Head of Deliberative Engagement

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Job Description

Role Overview

Ipsos UK Public Affairs (PA) houses one of the largest qualitative social research and engagement units in the UK, the Qualitative Research and Engagement centre. This is a group of ten specialists leading on methods development, training and delivery of all types of qualitative research and engagement projects for our clients, as well as supporting wider teams in PA. The team's mission is to deliver and, support PA to deliver, high quality, impactful and ethical research and engagement that puts understanding people's lived experiences at the heart of what we do.

A number of the team specialise in all types of dialogue and deliberative engagement work, running events such as citizen assemblies, juries and public dialogues for public sector clients in the health and science area, the environment space, as well as other areas such as new and emerging technology and the economy.

To further strengthen the team, and diversify our work across the range of policy areas both domestically and internationally, we are seeking an experienced Head of Deliberative Engagement to lead and grow our deliberative engagement work. This is an exciting opportunity to be part of a methods team and have a key role in growing our deliberative engagement business, in particular supporting and growing methods capabilities across the department. There will be the opportunity to work on high profile large-scale projects (such as our high profile OneLondon health and care data deliberation, Global Science Partnership climate pilots, and citizens economic council) and you will have access to whole plethora of industry leading inhouse tools, methods, expertise and academic partnerships.

What will I be doing...

• Contributing to the strategy and direction for the team, deliver on targets, ensuring we are forward thinking and innovative in our use of deliberative engagement work and how it fits into our overall policy advisory, research and evaluation offer;
• Developing strategic client relationships, while ensuring projects are delivered to budget and timescale;
• Directing all types of deliberative engagement proposals, supported by a wider team;
• Directing medium and large-scale deliberative engagement studies, often of a high profile, from design to findings and recommendations;
• Working closely across all the research and evaluation teams to execute high quality deliberative studies, including presenting and drafting accessible and concise reporting outputs;
• Developing and refining new engagement offers for clients; identifying the best and most appropriate use of technology and digital platforms;
• Building the capacity of deliberative engagement within PA at all levels, through training, advice and guidance to ensure that clients and staff fully understand the value of engagement methods
• Raising the profile of Public Affairs deliberative engagement work with clients and the industry by producing impact work, speaking at events and developing a high personal profile;
• Line management of staff.

What do I need to bring with me?

• Proven ability to lead and grow business within a commercial setting;
• Expertise and extensive experience designing and leading projects utilising deliberative methods (including Sciencewise dialogues, citizens assemblies, juries etc);
• Strong influencing and networking skills both internally and externally;
• Proven ability to direct deliberative projects to timescale and budgets
• Experience of leading deliberative engagement proposals;
• Extensive experience of all types of qualitative, deliberative and dialogue methods;
• Strong business development and impact skills;
• Enthusiasm for business and team development;
• Ability to develop and coach people;
• Desirable: Public engagement experience across a wide range of policy areas.

What is in it for me?

Ipsos UK offer an attractive basic salary and a rewards package including 25 days annual leave, a pension scheme and a great range of flexible benefits to suit your personal needs. For roles at Research Manager level and above we also offer private healthcare.

In addition to this we have a fantastic Learning & Development offer delivered through a mix of face to face, online or on-demand; you can read more by clicking here.

We realise you may have commitments outside of work and will consider flexible working applications - please highlight what you are looking for when you make your application.

Ipsos is committed to equality, treating people fairly, promoting a positive and inclusive working environment and ensuring we have diversity of people and views. We also recognise that this is important for our business success - a more diverse workforce will enable us to better reflect and understand the world we research and ultimately deliver better research and insight to our clients.

About Us

Ipsos is one of the world's largest research companies and currently the only one primarily managed by researchers, ranking as a #1 full-service research organization for four consecutive years. With over 75 different data-driven solutions, and presence in 90 markets, Ipsos brings together research, implementation, methodological, and subject-matter experts from around the world, combining thematic and technical experts to deliver top-quality research and insights. Simply speaking, we help the biggest companies solve some of their biggest problems, serving more than 5000 clients across the globe by providing research, data, and insights on their target markets. And we're proud to share we've received our Great Place to Work Certification in 2022 & 2023!

About the Team

The Public Affairs Service Line is the world leader in Social and Opinion Research. We work with clients on political and public opinion polling, citizen and stakeholder management, social policy improvement, sustainable development strategy and identifying societal trends and perceptions across several sectors. We assess how government and public affairs policies as well as societal trends and views impact our client's brand/products/markets.