Senior Lead, Research & Insights

About the role

The Senior Capability Lead is a pivotal leadership role responsible for the successful delivery of projects within a defined capability area. This includes owning and evolving the delivery approaches, processes, skills, and technology requirements that underpin the research capability. The role ensures research delivery excellence, fosters innovation, and drives continuous improvement across the portfolio. Key Results for this role include: Research Scalability & AI enablement: Productise core research offers to support repeatable, sustainable delivery. Identify opportunities to improve quality and efficiency using automation where appropriate , and increase wellbeing for team Cross-Portfolio working: Deploy research capability into other projects to shape their delivery approaches (e.g. ACE Research and Applied Tech) and provide systems-level thinking for our customers Thought Leadership: Identify team insights and capability to position Plexal as a key player in mission-critical technology areas Research Partnerships: ( Re ) build partnerships with consultancy or academic channel partners Adoption: Research outputs demonstrably used in downstream delivery or client decisions Capability Ownership Define and maintain the strategic direction for the capability, including its scope, value proposition, and alignment with organisational goals. Own and evolve the delivery methodology , tooling, and quality standards for the capability. Act as the internal champion for the capability, ensuring it is well understood and effectively leveraged across the business. Project Delivery Oversee the quality of the delivery of projects within the capability, ensuring they meet expectations . Provide delivery assurance and oversight, including risk management, resource planning, and stakeholder engagement. Support the mobilisation of new projects and ensure smooth transitions between sales and delivery. Quality & Performance Set and uphold quality standards across all workstreams within the capability. Monitor delivery performance and implement continuous improvement initiatives. Conduct regular reviews and retrospectives to identify lessons learned and embed best practices. Governance & Portfolio Reporting Establish and maintain governance frameworks to ensure consistent, transparent, and accountable delivery practices. Track and report on portfolio performance, including KPIs, delivery health, risks, and dependencies. Provide regular updates to senior leadership and stakeholders, offering insights and recommendations for strategic decision-making. Ensure compliance with internal controls, audit requirements, and external standards where applicable. People & Skills Development Line manage and mentor capability-aligned team members, supporting their development and progression. Identify skills gaps and lead targeted interventions to build capability maturity. Support onboarding and upskilling of new joiners within the capability. Ensure teams are appropriately resourced to ensure they can meet their development and growth objectives . Collaboration & Influence Work closely with Directors, Account Leads, and other Capability Leads to ensure integrated delivery across portfolios. Represent the capability in internal forums and external engagements as needed. Identify opportunities for thought leadership and innovation within the capability domain. Proven qualitative and quantitative research skills e.g. end-to-end research design, research question/challenge scoping, interviews, surveys, market research, data analysis . Ability to define and scale research delivery methodologies, including setting quality frameworks and KPIs Familiarity with AI-enabled research tools and automations to enhance research efficiency, where appropriate . Synthesis of complex research into clear, engaging and accurate outputs sui table for advising and making recommendations to senior leaders , in particular for the public sector Ability to work proactively - planning and organising your own work with reference to appropriate strategies , policies, processes and protocols , and drawing from appropriate team members as needed. Commercial a cumen including shaping research propositions, and an aptitude for building relationships, nurtur ing opportuni ties and structuring mutually beneficial partnerships Excellent listening, facilitating and influencing skills, including influencing senior leaders and external stakeholders and negotiating to achieve desired outcomes Research, innovation or technology background, with a passion about emerging technology and some domain expertise or interest in technology policy Experience with a range of research methodologies (both qualitative and quantitative), and an ability to critically assess research to draw insightful conclusions and recommendations for the client, presented in an accessible and compelling narrative. Experience leading a team, capability or portfolio of work, including setting direction and ove

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Company Intel

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