Research Director, Program Lead (Quantitative Research)

Program leadership and governance

• Own the program plan, governance and delivery across concurrent waves, therapy areas and markets, translating the program vision into clear priorities, owners and deadlines.
• Maintain oversight of progress, risks and opportunities; intervene early and escalate material issues with clear recommendations.
• Make timely program decisions, balancing client priorities, research integrity, operational constraints and commercial considerations.
• Build program resilience through effective documentation, knowledge sharing and succession planning.

Cross-functional leadership and accountability

• Lead, co-ordinate and hold accountable the research, operations, data, analytics and dashboard teams that contribute to the program; mobilising the right expertise at the right time and creating a collaborative one-team culture.

Client partnership and commercial management

• Act as the key day-to-day contact for the central client team, building trusted relationships and translating strategic and business needs into program priorities.
• Communicate progress, risks, decisions and trade-offs clearly, working with program and commercial leadership to manage expectations, scope and change.

Research and analytical stewardship

• Ensure client objectives are reflected consistently from research design and data collection through to analysis, interpretation and reporting.
• Protect quality and comparability across waves, markets and therapy areas, while enabling justified adaptation and drawing on specialist expertise where required.

Delivery, risk and continuous improvement

• Drive timely, quality-assured and compliant delivery, proactively resolving issues before they affect the client and embedding preventative actions.
• Identify and implement improvements in processes, automation, analytics and reporting that increase efficiency, quality and client value.
• Lead the identification, evaluation and implementation of innovations in automation, AI, analytics and reporting that improve client value, program efficiency and scalability

Team leadership and capability building

• Provide clear direction, priorities and coaching to the program team, reinforcing high standards and visible ownership.
• Lead onboarding and training so that teams understand the program design, analytical framework and agreed ways of working.

What success looks like:

• The client experiences a credible, visible program leader who owns outcomes, understands the tracker and operates as a proactive strategic partner.
• Functional and therapy-area teams have clear priorities, ownership and deadlines, with agreed actions followed through consistently.
• Risks and issues are anticipated and resolved early, with minimal avoidable surprises or client impact.
• The research design and analytical framework are understood, protected and applied consistently, and outputs answer the intended business questions.
• Waves and deliverables are completed on time and to the required quality across markets and therapy areas.
• The program evolves through tangible improvements in analytics, technology, reporting, ways of working and client value.
• Scope, resources and commercial commitments remain controlled, transparent and sustainable.

About you

Essential skills and experience

• Significant senior-level experience in primary quantitative market research, specialized within healthcare or life sciences.
• A strong track record leading large, complex, multi-market quantitative tracking, ATU or syndicated programs across multiple waves and parallel workstreams.
• Strong research and analytical credibility, including the ability to understand and challenge questionnaire design, sampling, KPI frameworks, analysis, interpretation and reporting; this is not a pure project management role.
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional, geographically dispersed teams and influence senior stakeholders without relying on formal line authority.
• Substantial experience managing senior client relationships throughout the lifecycle of a program, including central and brand or therapy-area stakeholders.
• Excellent program planning and governance capability, including risk, issue, dependency, decision, scope and change management.
• A proactive and structured approach to problem-solving, with evidence of intervening early and leading complex issues through to resolution.
• Experience of dashboard or automated reporting deliverables and a strong interest in advanced analytics, automation and AI-enabled insight generation.
• Experience collaborating across geographies and with offshore or specialist delivery teams.
• Commercial awareness, including the ability to protect scope, recognize change, support program sustainability and identify opportunities to add value.
• Clear, confident communication and facilitation skills, with the ability to make complex topics understandable and drive decisions.

Desirable experience

• Experience leading a large-scale global program for a major pharmaceutical client.
• Experience of programs that combine shared global standards with market- or therapy-area-specific requirements.
• Exposure to dashboard development, advanced analytics, automation or AI-enabled market research solutions.
• Experience contributing to program transformation, renewal or expansion.

Leadership profile

• Visible, credible and assured, with the presence to lead senior colleagues and client stakeholders.
• Proactive and curious, spotting risks and opportunities before being asked.
• Analytically minded and able to move comfortably between the strategic picture and delivery detail.
• A constructive challenger who creates accountability without creating unnecessary bureaucracy.
• Calm, decisive and transparent when dealing with pressure, ambiguity or competing priorities.
• Collaborative and inclusive, with a genuine commitment to building a successful one-team culture.
• Motivated by continuous improvement and by turning innovation into practical client value.