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Portland is a fully integrated communications consultancy trusted by some of the highest profile organizations, governments and individuals in the world with global offices in Washington DC, Singapore, Doha and Nairobi, as well as in London.

We are pioneers in integrated communications campaigns help clients manage their reputation, improve their visibility and media coverage – and deliver global communications campaigns across multiple platforms.

Our teams of experienced and multilingual consultants invest time to understand clients from the inside out, work with them to set clear strategic direction, and then bring the whole of Portland’s abilities to bear to deliver their objectives.

At Portland we never rest on our laurels; we constantly strive to improve our work and be at the forefront of the industry.

Position

The role:

• We have an opening for a Research Director/Senior Consultant to help lead Portland’s Research team.
• You will have day-to-day responsibility for leading a team of energetic practitioners from differing disciplines of research and related functions. You will report to the Partner with responsibility for the Research team.

Key responsibilities:

• Being Portland’s lead client practitioner on research with a strong focus on actionable insight relevant to clients’ needs.
• Embedding research into all Portland’s work with our large and varied list of clients, working extremely closely with client teams drawn from other communications disciplines.
• Working with senior staff including the Partner overseeing the Research team on delivering its commercial plan – as well as helping shape it.
• Maintaining and enhancing a positive and inclusive culture amongst a close-knit team.
  
  

Requirements

Qualifications, skills and competencies:

Qualifications and skills

You must:

• Be an experienced and able researcher who is confident across both qualitative and quantitative methodologies

• Have at least seven years experience of research roles – either in an agency or in in-house role
• Have a full understanding of quantitative research methods, and be able to demonstrate expertise at all stages of the process - design, analysis, insight creation.
• Have an understanding of the purpose and appeal of research in a communications agency rather than one geared around advertising and B2C
• Be able to translate your findings into concrete, deliverable recommendations for client action
• Have the ability to win others round to your point of view – both client side and internally
• Have experience of leading a team and a track record of developing more junior members of staff
• Possess demonstrable commercial acumen

Person Specification Competences applicable to the post:

Providing a quality service

You must:

• Have the ability to communicate confidently with Portland staff, senior clients and other stakeholders
• Be highly organised with the ability to manage multiple projects and meet deadlines
• Create a performance culture and hold everyone accountable for their results

Effective communication

You must:

• Set the tone for open and honest communication
• Be prepared to have courageous conversations

Collaboration

You must:

• Encourage and enable effective cross-functional team working
• Create an inclusive culture that embraces different ways of working, where everyone has a voice
• Be able to understand the skill sets and specialist expertise of colleagues, to be able to draw on them appropriately to better support clients and stakeholders

Inspiring and empowering

You must:

• Set the vision and long-term direction, by inspiring people to come on the journey
• Support and drive a culture where everyone wants to build on their careers at Portland
• Inspire and drive engagement within colleagues, providing them with opportunities for professional and personal development
• Be an excellent decision maker with a real ability to lead and mentor a team

Other information

What we offer in return

• We are committed to employee development and have an open doors culture where you will have the opportunity to learn from some of the most experienced people in the business. We regularly reward and promote success, and actively encourage staff to take on new challenges and responsibilities to aid progression.
• Our remuneration package also includes our competitive pension contributions, private healthcare life assurance cover, company contribution to gym membership, wellbeing workshops and activities, company parties and much, much more!
• At Portland we take a flexible approach to work and encourage our colleagues to do the same. All our roles are open to flexible working requests and we will consider all options during our recruitment process. This includes but is not limited to: flexible hours, home working, compressed hours and job sharing.
• In addition, every permanent member of staff that works at Portland is eligible for our annual profit share. When Portland thrives, all of our people share in that success.

Other information

Unfortunately due to the high volume of applications we receive it is not possible to respond directly to all applicants, only to those whose candidacy is being pursued. In addition, the length of the recruitment process varies based on the vacancy needs. Traditionally, the process takes approximately 3-4 weeks. Therefore, your patience is greatly appreciated.