Lead Researcher
Publicerad 2024-09-27
Your Role
and What You'll Be Doing
The KM Research team is responsible for developing and delivering high quality, targeted and insightful legal, business, strategic, market and competitor research and analysis to colleagues across the Irwin Mitchell Group. As a Lead Researcher, you will manage the provision of our KM Research Service in coordination with other Lead Researchers and the Head of Research and Resources.
You will work with the Head of Research and Resources as part of the KM Research Management Group to improve our business by delivering research services which support our client relationships, inform strategy and help to deliver our strategic growth plans.
As a Lead Researcher, you will either take responsibility for managing a team of Senior Researchers and Researchers and prioritising work or managing research quality through proactive quality assurance. All Lead Researchers also directly produce more complex research reports and analysis on an individual basis and lead on one of our strategic audiences as well as adopting any agreed subject matter specialism within the wider KM Team.
Lead Researchers with Line Management responsibilities:
Conduct regular 1-1 meetings with Senior Researchers/Researchers to provide support and guidance in line with leadership best practice. Act as the first point of contact for any people related questions and day-to-day communication with team members (including holiday, absence, etc.). Share updates from the business as issued to leaders (e.g. Leader Briefings from the People Team). Work with the Head of Research and Resources to set and agree objectives for the team and assess performance against objectives. Review priorities with line reports based on the agreed objectives and conduct mid-year and end of year performance reviews. Lead Researchers with Quality Assurance responsibilities:
Undertake regular reviews of work product from all researchers, advising on content, quality, sources and delivery of the research brief and directly supervising any changes and improvements. Provide guidance and supervision to all researchers during the production of research reports to help answer any questions and develop researcher skills on an ongoing basis. Develop and deliver training and guidance on research best practice for all researchers, focusing on sources, analysis, presentation of research and extraction of insight and the ‘so what?’ of research reports. All Lead Researchers
Work with the Head of Research and Resources and the Director of KM to regularly review workloads for the team, assess projects and initiatives requiring Research Team input and agree overall prioirisation, direction and development of the KM research service in line with Group strategy and business objectives. Coordinate with others contributing to research services across the business, including Client Insight and Data. Manage the delivery of research services across all direct line reports, focusing on the production of high quality, timely, accurate and insightful legal, business, strategic, market and competitor research, analysis and current awareness for the Group, ensuring services align and support Group strategic objectives. Provide an escalation point for line reports including: allocation of work across the Research Team, ensuring that work is completed according to deadlines and service level agreements, supporting regular quality checking of work products alongside the Quality Assurance Lead Researcher, advising the team on best practice and recording research requests for monthly reporting. Adopt a subject matter expertise (SME) role within the Research Team - providing a comprehensive research service to assist in the delivery of the Group’s strategic growth plans, directly supporting a number of areas including: bids, priority clients, targets, industry benchmarking and M&A activity. This research will be complex and targeted for the executive audience, sectors/specialisms as agreed, synthesising key facts and trends, providing clear insight and analysis and identifying threats and opportunities for the business. Actively participate in key groups / forums across the business to work directly with users of the service, including: Partners, lawyers, Group Services colleagues and other members of the KM Team, particularly Practice Development Lawyers, to ensure research services are fully aligned to the strategic needs of the business. Work with the Quality Assurance Lead Researcher to ensure that the presentation of research and analysis is accessible and appropriate for the audience. This includes the advanced use of Microsoft tools (PowerPoint, Word and Excel) to deliver reports which meet specific research requirements. Where possible content should be presented in a manner which allows simple reuse and sharing across the business or externally. Utilise key internal and external resources to deliver comprehensive research reports and analysis ensuring sources are reliable and valid and combining different types of information to provide a clear assessment of the impact of key research on our business. Work with the Head of Research and Resources to develop use of the Knowledge Hub as the central repository for storing and sharing research across the business. Developing processes to manage research in the hubs, promote use and re-use of research reports, combine research content to increase value and improve return on investment for the KM Research Service. Work with the Research Team to deliver bespoke current awareness services to the Group to support horizon scanning activities used to identify legal and business developments, opportunities and to help ensure the business is constantly updated and informed. Utilising Manzama, our Knowledge Hubs and the Horizon Tracker to facilitate timely and targeted identification and flagging of key opportunities and updates which are of operational or strategic importance to the Group. Managing our overall schedule of current awareness activities and ensuring these continue to meet business needs (including updates sent out business-wide, to key executive audiences and strategic forums). Take personal responsibility to make sure each request is professionally and effectively handled, ensuring a high level of satisfaction for each research request/project. Maintain personal skills in the use of key research techniques and tools, adopting new approaches, investigating new sources and acting as a role model for the effective use of research resources and legal/market intelligence. Maintain proper records of activity, order and receipt of research work and, where disbursements apply, ensuring all disbursement costs are properly and swiftly recorded against the correct client matter Ensure all external licence and contract arrangements are adhered to in the delivery of services. Provide cover for the Head of Research and Resources as and when required to ensure continued service delivery. About You
A degree or post-graduate qualification in Information and Library Management, Information Science or a related subject. Previous experience in the areas of legal, competitive and business research, or other forms of research and knowledge management. Successful track record operating as a member of an Information Services, Knowledge Management or a related team, preferably in a legal environment. Proven success in service management and operational delivery is desirable. Excellent knowledge of key legal and business databases for research purposes. Proven experience of delivering business research, including client, target, competitor and market research. Proven ability to conduct research across subscription databases, publicly available databases / information sources and hard copy resources, delivering high quality and targeted results to internal and external clients in line with their specific requirements. Experience with using current awareness aggregator tools such as Manzama. Excellent IT skills with proven high proficiency in the full range of Office applications, with the ability to identify and use the most appropriate product to conduct and present research in a format which best suits the needs of the requestor. A commitment to maintaining personal professional development and technical capability with new and existing research techniques and online/offline research tools to enable best practice and efficient approach to services. Experience of successfully using a request management system to manage workflow. Problem solving and the ability to anticipate and resolve problems before they arise. Attention to detail and high level of accuracy. Our Benefits - What We Can Offer You
25 days holidays as standard plus bank holidays - You can ‘buy’ up to 35hrs of extra holiday too. Generous and flexible pension schemes. Volunteering days – Two days of volunteering every year for a cause of your choice (fully paid) Westfield Health membership, offering refunds on medical services alongside our Aviva Digital GP services. We also offer a wide range of well-being initiatives to encourage positive mental health both in and out of the workplace and to make sure you’re fully supported. This includes our Flexible by Choice programme which gives our colleagues more choice over a hybrid way of working subject to role, team and client requirements.
We have been ranked in the Best Workplaces for Wellbeing for Large Organisations for 2024!
Our responsible business programmes are fundamental to who we are and our purpose. We’re committed to being a diverse and inclusive workplace where our colleagues can flourish, and we have established a number of inclusion network groups across our business to support this aim.
Our commitment to Social Responsibility, community investment activity and tackling climate change is a fundamental part of who we are. It’s made up of four strands: Our People, Our Community, Our Environment and Our Pro Bono.
