Senior Consultant - Strategy & Advisory (Public Policy)

Make your mark at Ipsos!

Senior Consultant – Strategy & Advisory (Public Policy)

Are you an expert with a track record in analysing, developing and advising on UK public policy? Do you have sound policy judgement and creative thinking, with the ability to develop credible options that reflect how decisions are made, and change happens?

If so we have a unique and rewarding career opportunity for a Senior consultant to help shape UK public policy.  

We welcome applications from policy professionals, analysts, and people with a strategy background, whether you currently work in government, the wider public sector, or consultancy.

We invite applications from a wide range of policy backgrounds, including cross-cutting roles. We are particularly interested in experience spanning business, economic and technology policy, including AI, skills and labour markets; public services such as justice, home affairs, health and education; or culture, media, and digital policies.

What is in it for you?

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 with clients.

Whilst you will lead substantial parts of projects, the role would suit candidates who would benefit from working closely with an Associate Director or Director. You will also have access to expert input and be able to collaborate with colleagues across Ipsos and a range of partners, including researchers, economists, evaluators, behavioural scientists and subject-matter specialists – it is a role that offers potential for future growth by learning and developing from experts around you.

As a Senior Consultant you will have the opportunity to:

• Conduct evidence-led strategy and policy development with government and the wider public sector. You will help clients understand complex policy problems, anticipate future developments, make strategic choices and decide what to do next.
• Address complex policy problems – our clients come to us with difficult questions that do not have obvious answers. You might bring together research, data and stakeholder perspectives to explain a policy problem; explore how an issue may develop in future; create a theory of change or analytical model; or help a client develop and assess options for policy, strategy or delivery.

The role

The main responsibilities of the role are:

• Structuring complex policy and strategy questions and deciding what analysis is needed;

• reviewing and synthesising evidence from different sources;

• planning and undertaking stakeholder engagement and qualitative research;

• developing theories of change, analytical frameworks, future scenarios, and policy or operational options;

• turning complex analysis into clear advice for senior clients;

• leading workstreams and building trusted client relationships;

• collaborating with and managing input from experts across Ipsos and our partner organisations;

• contributing to proposals and helping the team identify and win new work.

Essential Experience:

You should enjoy tackling unfamiliar issues, bringing structure to ambiguity, and applying evidence to practical policy and strategy problems. You will need to understand the client’s underlying problem and the wider context in which they operate, including the institutions, incentives, and political and financial constraints that shape what is possible. You should be able to draw on specialist analysis from others and combine it with your own judgement. The essential experiences and skills are:

• Experience of analysing, developing or advising on UK public policy;

• strong analytical skills and the ability to work confidently with different forms of evidence;

• the ability to structure complex problems and develop a clear approach to answering them;

• Sound policy judgement and creative thinking, with the ability to develop credible options that reflect how decisions are made, and change happens 

• excellent written and verbal communication;

• confidence working with clients and stakeholders;

• experience of managing your own work or leading a project or workstream;

• curiosity, adaptability and an interest in working across policy areas and disciplines.

Desirable skills:

• Commercial agency or consultancy experience

• Highly desirable - economic and technology policy, including AI, skills and labour markets; public services such as justice, home affairs, health and education; or culture, media, and digital policies.

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 have a hybrid approach to work and ask people to be in the office or with clients for 3 days per week. We appreciate you may have commitments outside of work and will consider flexible working applications - please highlight what you are looking for when you make your application.

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 a Level 2 Disability Confident Employer. We provide an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. Your application will be reviewed by someone from our Talent Team who will be in touch either way to let you know the outcome.

Ready to have an impact? Apply now!

About UsIpsos is one of the world’s largest research companies and currently the only one primarily managed by researchers, ranking as a #1 full-service research organization for four consecutive years. With over 75 different data-driven solutions, and presence in 90 markets, Ipsos brings together research, implementation, methodological, and subject-matter experts from around the world, combining thematic and technical experts to deliver top-quality research and insights. Simply speaking, we help the biggest companies solve some of their biggest problems, serving more than 5000 clients across the globe by providing research, data, and insights on their target markets. And we are proud of our continuous efforts in making Ipsos the best place to work! About the Team

The Public Affairs Service Line is the world leader in Social and Opinion Research.  We work with clients on political and public opinion polling, citizen and stakeholder management, social policy improvement, sustainable development strategy and identifying societal trends and perceptions across several sectors.  We assess how government and public affairs policies as well as societal trends and views impact our client’s brand/products/markets.