Ready to take the lead with clients?

RED C is looking for an experienced Quantitative Research Director to join our senior team in Ireland.

We’re looking for someone who combines a real understanding of quantitative research with strong commercial instincts, someone who enjoys working directly with clients, understanding their business challenges, shaping the right research solution and turning great work into long-term client relationships.

This is an opportunity to take ownership of a portfolio of major clients, supported by an experienced research and operations team, while also playing an important role in winning new work and helping shape the continued growth of RED C.

About RED C

RED C Research Group is one of Ireland and the UK’s leading independent research and insight consultancies.

Founded in Dublin in 2003, we now have more than 80 researchers and specialists across Ireland and the UK, working with leading organisations across FMCG, media, telecoms, financial services, retail, transport, government and the public sector.

Our work ranges from major tracking and segmentation programmes to brand strategy, customer experience, communications development and evaluation, behavioural research and high-profile political polling.

At the heart of what we do is a simple ambition, to help our clients see their business, customers and problems more clearly, by delivering clarity on the human behaviours that unlock growth.

The opportunity

You’ll join an established and highly experienced Director team in the RED C business in Ireland.

A key part of your role will be to take ownership of a portfolio of existing RED C clients, becoming their senior day-to-day research and insight partner.  You’ll get to know their businesses, understand the challenges they’re facing and help identify where research and insight can make a difference.

But this isn’t just an account management role. We’re looking for someone who enjoys the commercial side of research, spotting opportunities, responding to briefs, developing research solutions, writing great proposals and pitching for new work.

You’ll have considerable freedom to develop your own client relationships and build business, while having the backing of the wider RED C team to help you deliver.

And importantly, you won’t be doing it alone.

RED C has a strong team of Associate Directors, Project Managers, Research Executives and operations specialists. As a Director, your role is to lead the client relationship and the thinking, while working with a strong team to manage and deliver the research.

What you’ll be doing

Your role will combine client leadership, research expertise and business development.

You’ll be the senior point of contact for a portfolio of important RED C clients.  That means building relationships that go beyond individual projects, understanding the client’s organisation, their category, their strategic priorities and where insight can help them make better decisions.  You’ll be expected to

• Build trusted, long-term relationships with senior clients
• Understand their business and anticipate their research and insight needs
• Challenge clients constructively and help them frame the right questions
• Ensure the work RED C delivers consistently meets – and where possible exceeds – their expectations
• Identify opportunities to broaden and deepen our relationships with existing clients.

Business development will also be an important part of the role.  You’ll take responsibility for responding to briefs and developing proposals that demonstrate a clear understanding of the client’s problem and set out a compelling research solution.  While also working with the wider team to identify and recruit new clients to the mix.  You will

• Lead proposal development and writing.
• Develop research approaches and methodologies.
• Scope and price projects appropriately.
• Lead or contribute to pitches and credentials presentations.
• Proactively identify opportunities with existing and potential clients.
• Work with the wider Director team to help deliver RED C’s growth ambitions

While you’ll have strong teams supporting delivery, you will remain closely involved in the research itself. You will provide senior input into research design, questionnaire development, analysis and storytelling, ensuring our work is methodologically robust but, equally importantly, commercially useful; and help teams move beyond simply reporting data to answering the bigger question of “So what” does this mean for the client, and what should they do as a result? 

You will lead account teams made up of researchers at different levels, creating an environment where people can do great work and develop their careers. Provide direction and support without needing to personally manage every element of project delivery.  Mentor researchers, help develop their client and commercial skills and encourage them to take increasing ownership as they progress.

Who we’re looking for

You’ll probably already be operating at Associate Director or Director level, with around 10+ years’ experience in market research, including significant quantitative research experience.   Agency experience is particularly valuable because you’ll understand the combination of research, client service, commercial management and pace that the role requires.

More importantly, you’ll be someone who:

1. Enjoys clients.
   You like getting close to clients, understanding their businesses and becoming someone they trust to help them think through difficult questions.
2. Can win work.
   You’re comfortable taking a brief, identifying what the client really needs and turning that into a persuasive proposal and research solution.
3. Is commercially minded.
   You understand that excellent research and commercial success go together. You naturally look for ways to develop accounts and create new opportunities.
4. Knows quantitative research.
   You have a strong grounding in quantitative methodologies and know how to design robust research that answers real business questions.
5. Can see the story in the data.
   You aren’t satisfied with simply presenting findings. You can identify what matters, explain why it matters and translate evidence into clear recommendations.
6. Is a strong presenter and communicator.
   You’re comfortable presenting to senior audiences and can make complex research clear, interesting and persuasive.
7. Can lead a team.
   You know how to give people responsibility, provide direction when needed and help talented researchers develop.
8. Is curious and wants to keep learning.
   You’re interested in new methodologies, technology, AI, behavioural science and the changing ways in which we can understand consumers.

Why RED C?

• Take ownership of major client relationships.
  You’ll have genuine responsibility for your own portfolio of clients, with the freedom to develop those relationships and grow the business around them.
• Have a strong team behind you.
  We have experienced researchers and operations specialists at every level. That allows our Directors to spend more of their time where they add the greatest value – with clients, developing the thinking, shaping the story and winning new work.
• Work on genuinely varied business challenges.
  Our scale and client base mean you’ll work across a wide variety of sectors and research challenges rather than becoming restricted to one type of research.
• Work alongside experienced senior practitioners.
  You’ll join a strong Director team in Ireland and have the opportunity to work with and learn from senior research practitioners across our wider Irish and UK businesses, sharing approaches, methodologies and ideas.
• Access UK and international opportunities.
  Our UK business and the wider WIN international research network give our teams opportunities to collaborate on UK and multi-market research and to work with international clients and research partners.
• Help shape the business, not just work in it.
  As part of the team, you’ll have a voice in how RED C develops. Depending on your interests, you might help lead the business in areas such as innovation, AI, new product development, talent or developing new markets and services.
• Room to innovate.
  We’re continually looking at how behavioural science, technology, AI and new research techniques can improve both the research we conduct and the value we deliver to clients.
• A business with ambition.
  RED C has grown consistently over many years, and we’re looking for Directors who want to play a meaningful role in the next stage of that growth.

What we offer

We offer a benchmarked senior remuneration package including:

• Competitive salary
• Performance-related bonus
• Company pension contribution
• Hybrid working, with just two days per week in the office
• Full flexitime, with core hours between 10am and 4pm
• A 1pm finish every second Friday based on a 9am start
• Strong support for continued professional and career development

Interested?

If you’re an experienced quantitative researcher who enjoys being in front of clients, loves developing solutions to their business problems and gets satisfaction from turning a brief into a great proposal, winning the work and then seeing your team deliver it brilliantly, we’d really like to hear from you.

This is a role for someone who wants the autonomy to build their own client relationships and business, while having the backing of one of Ireland’s largest and most experienced research teams.

Please send your CV in confidence to Ciara Reilly, Managing Director, RED C Research, at [email protected].

Alternatively, if you’d simply like an informal and confidential conversation about the role, contact Ciara on 01 818 6316.