Associate Research & Insights Director - Social Intelligence

Associate Research & Insights Director (Social Intelligence)

We Are Social · London, United Kingdom (Hybrid) · Full-time · Posted 2026-11-05

Workplace: hybrid

Department: Research & Insights

Description

Who We Are

We are the largest global socially-led creative agency, with unrivalled social media and influencer marketing expertise. With over 1,200 people in four continents, we deliver a global perspective to our clients in a time when social media is shaping culture.

We're proud to be a multi award-winning agency, with Cannes Lions, One Show, Webby and Shorty Awards, to name but a few. Our most recent work has seen us help Amazon Music, Lucozade  and Adidas deliver some of their biggest and most innovative campaigns to date.

As well as creating for clients, we help educate the wider industry. Our Instagram publication The Feed tracks culture at the speed of social. 6,500 people registered or tuned into our events last year, and our reports garnered more than 20 million views.

The Opportunity

Are you an experienced Research & Insights professional with deep craft expertise across social intelligence, performance analysis, and campaign effectiveness?

Are you looking for a strategic, hands-on senior role managing key research workstreams, delivering rigorous client-ready insights, and helping develop a growing team?

Do you want to be part of a fast-growing, socially-led creative agency turning data into compelling narratives for major FMCG and consumer brands?

We Are Social is looking for an Associate Research & Insights Director to join our team in London. You will act as the operational and strategic anchor across day-to-day accounts. You will manage small-to-medium clients and research approaches independently, while playing a critical delivery and scoping role on larger, complex client programmes. As a trusted advisor across Client Services, Strategy, Editorial, and Creative teams, you will turn complex data into actionable strategic recommendations that explain what happened, why it happened, and what actions brands should take next.

Requirements

What You’ll Have Delivered Elsewhere

• Architected tailored research methodologies across social intelligence platforms, resulting in complete alignment between data collection setup and strategic client scope requirements.
• Established custom measurement frameworks and baseline metrics that directly enhanced brand evaluation across each stage of the consumer lifecycle.
• Managed end-to-end reporting cycles, converting raw multi-channel social datasets into executive-ready narratives that successfully drove client strategic pivots.
• Served as the primary strategic sounding board for internal teams, refining brief interpretations to eliminate delivery friction and ensure on-time project execution.
• Pioneered cultural insight integration across core accounts, surfacing uncaptured audience behaviours that directly enabled organic account expansion.
• Mentored junior research analysts through structured goal-setting, substantially accelerating team skill acquisition and independent deliverable output.
• Spearheaded exploratory insight initiatives and artificial intelligence integrations, creating scalable new research products for the wider agency practice.

What Else Are We Looking For?

• Established track record within social, digital, research, or creative agencies, operating at Senior Lead or established Senior Analyst / Account Lead level ready for Associate Director responsibilities.
• Hands-on proficiency in social listening and intelligence platforms (e.g., Talkwalker, Brandwatch, Pulsar, Meltwater, GWI).
• Adaptive real-time problem solver who prioritises multiple workstreams across clients to hit key milestones.

Benefits

Our Culture and the Nice Stuff

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion runs in the water here at We Are Social. We are transparent about the changes that are needed, we are focused on making real strides, both internally and within the industry and we strive to truly be a workplace that represents, supports and advocates for ALL. Our Charter for Change in the UK  can be found here which details our focus areas across People, Work and Culture in 2026.

Inclusion at every level is crucial to creative innovation and success, and we want to create a workplace where everyone feels a sense of belonging. We welcome and encourage talent from ALL backgrounds and are committed to creating a representative team that can deliver creative excellence. If you require any support, adjustments or accommodations for any reason whatsoever during the recruitment process, please let us know via [email protected]

So let’s get to the good stuff,  we offer all those things you would naturally expect; 25 days holiday, pension scheme & life assurance. But what we love most is connection, so we have our WAS Passport and Work From Anywhere schemes which allow you to truly connect to colleagues all over the world! 

But what’s life around here really like day-to-day? Well, we ask our people regularly what they think about us/their role and here are some of the most common things they say:

• I value my manager we have a good relationship
• We love to ‘get social’ with the people I work with
• Trusted to get on with the job, without ‘micro-management’!

If this all sounds like the place you have been waiting to find then apply now! What are you waiting for?

Apply

Apply at We Are Social

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