Consultancy Research Analyst

AMA Research is a leading specialist provider of market research and insight to the UK building and construction industry. AMA Research publishes over 150 off-the-shelf market reports and forecast bulletins and provides research which goes beyond the more commonly available range of statistical and company information, delivering expert, informed commentary and in-depth market analysis. AMA Research also offers consultancy services including market research projects and consumer and business surveys. AMA Research has over 30 years’ experience offering market research services to blue chip organisations and more specialist companies both in the UK and overseas.

AMA Research is part of Barbour ABI, the market leading provider of UK construction intelligence services, based in Cheshire Oaks. With more than 80 years’ experience, the in-house research team and dedicated economics team provide commercially relevant insight and unique analysis of trends and developments within the building and construction industry. Barbour ABI is the chosen provider of Construction New Orders estimates data to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and partner of the Government’s Infrastructure and Projects Authority in providing the National Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline.

Consultancy is becoming an increasingly important part of the AMA Research portfolio, as clients seek bespoke research and analysis to help their development of specific products and market positioning. Many of our clients are product manufacturers, others include industry associations, service providers, distributors and retailers of construction products, government bodies or other consultancy companies.

The role of Consultancy Research Analyst is within the AMA Research team, reporting into the Head of Consultancy.

The Consultancy team within AMA Research manage a range of qualitative and quantitative research projects covering market sizing, brand positioning and health checks, market scoping and new product development research and testing. These require a blend of primary research in the form of surveys, focus groups, interviews and trials, along with secondary research including data gathering and analysis, studies on company and product information, often requiring lateral thinking to create and test data sets and market profiles.

The Consultancy Research Analyst will be particularly focused on the data used to build market profiles – from granular to macro levels; across products, sectors and regions. They will be adept at bringing together data from multiple sources to create a detailed and verified view of the market. Key data sources include Barbour ABI construction project data, company portfolio data, client data and external data sources eg, from government statistics and industry monitors.

This necessitates excellent management of data inputs including clarity of definitions, data verification and quality checking, adherence to data transfer protocols, and management of appropriate update cycles. There is great scope in this role to contribute to the data architecture as we build data sharing capacities with our clients and our European sister companies.

In our data cube projects, you will work closely with Researcher Managers from the Content side of AMA Research (the team who manage our library of reports); in bespoke work you will work closely with your colleagues in the Consultancy side of AMA Research as well as the broader Barbour ABI team.

While building reliable, flexible data sets is fundamental, being able to present data, and the stories it holds, in an accessible and informative way is essential. You should enjoy finding clear and engaging ways to present data in multiple formats – from word and powerpoint to datasheets and interactive dashboards.

Overall the role provides a good balance between autonomy over your own projects, alongside the collective support and shared working practices of the team; and a space to own the subject matter and present as the expert, alongside constantly growing and adapting skills and knowledge.

As all our work is on markets associated with the built environment, you’ll need to have an interest and ideally experience in this space – the products, companies, activities and techniques; ideally accompanied by interest in sustainability, new technologies, supply chains, manufacturing processes, the economy and consumer trends – all the things that have a significant impact on the markets we study.

Requirements

• Experience in data management and working with large data sets – queries, cleansing, data verification
• Strong data analysis skills, especially the ability to derive insight from data
• Experience using and configuring data visualisation tools such as Power BI, Tableau, Google Analytics
• Previous experience in research looking at data and statistics, especially company data and official statistics and reporting.
• An analytical, questioning mindset
• Able to run surveys and maximise response rates – technical set up (Qualtrics experience preferred), list management and comms and process flow to encourage participation.
• Good attention to detail
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team
• Experience in trends analysis and market forecasting
• Expertise in social media is desirable
• Construction sector experience is highly desirable
• Membership of MRS is highly desirable, or working towards accreditation

The AMA Research team works remotely but have a strong and supportive online network of communication and typically meet together in person every six to eight weeks. While reporting to the Head of Consultancy, you would have the support of the broader AMA Research team, all experts in particular subject areas and able to be brought into consultancy projects where appropriate. In addition, there is further support from the Barbour ABI research and data teams. AMA Research and Barbour ABI have recently become part of the Infopro Digital group, a global collection of information and data providers, many construction-focused.

This provides the potential for AMA Research to work with partners to expand our reach and potential. In short, these are exciting times for AMA Research and provide a great opportunity for the right person to build a great presence within the construction industry through working with an array of interesting clients and delivering strategic level insight and research.

Benefits

In addition to a competitive salary we offer the following benefits:

• 25 days annual leave (rising up to 27days)
• Group personal pension plan
• Life assurance
• Interest free season ticket loan (STL)
• Private medical insurance
• Employee assistance programme
• Employee discount scheme
• Eye-care Vouchers
• Discounted gym membership
• Agile/remote working
• Bike to work
• Buying holiday
• Dental insurance
• Health cash plan

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