Senior Research and Insights Executive

Agency : Havas Play Job Description : WHO WE ARE Havas Play UK helps brands produce Remarkable work in culture, building branded entertainment, partnerships, social & influencer, experiential and content people want to spend time with, sitting within Havas Media Network and connected to the wider Havas Village in London. We deliver through integrated divisions spanning Strategy, Creative, Activation, Content & Media Partnerships, Production, and Measurement and Evaluation, enabling truly 360° campaigns from insight to impact. Our recent work and relationships span leading brands and rights holders, including EE, JD Sports, Jaguar Land Rover, Major League Baseball, The FA, HSBC and Jet2. THE ROLE You will be the day-to-day insight lead for a core client, owning the measurement & evaluation workstream and turning audience, cultural and performance data into clear recommendations that shape strategy, creative and activation. The role combines hands on analysis with proactive client management and close collaboration across Play’s Strategy, Creative, Client Services and Activation teams. Working with the head of the measurement department, you’ll design and deliver quant and qual research (surveys, simple communities or depths), plus desk research, social listening, market intelligence and media/performance analysis - translating findings into stories that inform briefs, creative territories, channel choices and evaluation frameworks. WHAT YOU’LL DO Insight and measurement Build learning agendas and M&E frameworks tied to brand and campaign KPIs; deliver regular reporting and “so what” recommendations for optimisation and post campaign effectiveness. Plan and analyse quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews/mini groups; synthesise desk research and cultural trends into sharp POVs and brief inputs. Translate social, search and content signals into audience and cultural insights that guide creative and channel choices. Data tools and analytics Use HMN’s Converged / Converged.AI to connect audience intelligence with planning and activation, ensuring privacy first cross platform planning and transparent reporting. Run social listening and conversation analysis (e.g., Talkwalker or Meltwater) to size spaces, track sentiment/themes, identify creators/communities and monitor brand/campaign health. Build profiles using audience data sources (e.g., YouGov, GWI), enriching segmentation with attitudes, interests, media habits and fandom cues. Partner with Strategy Co-create audience definitions, comms tasks and test and learn roadmaps; shape measurement plans aligned to the Intelligence → Design → Activate → Measure cadence. Develop evidence based brief inputs (problem definition, audience tensions, passion points, role for brand) and contribute to integrated Playbooks and pitch narratives. Partner with Creative and Activation Provide concise insight packs for ideation (audiences, trends, formats, creators) and pressure test ideas against data backed hypotheses. Set up live dashboards and weekly readouts during flight to inform agile optimisation across social, influencer, content and experiential. Client leadership Be the primary day to day contact for insight/M&E: run WIPs, manage timelines and scopes, brief partners/suppliers and ensure outputs are accurate, timely and commercially sound. Present findings simply and persuasively to client stakeholders, capturing decisions and next steps. ABOUT YOU You’re a data curious storyteller who loves culture and cares about effectiveness. You can move from a spreadsheet to a deck to a room of stakeholders with confidence, and you’re comfortable owning the plan as well as the detail. Loving sport and imbedding culture in your work are big ticks but not essential, as long as you’re willing to immerse yourself in our world. Must have experience Agency side experience in insight, strategy or analytics with hands on delivery of research, reporting and client communication (typically 2–4+ years). Proven ability to distil complex data into clear narratives and recommendations for strategy, creative and activation teams. Competent in Excel/Sheets, PowerPoint/Keynote and data visualisation basics; comfortable with survey platforms and/or qual moderation prep. Strong stakeholder management: run WIPs, manage suppliers, hit deadlines, and maintain high QA standards. Up to date on the social, sports and culture landscape and platform changes. Demonstrable analytical skills and comfort with data. Excellent time management across multiple projects. Desirable Hands on with YouGov datasets (e.g., Profiles) and audience profiling tools. Experience in Talkwalker or Meltwater for social listening; ability to build queries, tag themes and create automated dashboards. Sponsorship evaluation work. Creator/influencer discovery and measurement basics. Ways of working and values Curious, collaborative and positively challenging, you ask better questions to get to better work. Inclusive and culturally aware; you’re motivated by the belief that brands should participate credibly in culture, not just advertise in it. What you’ll get – the chance to shape culturally resonant work for household name brands within an integrated village model that connects media, creative and experience end to end. #LI-AC2 Contract Type : Permanent Here at Havas across the group we pride ourselves on being committed to offering equal opportunities to all potential employees and have zero tolerance for discrimination. We are an equal opportunity employer and welcome applicants irrespective of age, sex, race, ethnicity, disability and other factors that have no bearing on an individual’s ability to perform their job. If you don't find a suitable opening on our Career Site, don't worry! You can still send your resume to us. Please go to Consider me for Future Openings. About Us Founded in 1835 by Charles-Louis Havas, Havas is one of the world’s largest global communications groups, with more than 23,000 people in over 100 countries sharing one single mission: to make a meaningful difference to brands, businesses, and people. Havas has developed a fully integrated model covering all communications activities. The teams of the three business units, Creative, Media and Health & You, work together with agility and in perfect synergy to offer clients tailor-made, meaningful, innovative and entertainment-oriented solutions that support them in their positive transformation. Life at Havas We take great pride in our Havas family. They bring many unique personalities, perspectives and passions to their work. Collaboration is at the core of how we operate, and Havas Villages are the homes we work in. We encourage our people to take advantage of our many opportunities to learn and grow. Through local agency training sessions, our unique global and development programs, we offer our people endless opportunities to explore. Havas Media Network We create the best media experience, capitalizing on the most meaningful media to build more meaningful brands. We know how to connect a client with their target audience – in the context of where they are, through the content they pay attention to. We deliver this expertise through the Mx System, our global operating methodology and strategic planning process, that creates value for our clients by turning consumer intelligence into clear growth targets, aligning stakeholders and KPIs, and measuring the impact of media experiences. Havas Creative Network At Havas, we believe creativity isn’t just a description of our business, it is part of our agencies’ DNA. We bring together some of the industry’s most creative and accomplished agencies. By combining creative expertise with the strategic and innovative power of our Villages, we can build seamless teams around the individual needs of each of our clients. Havas Health Driven by human purpose and focused on the betterment of humanity through health, Havas Health & You leverages a global collection of experts and individuals to help people everywhere live healthier lives. With a spirit rooted in innovation, creativity, and education, we are dedicated to delivering consistent excellence and groundbreaking work.