Audience Research Manager

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Sector: Research and Development

Role: Manager

Contract Type: Permanent

Hours: Full Time

Package Description
Job Reference: 22970
Band: D
Salary: Up to £58,000 depending on relevant skills, knowledge and experience. The expected salary range for this role reflects internal benchmarking and external market insights.
Contract type: Permanent role
Location: London - New Broadcasting House (This will also be open to applications from other bases. This is a hybrid role and the successful candidate will balance office working with home working - Office Day generally falls on Wednesday/Thursday)

Closing Date: 24th of May 2025

We're happy to discuss flexible working. Please indicate your choice under the flexible working question in the application. There is no obligation to raise this at the application stage but if you wish to do so, you are welcome to. Flexible working will be part of the discussion at offer stage.

Excellent career progression - the BBC offers great opportunities for employees to seek new challenges and work in different areas of the organisation.

Unrivalled training and development opportunities - our in-house Academy hosts a wide range of internal and external courses and certification.

Benefits - We offer a negotiable salary package, a flexible 35-hour working week for work-life balance and 25 days annual leave with the option to buy an extra 5 days, a defined pension scheme and discounted dental, health care and gym. You can find out more about working at the BBC by selecting this link to our candidate pack.

If you need to discuss adjustments or access requirements for the interview process please contact the . For any general queries, please contact: .

Job Introduction
This post sits within the BBC Radio and Music Audiences team, which comprises researchers, planners, analysts and a data scientist. The role works on behalf of the BBC's six music radio stations, music content on BBC Sounds TV and iPlayer, plus live events such as Glastonbury, The Proms and Radio 1's Big Weekend. The role is responsible for managing all aspects of audience research activities in these areas and for feeding actionable insights back into the relevant strategies. Some of our recent/current work includes understanding the role of smartspeakers in distributing audio, the changing nature of how music appeals to young audiences and how visualised audio content fits into audiences routines.

We pride ourselves on our open approach to addressing business challenges - whether they're big strategic questions or small tactical queries. And we're skilled at wringing as much as we can out of existing data sources alongside shaping new research towards the best approach and output for the business.

We also know that research that doesn't have impact has not achieved its goal and we always strive to translate findings and data into a language and recommendations that will inspire our creative colleagues to do the right thing for the audience. We are lucky to work with a range of creative and senior stakeholders across radio and music but also marketing, policy, communications and strategy and we are proud of the collaborative and productive relationships we build within and outside our team.

Alongside key skills listed, it is an advantage to be passionate about music and audio to thrive in this team. We love to work collaboratively but also to share our thoughts on music and audio content in the BBC and beyond.

Interview process
This will be a two-stage interview process:
1. Virtual interview - approx. one hour of competency and values-based questions - (interviews due to start 7th/8th/9th/12th May) this is subject to change
2. Virtual interview - approx. one hour of task review and a few remaining competency and values-based questions (date tbc) - to include approx. 2 hours preparation time

Main Responsibilities
As an Audience Research Manager within the BBC Radio & Music team, you will have a role in shaping and refining the BBC's music output across radio, TV, online and in our live events coverage.

Your role will vary from looking at performance data for new shows on one of the BBC's renowned music radio stations to understanding the audience impact of live events in their local area and commission new research to help understand shifting audience behaviours such as how music tastes are changing over time.

You will line manage one Senior Research Executive and more generally be active in maintaining a learning culture within the team through active sharing of knowledge, coaching and inspiring others. You will seek to work collaboratively whenever possible, understanding how outputs are enhanced when this is the working style.

You will have a rigorous approach to research and data analysis, always committed to getting actionable insight into the hands of those who can use it, and ultimately driving the best value for money for the UK Licence Fee Payer.

If you're passionate about music or audio, enjoy working in a high-performing team who make a difference in their day-to-day work, then we should talk!

Are you the right candidate?
We focus on hiring for potential at the BBC, so the main requirement for the position is a strong research/analytical mindset.

Some of the things we love:

• A broad knowledge of, and experience managing, quantitative and/or qualitative research projects
• Experience of working with media industry data sources (eg RAJAR, BARB) and digital datasets.
• Ability to take research beyond data to insights and action, where necessary weaving multiple datasets into one narrative.
• Ability to think ahead, prioritise and plan activities, taking business needs, deadlines and resources into account.
• Able to build close relationships with divisional partners to successfully influence strategic and creative decision making.
• Able to devise new and creative ways of using research data.
• Can develop and maintain positive relationships at a senior level.
• Can successfully manage big and complex projects and experience of budget setting and control.
• Good quantitative analytical skills, particularly working creatively with existing data sources/large data sets.
• Able to evaluate ideas and information, select relevant data, identify key trends, issues and solutions.
• Able to simplify complex problems, processes or projects into component parts and explore and evaluate them systematically.
• Open to change and keen to seek out new ways of doing things.
• Works co-operatively with others as a team member, as opposed to working separately or competitively.
• Connects people, ideas, processes and issues. Shares knowledge, ideas and skills across the organisation.
• Can draw from a range of communication strategies to persuade people in a way that encourages agreement or behaviour change.
• Actively listens and adapts communication style to the audience being addressed.
• Adapts and works effectively with different situations, individuals or groups. Able to understand and appreciate different and opposing perspectives on an issue, to adapt an approach as the requirements of a situation change, and to change or easily accept changes in one's own organisation or job requirements.
• IT skills - able to manipulate spreadsheets and analytical tools and software. Familiarity with appropriate applications - Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Tableau

About the BBC
The BBC is committed to redeploying employees seeking suitable alternative employment within the BBC for different reasons and they will be given priority consideration ahead of other applicants. Priority consideration means for those employees seeking redeployment their application will be considered alongside anyone else at risk of redundancy, prior to any individuals being considered who are not at risk.

We don't focus simply on what we do - we also care how we do it. Our values and the way we behave are important to us. Please make sure you've read about our values and behaviours here.

Diversity matters at the BBC. We have a working environment where we value and respect every individual's unique contribution, enabling all of our employees to thrive and achieve their full potential.

We want to attract the broadest range of talented people to be part of the BBC - whether that's to contribute to our programming or our wide range of non-production roles. The more diverse our workforce, the better able we are to respond to and reflect our audiences in all their diversity.

We are committed to equality of opportunity and welcome applications from individuals, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio-economic background, religion and/or belief. We will consider flexible working requests for all roles, unless operational requirements prevent otherwise.

To find out more about Diversity and Inclusion at the BBC, please click here.

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