Head of Market Research

The Role

Head of Market Research

ITV is on a digital transformation with data and insight at the centre of change. This integral role will lead the business in putting insight in every key decision. What content should we commission? Which audience is most commercially attractive for us? How do we optimise our product to improve view through rates? The answers to these questions and more will enable ITV to succeed in the future, and this role needs to enable decision makers to make them well.

You will be a key player in shaping our understanding of key market trends and the competitor landscape. This role is responsible for delivering the underlying capability to translate consumer behaviour into insight to enable faster and smarter decision making. The individual will need to be able to map business needs and define the research capability which is required.

The team

ITV is on a mission to Supercharge Streaming and Optimise Broadcast with data and insight right at the centre of our digital transformation strategy. The business faces many challenges ahead to achieve this vision: What content should we commission? Which audiences are the most commercially attractive for us? What should our marketing strategy be? How do we optimise our product to improve view through rates? How do we use VOD (Video on Demand) to offset declines to Linear?

Whatever the issue, the ITV Insights Group is here to lead the business to its most successful future by putting insight, powered by research and data, at the heart of every key decision.

Responsibilities:

• Create and deliver ITV's research capabilities roadmap, ensuring it aligns with business needs, delivers value, and is fit for the future.
• Commission and manage our main research tools and manage relationships with providers, and ensure we extract maximum value
• Work to improve day to day processes, and efficiencies amongst Researchers across TIG
• Responsible for research best practice and cross pollination of insight across the department
• Lead and develop a group of Research Superusers to decentralise expertise across the team
• Responsible for a training programme for researchers and non-researchers alike
• Develop career paths and development programmes for talent
• To complement TIG's strength in quantitative research, build a centre of expertise for qualitative research internally.
• Ensure TIG's compliance with GDPR and data privacy in respect of our research capabilities
• Build a strategy and principles for using AI in research, through proof of concepts and working with other Capability Leads
• Explore synergies for the inclusion of research data with Analytics and Data Science briefs.
• Work to get Research Data included in ITV's data platform alongside BARB and 1PD, and understand what business cases this could unlock.
• Improve visualisation, dashboarding and democratisation of research data, to allow more time on insight.
• Work with 3rd parties to leverage their latest product developments with an eye on how ITV can stay one step ahead of our competitors
• Represent ITV in the research & Insights Industry, including managing relationships with industry bodies, including the MRS and MRG

Skills you'll need (minimum criteria)

• Proven senior-level experience in insight and data management roles, ideally within matrix organisations
• Must have experience of working with multiple research methodologies and sources, and a deep understanding of research best practice
• Knowledge of TV research data sets (e.g BARB)
• Data governance and compliance aware - committed to data quality
• Proven experience in managing complex projects for multiple stakeholders and competing objectives
• Experience of driving business value and outcomes from data and a proven track record in delivering change

Other things we're looking for (key criteria)

• Demonstrates clear understanding of research techniques, and their relative strengths and weaknesses, and how these are evolving
• Able to communicate complex ideas to non-technical stakeholders
• Strong leadership and team building skills, including the ability to manage and mentor insight team members
• Adept at collaborating with business leaders and other stakeholders to understand their needs and build insight capabilities
• Good at influencing stakeholders to drive business change in respect of processes and methodologies
• A commitment to fostering a culture of innovation within the team, encouraging creative problem solving and the exploration of emerging research techniques.
• Exceptional at working with cross functional teams and able to champion change to empower the business
• Able to lead change through others - collaborating, motivating and organising groups across the organisation to deliver results
• Anticipates and clearly defines solutions and able to focus on breadth of solutions during ideation development
• Applies appropriate measurement frameworks and techniques
• Brings a neutral approach to assessing existing and new methodologies, and confident to implement change when needed
• Able to transform abstract stakeholder briefs into practical project plans
• Engages with changes in the industry, particularly understand impact and opportunities that GenAI brings

Closing date: Midnight on 8th October 2025

Please note, on occasion we may receive a very large volume of applications which means applications for a role may close earlier than the referenced closing date. We'd encourage you to apply as soon as possible if interested.