Research and Insights Manager

Job Summary

The salary for this full time, fixed term contract is circa £40,000

Are you a strategic thinker who thrives on turning data into actionable insight?
Do you want your research skills to help protect children living in conflict and war?

We are sector leading with our heritage, connections, and relationships in the world of music, gaming and events. Our friends are superbly connected and ready to use their networks to help us. With a talented, hard-working team, we deliver amazing, creative and innovative fundraising that has a huge capacity to inspire people.

We’re looking for an experienced strategic and analytical Research & Insights Manager to join us on a 12-month fixed-term contract to lead War Child’s high value prospect research strategy helping fundraisers to cultivate significant relationships with our high value donors.

You will help to drive income, deepen donor engagement, and strengthen the impact of our work. This is a pivotal opportunity for a data-driven professional to shape and deliver a high-impact research strategy and provide actionable insight to support War Child's Philanthropy Team.

If you share our values and believe that children’s lives should not be torn apart by war, we want to hear from you.

Your Role

The Research & Insights Manager will lead the development and implementation of a robust insight-led prospect research strategy, working closely with senior stakeholders to identify and prioritise high value donor opportunities. The role will strengthen principal giving fundraising and support the long-term growth and sustainability of War Child’s income streams – particularly across philanthropy, partnerships and trusts. You will enable War Child to enhance its donor engagement, improve prospect identification and our cultivation strategies to find higher value and deepen our external relationships, ultimately driving more income for our work protecting children. This will be a fast-paced role in an ambitious and growing team where there are many exciting and creative opportunities to nurture.

Your Responsibilities

Conduct high-quality and insightful research to increase the size and quality of War Child’s prospect pipeline, including individuals, trusts and foundations, and corporates.
Use this research to design, set up and deliver a prospect research strategy and pipeline management framework, applying an insight-led approach to prospecting and donor intelligence
Work closely with the Head of Principal Giving to research and develop a new pipeline of Principal Giving prospects (£1m+ donors)
Improve the effectiveness of our cultivation of high value donors through network mapping, overseeing moves management, supporting due diligence processes and producing high-quality, detailed research profiles to inform decision making.
Work closely with Individual Giving on our audience mapping project to gain key insights into what drives Philanthropy donors
Collaborate with internal teams to ensure information is accurate, timely, and strategically aligned and conduct regular insight reporting to share knowledge internally
Maintain accurate and up-to-date records of research findings and ensure compliance with data protection regulations
Champion the use of the CRM (Salesforce), ensuring data is accurate, accessible, and effectively used and propose improved ways of working to get the best out of Salesforce
Contribute to creating a culture committed to the safeguarding of children and adults and compliant to War Child’s Safeguarding and PSEAH (Protection from Sexual Exploitation, Abuse & Harassment)Policies.
We are committed to building an inclusive and equitable workplace. All staff are expected to actively contribute to this by embedding principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging into their day-to-day work, decision-making, and interactions with colleagues, partners, and supporters.

You Are

A collaborative, values-driven individual with excellent analytical, organisational, and communication skills
Proven experience in conducting structured background research on high-net-worth individuals, company directors, and family trusts and foundation boards
Ability to gather information from the public domain in line with data protection best practices
Experience of developing prospect research strategies and pipeline development including network mapping & audience insights
Knowledge of fundraising practices, donor motivations, and wealth indicators
An understanding of data protection, due diligence, and compliance best practices
Strong writing skills, with the ability to tailor communications for high-value audiences.
Exceptional communication skills, with tangible experience of building collaborative relationships across high-value fundraising teams and senior stakeholders
Demonstrated ability to work proactively and collaboratively within a team.
Strong knowledge of CRM systems such as Salesforce, Raiser’s Edge, or similar
A background in international development or INGOs are desirable but not essential.

About Us

At War Child we are driven by a single goal – ensuring a safe future for every child affected by war.

Using our 30 years of experience and proven methodologies, we aim to reach children as quickly as possible when conflict breaks out and stay long after the cameras have gone to support them through their recovery. We work with local communities and governments to help protect and educate children, and support them to heal and learn, for a safer, brighter future.

We understand children’s needs, respect and stand up for their rights, and put them at the centre of everything we do – because one child caught up in conflict is one child too many.

