Westminster Forum Projects
Stakeholder Research & Audience Development Officer
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Salary: Competitive
Hours: Full time, Monday–Friday, 9am–5pm
Location: Home-based
Westminster Forum Projects organises policy conferences across a wide range of sectors and subject areas. We are looking for a highly organised and inquisitive Stakeholder Research & Audience Development Officer to join our Marketing Department.
An important part of our marketing activity is identifying the organisations and professionals who are most likely to have a genuine interest in each conference and ensuring that our communications reach relevant audiences. This is a research-led role combining stakeholder research, audience development, data management and targeted B2B marketing.
You will research organisations, sectors and professional roles, identify relevant contacts, build and refine targeted mailing lists, and help maintain the quality and accuracy of our contact database.
A key part of the role is making informed judgements about who should and should not be included in a target audience. This is not simply a list-building or data-entry role. Research quality, accuracy and relevance are more important than simply identifying large numbers of contacts.
You do not need to be an expert in the policy areas we cover. However, you will need to be a confident researcher who can quickly understand an unfamiliar subject, identify the organisations and types of professionals affected by it, and make sound judgements about the relevance of individual contacts.
For example, if we are organising a conference on a new area of government policy, you might be asked to identify the businesses, professional bodies, regulators, advisers, public-sector organisations and other stakeholders affected by the issue; determine which roles within those organisations are most relevant; identify appropriate contacts; and use that research to help develop a highly targeted audience.
The role would particularly suit someone who enjoys investigating organisations and professional roles, finding information online, working accurately with data and solving research problems.
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Key responsibilities
- Researching organisations, sectors, markets and professional roles to identify relevant audiences for upcoming conferences.
- Identifying appropriate contacts using our existing database alongside external research sources.
- Building, reviewing and refining targeted mailing lists for individual conferences.
- Assessing whether organisations and individuals are genuinely relevant to particular subjects rather than relying solely on job titles or broad categories.
- Identifying gaps in existing audiences and carrying out research to find new organisations, professional groups and contacts.
- Using websites, professional networks, search engines, databases, AI-assisted tools and other digital sources to research and verify information.
- Checking information obtained through digital and AI-assisted research tools against reliable sources before it is used.
- Reviewing mailing selections to improve targeting and reduce irrelevant communications.
- Maintaining accurate, consistent and high-quality contact and organisation data.
- Using databases and spreadsheets to organise, review and analyse information.
- Supporting colleagues across the company with stakeholder, audience and data research relating to our conference programme.
The role will also involve occasional additional responsibilities connected with our online conferences, including hosting events, providing technical support and assisting with post-conference materials. Full training will be provided.
What we are looking for
Essential
- Excellent online and desk-based research skills, with the ability to locate accurate information from a range of sources.
- Strong critical thinking and judgement, including the ability to distinguish between apparently relevant contacts and those with a genuine professional interest in a subject.
- Very strong attention to detail and a methodical approach to working with information and data.
- The ability to investigate organisations, sectors, professional structures and job functions.
- Confidence working with databases and spreadsheets.
- Good digital skills and the ability to learn new systems and research methods quickly.
- Confidence using AI and other digital research tools to accelerate research, while recognising their limitations and independently checking information before it is used.
- Strong organisational skills and the ability to manage several pieces of work at the same time.
- Good written communication skills.
- Curiosity and the ability to become familiar with unfamiliar subjects quickly.
- The ability to work independently and manage your workload effectively in a home-based environment.
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Useful but not essential
Experience in one or more of the following would be advantageous:
- stakeholder or policy research;
- market or competitor research;
- prospect or lead research;
- executive search or recruitment research;
- B2B marketing or audience development;
- CRM or contact databases;
- database marketing, segmentation or list building;
- data quality, verification or data cleansing;
- membership or professional association research;
- conferences, publishing, professional services or membership organisations.
Previous experience in the policy or conference sectors is not essential.
Full training will be provided on our systems and working methods. We are particularly interested in candidates who can demonstrate research ability, accuracy, judgement, curiosity and a willingness to learn.
About the role
This is a full-time, home-based position, working Monday–Friday, 9am–5pm with an hour for lunch.
The role offers the opportunity to develop expertise in stakeholder research, audience development and marketing data while working across a varied programme of UK policy conferences.
Recruitment process
As part of the recruitment process, shortlisted candidates may be asked to complete a short research exercise. This is designed to assess research approach, accuracy and judgement rather than prior knowledge of the policy areas we cover.
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