About Us 

UM is a global media agency committed to empowering brands to their full potential of growth through the power of patterns by opening a brand’s aperture and rejecting black-and-white marketing decisions. As the leading global media network in IPG Mediabrands, UM operates in over 100 countries, with more than 3,000 people serving a roster of global clients including American Express, General Mills, Emirates, Johnson & Johnson, Levi Strauss & Co, Dyson, Enterprise holdings, Upfield, Eat Takeaway.com and Mattel. For more information, please visit uk.umww.com

Role Description 

This role sits within our Insight team. We exist to help our clients understand their marketplaces and brand perceptions better. We sit at the heart of our agency, working closely with all agency teams. We provide provocative thinking, bringing a fresh perspective to our clients’ questions. We bring a growth mindset and are solutions focused, ultimately creating insights that spur action.  

When tackling clients’ business challenges, we are methodology-agnostic and utilise a variety of techniques, ensuring our approaches are fit for purpose to answer our clients’ questions.    

Away from our paid client projects, our award-winning thought leadership series, “UK by UM”, shines a light on stereotypes that exist in society today, highlighting the role of advertising and media in understanding and engaging diverse audiences in an effective way.   

A core part of our paid research offering is quantitative research (e.g. campaign evaluation studies, brand & communications trackers and segmentations), as well as large-scale strategic studies such as category usage and attitude studies. Experience and proficiency in quantitative research is therefore essential.   

Further to quant, we also frequently undertake qualitative studies. We are committed believers to the importance of framing statistical analysis in an emotional and attitudinal context. 

This role is a maternity leave cover position, in which you will sit in a team with 3 other researchers. You will be a lead researcher on research projects and will not have line management responsibilities. You will have experience in delivering large and complex quant studies.  

Key Responsibilities

Leading ad-hoc and longitudinal brand tracking research studies (from initial proposal and questionnaire design all the way through to presenting the findings to our clients)  Able to take a brief from internal or external clients and to design research proposals and present output to clients in a compelling way  Deliver revenue targets, reporting accurately to key contacts in Finance team  Establish key relationships in the agency in order to to identify key opportunities to support clients in new ways  Lead multiple projects at once  Write questionnaires, discussion guides, manage fieldwork etc.  Experience moderating qualitative fieldwork, and reporting it, would be valuable but not essential  Have positive relationships with our third-party suppliers  You will also be proficient in how to run campaign evaluation studies (Pre vs. Post), as well as in continuous brand and communications tracking  Promote the role of research and data as part of the agency media planning process and demonstrate an understanding of UM’s suite of tools  Support agency new business pitches  Ensure that all projects are delivered to to agreed budgets and timesheets are inputted regularly  Identify new methodologies that can be delivered to UM clients 

Desired Skills & Experience

Experienced in quantitative research ideally in a media agency, market research agency or client-side research role  Client management experience; commercial experience working to targets. Ability to write proposals, questionnaires and debriefs   You will be an independent worker, confident enough to make your own decisions  You will be ready to manage positive client relationships autonomously  You will have strong analytical and creative problem solving skills   You will have good accuracy in your analysis – and take pride in doing so.   You will be keen to be an active member of our agency’s culture and community, and will be energetic in being a visible ambassador for our team within the agency.   You will understand the power of data – in all its forms and origins – and will value key datasets as additional lenses onto human behaviour  You will be passionate about interesting ways of visualising data when reporting (one of our team’s philosophies is – ‘beyond the bar chart’).  

Nice-to have 

Experience In qualitative research   Experience In social media research  

Employee Transparency 

At IPG Mediabrands, we celebrate differences and believe this makes us stronger. IPG Mediabrands are equal-opportunity employers committed to championing an inclusive culture that provides a sense of belonging for all our employees. We do not discriminate against any applicant based on age, disability, race, colour, ethnicity, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, belief, marital status or any other characteristic protected by law. 

Please reach out to our Talent Inclusion Specialist Jess at [email protected] if you would like to have a confidential conversation regarding any adjustments that would ensure our recruitment process is accessible for you. Please note requesting a reasonable adjustment will not affect your application. 

The Perks 

We aim to provide all our people with a supportive and fun work environment where you can develop your full potential and benefit from the broad range of opportunities within the agency. When you join us, we want to make sure you feel valued – and that you are rewarded for your fantastic work. So, we also offer a range of benefits:

Flexi–leave, with 25 days annual leave to be taken as minimum. In addition to your holiday entitlement, the office usually closes between Christmas & New Year  Free breakfast and free lunch  Early finish Fridays  Core Hours (Mon-Thurs, flexible start/finish times)   Retail discounts  Electric vehicle salary sacrifices car scheme  Wellbeing programme, including Headspace & flu jabs  Interest free season ticket loan  Paid time off for Volunteering  Group Income Protection  Life Assurance  Private Medical Insurance or Health Cash Plan (dependent on level)  Group Personal Pension Plan with matched contributions from 3-6%  Generous Parental Leave & Pay   Independent mortgage advice  Financial education  Employee Assistance Programme  Free eye tests  Flexible benefits including Dental, Travel insurance, Cycle to Work, Gym Discounts and many more!