Reports to: Director of Research & Insights
About Us
The Independent is an online news publisher that was established in 1986 as a national newspaper independent of party-political affiliations or proprietorial influence. In 2016, The Independent became a fully digital publisher, moving away from print in pursuit of sustainability and to safeguard its values and journalism for the future.
The Independent has always thrived through innovation and change. It was the first British newspaper to add a Saturday magazine; the first to give photography the same prestige as news copy; the first to challenge the Westminster lobby system of closed briefings; the first broadsheet to move to the more compact ‘tabloid’ format; the first to launch a concise quality compact paper; and the first – and only – major newspaper to pull off a successful transformation to fully digital publishing.
Through The Independent, Independent TV, eCommerce, indy100, subscriptions and other ‘reader revenues’, The Independent plans to continue the work of many decades, bringing much-needed independent journalism to over 100 million unique global visitors a month, and make its voice ever louder and more insistent the world over. We have an international editorial team with our main offices in London and New York.
In 2024, The Independent’s portfolio of brands increased through a new licensing partnership with BuzzFeed Inc. to operate the BuzzFeed brands in the UK – BuzzFeed UK, Tasty, Seasoned and HuffPost UK. The additional brands echo the existing business ethos and allow for increased audiences and a further strategic diversification of revenue streams.
Job Purpose
As part of the Research & Insights team, you’ll support insight generation for both the UK and US markets. Working closely with the Director of Research & Insights and senior team members across the company, you’ll help turn complex data into clear, strategic narratives that inform business decisions across departments. Your work will help to deepen our understanding of what motivates and engages our audiences.
You’ll work with stakeholders across editorial, video, commercial, social, ecommerce, and data/marketing, supporting the business by running primary research, campaign effectiveness and managing our owned and operated reader panel/community.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
- We champion diversity in our teams and in our reporting. As a growing and global brand, we must have a workforce that’s more representative of our readers, viewers, clients and partners, and a workplace that creates a sense of belonging for everyone
- We are committed to hiring and developing a diverse workforce regardless of background, and we support our people to thrive in their careers here.
The Independent is an equal opportunities employer, if you require any reasonable adjustments to complete your application, please do not hesitate to advise us accordingly.
The Data & Marketing Department
The Data & Marketing department is the intelligence powerhouse of the business, representing the customer. Our goal is to inspire, engage and grow a loyal readership by harnessing data-driven insights and innovative marketing to deliver personalised, impactful content experiences that build lasting trust, diverse revenue streams, and a thriving future for quality journalism. The department consists of four teams: Data Science & Engineering, Data Intelligence & Monetisation, Research & Insight and Customer Marketing.
Research & Insights
The purpose of this team is to understand our brands, key verticals and audiences – identifying opportunities for optimisation and business growth. They do this by utilising best in class research and data storytelling techniques to deliver rich, meaningful insight to our commercial teams and the wider business.
Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities – what is delivered
- Lead and deliver custom primary research and campaign effectiveness projects end-to-end, including research design, survey writing, data analysis, reporting, and creating engaging presentations.
- Develop insight-driven narratives that go beyond numbers to uncover who our audiences are and what motivates them.
- Lead communication and content consumer research from early discovery and quantitative validation through to post-launch evaluation.
- Act as a holistic, audience-led thinker, connecting insights across multiple data sources to craft compelling, strategic stories.
- Provide reader, market, and competitor research to support the editorial, subscriptions, product, and strategy teams.
Skills and Experience
You’ve built solid experience running research from start to finish and love bringing insights to life. You’re as comfortable in the numbers as you are in the narrative, balancing quick wins with long-term strategic thinking.
Essential skills and experience include:
- Fully proficient in the end-to-end quantitative research process, from designing proposals and managing fieldwork through to creating debriefs and delivering presentations.
- A strategic problem-solver who can balance immediate business needs with long-term vision and insight-led thinking.
- Experience creating and designing clear, visually compelling slides or presentations
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Strong attention to detail and an analytical mindset
- Comfortable identifying trends and drawing conclusions from data
- Ability to work collaboratively with cross-functional teams
- Proactive and organised, with the ability to manage time and tasks effectively
- A natural data storyteller, able to transform numbers into insight-driven recommendations
Non essential but good to have
- Experience growing and managing an own and operated audience panel/community
- Ability to design campaign and ad effectiveness surveys and translate results into clear, actionable insights for post-campaign analysis
- Management experience as this roles career growth path would include managing a team of analysts
Our Values – you will deliver across all our values
Inclusive: We champion diversity in our teams and in our reporting. Working as a team, we put transparency and effective communication at the heart of everything we do.
Innovative: From the very beginning, The Independent has been breaking the mould. We take risks and are always looking to try new ideas in pursuit of excellence.
Independent: Nobody tells us what to think; we make up our own minds and aren’t afraid to do things differently. Like our readers, we value honesty and integrity above outside influences.
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