The posting
About the Role
YouGov is looking for an experienced Senior Research Lead to help build our custom research capability across Latin America.
YouGov already has established syndicated data products, proprietary panels and a growing client base across the region. What we have not had is enough local custom research support. We are now building that capability, starting with a research team based in Mexico City and serving clients across Latin America, particularly Mexico and Brazil.
This will be a senior, hands-on role.
The Research Lead will work directly with our commercial teams and clients to understand business questions, determine the right research approach, develop proposals, oversee delivery and turn the results into useful insights and recommendations.
We are looking for someone who is comfortable both doing the work and building the capability around it. As the business develops, we expect this person to take increasing responsibility for the direction and development of the LATAM research function.
Key Responsibilities
Research
- Lead the design and delivery of custom research projects across Latin America.
- Translate client business questions into appropriate research approaches.
- Design quantitative studies and oversee qualitative and mixed-method research where appropriate.
- Develop questionnaires, discussion guides, sample plans and analytical frameworks.
- Stay closely involved in important projects from initial brief through analysis and final presentation.
- Ensure a consistently high standard of research quality.
- Balance methodological rigor with the practical realities of budgets, timelines and client needs.
- Interpret findings and turn them into clear conclusions and recommendations rather than simply reporting the data.
- Present findings to senior client audiences.
Clients and Commercial Support
- Work closely with the LATAM commercial team to develop custom research opportunities with existing and prospective clients.
- Participate in client meetings, pitches and workshops when senior research expertise is required.
- Help scope projects and develop proposals, methodologies, timelines and pricing.
- Proactively identify research opportunities within existing client relationships and help the commercial team develop them into projects.
- Identify opportunities to combine custom research with YouGov's existing panels, syndicated products and other data assets.
- Build strong working relationships with research, insights, marketing, media and strategy teams at our clients.
- Help ensure projects are appropriately scoped and can be delivered profitably.
Building the LATAM Research Team
- Help establish the processes and standards needed to build a strong local research capability.
- Work closely with and help develop the Research Analyst and Panel Specialist as the team grows.
- Determine when work should be handled locally and when it makes more sense to use YouGov's global teams or external specialists.
- Identify recurring client needs that can be turned into repeatable research approaches or products.
- Identify gaps in our capabilities and help determine what additional resources or expertise we will need as the business develops.
- Remain hands-on while gradually taking greater responsibility for leading the regional research function.
Working Across YouGov
- Work closely with colleagues in Mexico, Brazil and the wider Americas organization.
- Collaborate with YouGov's global research, panel, operations, product and data teams.
- Lead or coordinate multi-market projects across Latin America.
- Make sure the work we develop locally meets YouGov's research standards while also reflecting the realities of individual LATAM markets.
What We're Looking For
- Strong experience in market research, consumer insights or a related field, ideally within a research agency, consultancy or insights organization.
- Deep quantitative research experience, including questionnaire design, sampling, analysis and interpretation.
- Experience with qualitative and mixed-method research. The successful candidate does not need to be a qualitative specialist but should understand when and how qualitative research should be used.
- Experience managing custom research from the initial client brief through final delivery.
- Good knowledge of the Mexican research market and an understanding of the broader Latin American business environment.
- Ability to take complex research findings and explain what they mean for a client's business.
- Strong client-facing and presentation skills.
- Experience contributing to proposals and pitches and helping scope and price research projects.
- Experience mentoring or developing more junior researchers.
- Comfortable working in an environment where some of the processes and capabilities still need to be built.
- Willing to remain hands-on rather than simply managing the work of others.
- Fluent Spanish and English, with working proficiency in Portuguese.
Relevant Experience
- Brand and advertising research
- Brand tracking
- Audience and consumer segmentation
- Concept and creative testing
- Campaign effectiveness
- Usage and attitude studies
- Customer experience
- Media and entertainment research
- Sports and sponsorship research
- Focus groups and in-depth interviews
- Online qualitative research
- Multi-country Latin American studies
- Online panels
- Combining survey research with syndicated, behavioral or other data sources
- Working with and managing external research partners and vendors, particularly across multiple Latin American markets
What Success Looks Like
In the first year, we want to establish a strong local research capability that allows YouGov to take on more custom work in Latin America and reduces our dependence on research support from outside the region.
The Senior Research Lead should become the person our commercial teams turn to when a client has a research problem that goes beyond our existing syndicated products. They should be equally comfortable joining the first client conversation, designing the research, helping us win the work and making sure the final output is something we are proud to put in front of the client.
They should also help us identify where individual custom projects can become repeatable solutions, allowing us to build a research business that can scale rather than treating every opportunity as a completely new piece of work.
Over time, we expect the role to grow with the business. If the custom research business develops as we expect, the Senior Research Lead will have the opportunity to take on broader responsibility for YouGov's research team and capabilities across Latin America.
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Understanding diversity of opinion requires diversity of background. Although our global panel of millions of people worldwide powers our research, our biggest asset is our people. If our research is to be truly representative of what the world thinks, we need people from all walks of life to be part of the team to bring their perspective to the work we do.
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