Market Research Project Manager

Saros Research Ltd

Background

Saros Research is a small, well-established market research fieldwork company, offering a specialist participant recruitment service to qualitative market researchers and user experience testers across the UK. We are now in a position where we require an additional person to join our highly effective project management team

Company culture and values

Saros is focussed on providing an intelligent and supportive customer service experience to our clients, adding value to their research projects by delivering accurately and ethically recruited participants – who will help them to serve their clients’ needs, by delivering the insights required. We believe in working flexibly, smartly, and getting the job done – solving problems, rising to challenges, and going the extra mile to ensure client satisfaction.

All members of the team work from their own home, (see below). However the ability to travel to Central London to meet with clients will be a valuable asset to applicants.

Job Description

To manage the process of the project lifecycle on behalf of the company from start to finish, including –

• Using and updating the Saros database.
• Creation of survey questionnaires on Alchemer (formerly Survey Gizmo).
• Creation of project documentation and materials.
• Use of email and social media tools.
• Liaise with research clients on behalf of Saros, being their point of contact throughout the process as you work to deliver their requirements.
• Manage the work of freelance interviewers/research bookers, working remotely to screen potential participants.
• Communicate and liaise with members of the public who are interested in and participating in research with Saros Research Limited.

Person Specification

Essential requirements – we will be unable to consider applications that do not clearly demonstrate that these are fully met

1. Experience of providing client service in a b2b environment
2. Experience of providing service to customers or dealing with the public effectively
3. Experience of managing the work of others, preferably remote workers
4. Either experience of, or demonstrable potential for, working from home and without direct supervision
5. Experience of managing varied and complex multiple projects, clients and deadlines simultaneously
6. Extensive skills and experience with the MS Office package, including as a minimum Word, Excel and Outlook
7. Experience with a range of online applications and able to learn new packages and skills quickly
8. Superb written communication skills, suitable to a variety of media and contexts
9. Knowledge, understanding and experience of social media and its role in b2b and b2c marketing
10. Excellent practical IT skills – can manage a home network, troubleshoot problems, install new software, etc
11. Methodical and able to follow procedures precisely and exactly
12. Creative and intuitive, able to demonstrate initiative and solve problems effectively

Desirable requirements – it is likely that we will prioritise candidates who can additionally deliver on some or all of the following points:

1. Experience or knowledge of the qualitative market research industry
2. Experience or knowledge of the user experience/usability industry
3. Experience with email and mail-merging
4. Business development and B2B sales track record
5. Advanced social media, content writing, PR and/or digital marketing skills
6. A working knowledge of GDPR

“Day in a Life”

We have prepared the following description of a typical day in the life of a Saros Project Manager, to help bring to life the job description and person specification above – whilst every day and every project at Saros is different, this may give some flavour of what the work would involve…

At the start of the day I log on and check my email and messages, which includes responses on my current projects. Reviewing my tasks, I have groups running tonight, a new project to set up, new work to quote for, and several other jobs in progress. As the rest of the team logs on we chat on Slack, and I also liaise with my research bookers working on current projects. They send me their updates and I send confirmation details to selected participants. I read through all the details on the new project, and I call the client to talk through all the nuances that can so easily be missed in writing. This project might be most appropriate to allocate to a team member, and there is continual dialogue about current project status and workload – many of our clients work to tight deadlines, and we need to know immediately whether a request is viable before taking it on.

Meanwhile I am working on my own live projects – designing screening questionnaires, checking on reminders for today’s sessions and any last-minute replacements, and making sure all went well the previous evening. Dealing with real people in face-to-face situations, anything can happen… and it often does.

Later we have a team meeting via videoconference and review the full list of live projects – everyone is managing several, and by discussing any difficulties or challenges we can help each other unstick things and move on. There are new projects to be allocated and I get one that really interests me as its about a product I use a lot – on each job I learn something new, sometimes about a brand I use all time, other times I am introduced to something completely new and have to get up to speed fast. That keeps things interesting! Of course I have my favourite clients and specialist subjects, but we are all very interchangeable and flexible. We also discuss any upcoming diary items, changes, issues with bookers or clients, and current business and database development activities.

Speaking of clients one of my regulars has gone very quiet, and I make a diary note to schedule a catch-up call with her later in the week to see how everything’s going. At one point it all gets a bit chaotic as I have last minute admin on tonight’s groups, a query to resolve for a project later this week, a booker who has missed an important point in the questionnaire! But I quickly reprioritise using all the information I have, and address the most urgent and important queries quickly.

Late afternoon I pop out for a walk – my clients and of course colleagues know when I’ll be contactable (we keep a group chat window going all day). I need to speak to one of my clients in the US later, there is an issue with his project and I need to talk through our findings in detail to find a way to move it on successfully – we always try to offer solutions and creative ideas, rather than just report problems. I also have project admin to complete that I need to get current on before tomorrow morning. Once that’s all done I revise my task list for the next day, and log off.

Working arrangements

Saros is a ‘virtual’ company, and all members of the team work from their homes.

We collaborate continually and work very closely together, making use of chat and videoconferencing tools, but may only physically meet a couple of times a year,

We work full time hours, on a flexible basis.

We expect the postholder to be able to provide space to accommodate their work effectively in their home, providing for secure document storage, a quiet and professional working environment, and access to necessary utilities. An IP phone, broadband services and IT equipment will be provided.

Remuneration

This position is not advertised with a fixed salary band, as this will depend upon the experience and expectations of the candidate. We may make more than one appointment, and we welcome advice in your application of the expected salary you are seeking.

Full training will be given. You may notice that specific industry experience is not a prerequisite – we are more interested in getting the right project management skillset and ‘fit’ for our organisation, and appointments could potentially be made at a number of levels. We are in a period of growth and development and are looking for the right person to join our close-knit team, to grow with us and develop their own career with Saros.

Applications

Please send your CV with a covering letter and your salary expectation for this role, to by Wednesday 24 th November 2021.