Associate Director

**Associate Director - Strategy & Advisory (Public Policy) - Public Affairs**

**Make Your Mark at Ipsos**

The Strategy & Advisory team are policy experts who use Ipsos’s extensive evidence base and leading research and analysis methods to develop policy options and shape strategies for the public sector.

Do you have the experience and passion for developing policy in the public sector at senior levels, and/ or a track record of consulting with the public sector, a creative mind and a collaborative ethos.

We are looking for an Associate Director with experience in social policy areas, such as welfare, education, skills, culture, health and justice to drive growth and help build the function.

**What is in it for you?**

This is a fantastic opportunity where you will be able to draw on Ipsos' unique body of research and evaluation and collaborate with a wide range of professionals (e.g. economists, evaluators and researchers) to shape our policy consulting offer.
- Opportunity to work across the Public Sector - Most Whitehall Departments, government agencies and other public bodies
- Develop and shape public policy
- Leading projects, in collaboration with the Directors, developing robust analyses and solutions to client problems.
- Develop commercial skills by working closely with the Directors to win policy consultancy work via a mix of competitive tender responses and less formal relationship-based business development
- Developing strong day-to-day client relationships with senior clients and building a network of potential clients.
- Collaborating with other professions to build and lead multi-disciplinary teams. This includes economists, evaluators, behavioural experts and researchers.
- Contributing to the development of our toolkit for delivering this service.Line management of junior staff.

**The Role**:
As an Associate Director in the Strategy & Advisory team you will play a key role in growing the team, by developing and leading work with senior clients across the public sector.

We are looking for people with experience in developing policy in the public sector at senior levels, and/ or a track record of consulting with the public sector, a creative mind and a collaborative ethos.

We are particularly interested in people with experience in social policy areas, such as welfare, education, skills, culture, health and justice.

**About you**:
**Essential skills and experience**:

- A track record in one or more areas of UK government / public policy
- A passion for, and understanding of, the public sector - from the development of policies to the delivery of services in different areas of public life
- The aptitude and credibility to build relationships at senior levels in the public sector to develop opportunities
- Commercial mindset showcasing an ability to win new business
- Domain knowledge in one or more areas of policy and a desire to work across a number of policy areas
- Demonstrated creativity in solving clients’ problems in public sector settings
- Core consulting skills: excellent communication, problem-solving and the ability to think and act quickly
- A demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with government clients in a trusted manner
- An ability and desire to grow a team and develop staff.
- A track record in managing and delivering projects to timescale and budgets with limited supervision.

**Benefits**:
We offer a comprehensive benefits package designed to support you as an individual. Our standard benefits include 25 days annual leave, pension contribution, income protection and life assurance. In addition, there are a range health & wellbeing, financial benefits and professional development opportunities.

We are committed to equality, treating people fairly, promoting a positive and inclusive working environment and ensuring we have diversity of people and views. We recognise that this is important for our business success - a more diverse workforce will enable us to better reflect and understand the world we research and ultimately deliver better research and insight to our clients. We are proud to be a member of the Disability Confident scheme, certified as Level 1 Disability Confident Committed. We are dedicated to providing an inclusive and accessible recruitment process.