obesity, financial inclusion, national identity, and environmental sustainability, we inform policy that is effective in shifting attitudes, cultures and behaviours to deliver on a progressive agenda.   We also have a viewing facility with capacity to observe and film between 8 and 50 participants which is available in our offices in central London.  And as innovation lies at the heart of Opinion Leader, the Laboratory is our global centre for innovation. The Laboratory is informed and inspired by ideas from around the world, seeking to identify new approaches and to develop ideas in collaboration with a wide range of partners.

The Opinion Leader offering

Opinion Leader draws on the widest range of approaches to design research based solutions to address client challenges.  Our work is tailor-made to suit the specific needs of clients.  We continually innovate and develop new approaches and thinking to help clients achieve their ambitions.  Examples include:

  • Deliberative and collaborative - Opinion Leader has pioneered the development and growth of deliberative and collaborative methods and is now the world leader in these methods.  We are passionate about the contribution that citizens, consumers, employees and other stakeholders can make to help inform and shape the issues that will impact on their lives.
  • CONSULTATION  -There is an ever growing need for organisations to consult with their stakeholders - whether it’s on a challenging regeneration planning issue, an upcoming White Paper or on an organisation’s vision and values. Effective consultation can be a vital tool in achieving change and progress.
  • ENGAGING WITH OPINION LEADERS - Our reputation is, in part, built on our experience of being consistently able to identify and engage with the opinion leaders who really matter to an organisation. We use a range of tailor-made approaches designed to meet the individual needs of clients. Our monthly Opinion Leader Omnibus polls a monthly selection of 'movers and shakers' from business, the City, politics, the media, and voluntary sector.
  • QUANTITATIVE  - Opinion Leader uses the widest range of quantitative methods to assess the views of stakeholders including opinion leaders, social influencers, citizens, customers and employees.  We believe strongly in the power of integrated solutions and will often combine qualitative and quantitative approaches to give clients the level and depth of insight that they need.
  • REPUTATION AUDIT - Our Reputation Audit is a holistic approach to understanding an organisation's reputation, the key drivers of reputation, and identifying the actions needed to improve and enhance that reputation. The Reputation Audit adopts a stakeholder approach, engaging and consulting with all key audiences in an inclusive and empowering way.
  • SOCIAL INFLUENCERS - We live in an age in which peer reference has overtaken deference to authority figures - we are far more likely to trust individuals we know, or think we know, than authority figures. We have led the way in groundbreaking work to identify and work with "social influencers" - individuals who are particularly tuned-in to the people around them and whose influence and advocacy can yield exponential results.
  • THINKING - We recognise that well-designed, focused research studies can add significant value and help to position clients as "thought leaders" in their field of expertise. We work with a number of think tanks, management consultancies, companies and professional services firms to help them build their reputations.
  • PERMANENT CAMPAIGNING - The volatility of the media and public means that business leaders have to be as alert to changing opinions as Prime Ministers and Presidents. We have developed a model of constant, light touch engagement with key audiences that enables any business leader to be constantly in touch with the people that drive the business’s reputation.

 

Further and more detailed information on Opinion Leader including an array of case studies of our client work is available at www.opinionleader.co.uk

Nature and purpose of the role 

Research Directors are in effect the account and business development directors of the business, each focusing on subject areas of their interest, drawing on networks and working with a portfolio of clients that best reflect their relationships, subject matter expertise and passions.

This specific role has emerged due to one of the existing Research Directors making a lifestyle change and leaving the business.

As one of a number of Research Directors, you will be responsible for leading on a portfolio of client relationships, leading a team of researchers (6-10) and playing a significant role in the management of the business. This specific role has the objective to develop our relationships with private sector clients and extend our reputation in the private sector marketplace, although there might be some crossover with the public sector. You will develop and nurture strong client relationships, tracking the timely delivery of first-class assignments whilst also identifying opportunities for new work and innovative approaches to Opinion Leader’s research business.

Role description

Projects

  • Oversee all projects within the team to ensure added value, quality, depth of insight, reflective of Opinion  Leader’s specialness
  • Lead the team on all significant projects/key accounts
  • Take overall responsibility for client satisfaction

 

Client Relationships

  • Be the trusted business partner/first port of call for current and potential key accounts
  • Own the relationship, understands the context and business, pro-actively generating ideas, has a clear point of view, well-networked in the client’s world and understands how to offer agency resource-senior and junior-to best develop the relationship
  • Is knowledgeable and has a clear perspective on the client’s agenda and issues that will affect it, including the wider world of current affairs

 

Sales and Business Development

  • Take responsibility for developing and delivering market plan in each target area to agreed timeline and delivering agreed budgets
  • This to include internal and external speaker programmes, networking programme, seminars throughout the year, themed dinners etc
  • Publish a paper/significant article at least twice each year

 

People Management

  • Lead a team of 6-10, including associate directors and senior consultants
  • Identify recruitment needs and hires appropriately
  • Know when appropriately to involve top management
  • Responsibly use colleagues’ time to minimise the ‘ask’ of others
  • Guideline utilisation rates: 50-60% charged for client time, 30% relationship building/business development, balance internal management.

 

Business / Financial Management

  • Develop and implements team business plan on target
  • Constantly reviews team’s performance against budget, makes and implements necessary adjustments to ensure targets are met
  • Improve margin of team’s work by 1%pa in line with Chime commitment

 

Corporate Strategy

  • Understand, embody and propagate Opinion Leader promise
  • Contribute to the development of corporate business plan as appropriate

 

Person specification

Experience and skills:

  • Experienced in client-facing roles within research, and possibly also within communications or consulting businesses.
  • A research background - solid hands-on experience of market research is a must
  • An existing network of relationships.
  • A track record of developing excellent client relationships, and building and keeping business.
  • Obsessive client-centric skills with a knowledge, understanding and interest in client challenges
  • Proven commercial acumen, with a keen eye to developing a sustainable and highly profitable business
  • Experienced leader with a passion for excellence, and  demonstrated ability to motivate staff and build relationships

 

Personal qualities

  • Highly energetic
  • Focused and likely to have a low boredom threshold
  • A strong sense of values and personal integrity
  • A natural love of networking and an ability to build strong and enduring relationships
  • Passionate about quality and impatient with performance which does not meet high standards
  • Entrepreneurial flair
  • Intellectual agility, with real ability to find creative solutions to client issues
  • Strong awareness and regard for the reputation of Opinion Leader
  • Outstanding presentational and communication skills
  • Ability to combine ‘big picture’ thinking with sustained attention to detail

 

Reporting arrangements and key relationships

This role reports to the Managing Director of Opinion Leader and will work collaboratively with research teams, Research Director colleagues and the co-founders of the company.

Location

The role will be based at Opinion Leader’s offices in Chancery Lane, London and the post holder will be expected to travel as required across the UK.

Remuneration

There is flexibility with regard to remuneration and the nature of the package. This will be discussed with potentially interested and suitable candidates as part of the hire process.

Applications:

Should you be interested to apply for this position, please contact:

Shilpi Fernandes- Personnel & Resource Administrator/PA to MD

Tel: 0207 861 3277

Email: [email protected]

Closing Date for Applications is: Friday 21st November 2008