Research Director

We invite you to come grow with us.

Inizio Ignite is the global advisory partner for health and life sciences, encompassing connected expertise across Research Partnership, Putnam, Vynamic, and STEM. Guided by purpose, passion, and precision, we collaborate with clients to ignite impact, accelerate performance, and deliver lasting change for patients. By uniting strategy, insights, and innovation with a unique depth and breadth of expertise, we drive transformation and shape the future of health.

Our Research Partnership healthcare market research team provides research and insights to inform and power healthcare decisions. Serving a variety of clients across the lifecycle, our expertise includes data, research & insights (proprietary syndicated and custom research) and brand tracking (ATU). Proudly part of Inizio – the market-leading commercialization partner for health and life sciences. From early-stage development to loss of exclusivity, we simplify complexity, unlock value, and make collaboration seamless at every pivotal moment – supporting confident, insight-driven decisions that move innovation forward.

About the team and program

Our Europe Custom Research team partners with global pharmaceutical and biotech clients to enable them to solve marketing, brand, advertising and communications problems through a mixture of innovative qualitative and quantitative market research techniques.

Within Custom Research, the Major Tracking Programs team provides dedicated leadership, governance and continuous improvement across our largest and most complex multi-year quantitative tracking programs.

Your primary role:

This role leads one of Research Partnership's largest and most strategically important healthcare tracking programs, spanning multiple therapy areas, markets, stakeholders and concurrent workstreams.

As the Program Lead, you will own the end-to-end delivery of an EMEA program, acting as the visible link between the client, therapy-area teams and specialist functions. You will drive accountability, anticipate and resolve issues before they affect the client, and ensure that research design, analytics and reporting remain aligned to program objectives. You will also lead continuous improvement and build program capability through clear direction, coaching and training.

Key responsibilities:

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.

Life at Research Partnership

We love what we do, value creativity and believe everyone should continue learning. We provide:

• A comprehensive training and development program for all staff, from entry-level apprentice to senior management.
• A friendly working environment with regular social events.
• Opportunities to support our charity partners through fundraising and volunteering.

Benefits package:

• Company pension contributions of 5% available from your first day (salary sacrifice)
• 30 days paid annual leave
• Additional birthday day off
• Private health insurance
• Life Assurance plan
• Group Income Protection
• Enhanced Maternity, Paternity, Adoption Leave
• Annual salary and promotion reviews

Further information:

This full-time role is available on a hybrid basis, with two days per week at our central London office in Farringdon, or as a UK remote-worker role with one office day per month.

Our Pledge

At Research Partnership, we value inclusivity, recognize the power of diversity, and inspire the next generation of change-makers. We are an equal opportunities employer. We believe in creating a work environment that values diversity, equity, and inclusion. We aim to recruit from a diverse slate of candidates and foster an environment that provides the right conditions for long-term success. We welcome all applications regardless of race, colour, religion or belief, gender, gender identity, age, national origin, marital status, military veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation and physical or mental disability.

Don't meet every job requirement? That's okay! Our company is dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace. If you're excited about this role, but your experience doesn't perfectly fit every qualification, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right person for this role or others.