Every day, our local teams are in communities and in refugee camps creating safe spaces for children to play, learn and access psychological support, and we specialise in responding rapidly to emergency crisis situations to deliver immediate and critical care impartially to help to those who need us most, when they need us most.

Because no child should be part of war. Ever.

Our Values

Bold:We use our passion and creativity to deliver high quality evidence-based work designed to maximise our beneficial impact for children in conflict.
Accountable to children:Children can rely on us to respond to their voices and to treat them with respect and dignity.
Anti-racism:Anti-racism is not merely a belief. It includes actions that we mainstream throughout our work to change and challenge policies and behaviours that perpetuate racism.
Transparent:We expect to be held to account by our supporters and participants and we respond with openness and honesty.
Supportive of each other:We support each other to achieve ambitious goals and be the best we can be. We are honest and open, sharing our successes & confronting our challenges.

Our Benefits

Flexible working- we recognise the considerable benefits that flexible working can bring and are happy to discuss any possible flexible working options with our employees from hiring. For most roles, the following types of flexibility are usually possible: flexible hours, occasional working from home and compressed hours.
Annual leave– 28 days per year (full-time) rising to 33 days with service, plus bank holidays
Pension- all eligible employees automatically enrolled into a Group Personal Pension Plan with a 5% employer contribution, with minimum employee contribution on a salary sacrifice basis. This increases to 6% after one year's service.
Family leave– we offer enhanced Maternity, Partner/Co-Parent/Paternity Leave, Adoption & Shared Parental Leave
Health & wellbeing- employees may take advantage of a healthcare cash plan and a range of wellbeing initiatives and training. In addition, all employees have access to free, confidential one-to-one wellbeing consultations with trained counsellors.
Learning & development- dedicated to the investment in learning and continuing professional development for all our employees
Workplace Nursery Benefit– employees make tax and NI savings on nursery costs for children up to the age of 5
Flexible public holidays- up to two standard UK public holidays can be exchanged for those that have cultural or religious significance.
Voluntary contributions can be made through payroll allowing employees to claim back on a range of cancer treatments.Cancer Cover:

GP 24/7 Helpline:A GP helpline is be available to all UK employees providing access to a qualified GP, 24/7 via a telephone or webcam consultation, and offers diagnosis, advice and reassurance on a range of medical matters, as well as authorisation of private electronic prescriptions.

Welcome Bag for new starters:A War Child Tote bag, War Child T-shirt and some other practical things to welcome new colleagues to War Child.

Discounts on War Child Merchandise: 25% discount on full price War Child merchandise, available to all employees, sold through Shop for Good.

Range of flexible benefits such a Cycle to Work scheme and season ticket loans.

Flexible Working

We positively support flexible working arrangements. These currently include: office working, homeworking, part-time hours, compressed hours, flexi-time, flexi-place (hybrid working) and job shares. We would be happy to discuss individual flexible working requests during the interview process.

How to Apply

To apply, simply submit an application through our Current Vacancies page and attach a copy of your CV.

On occasion, we might close a vacancy early due to a high number of applications being received. Interested candidates are encouraged to submit their application as early as possible.

If you have any questions about reasonable adjustments before or during your application, we welcome the opportunity to talk about what we can do to fairly adapt our process for you. Please share what you’re comfortable with to help us put the right support in place, by emailing careers@warchild.org.uk. Anything you tell us will be kept completely confidential by our HR team.

We are unable to provide sponsorship for this post. In order to apply, you must be able to demonstrate your eligibility to work in the country where this role is based.

Safeguarding

Our work with children and at-risk adults to ensure their safety is our top priority. We are committed to safeguarding children and vulnerable adults in all aspects of our work. We maintain a zero-tolerance policy for any behavior or practices that put children and/or vulnerable adults at risk of abuse or harm.

Successful applicants will be required to comply with and sign our Safeguarding Policy, Code of Conduct, and PSEAH Policy. You can find the Safeguarding and Integrity policies here:https://warchild.sharepoint.com/sites/Integrity

Diversity and Inclusion

We value diversity and inclusion and are committed to ensuring that all our people and job applicants are treated fairly, irrespective of where, what or whom they were born, or of other characteristics. We want to offer a safe and inclusive workplace where all our people, especially those who are currently marginalised or underrepresented, can be themselves at work. You can read our Diversity and Inclusion policy on our website, and if you have any questions about our commitment to diversity and inclusion do get in touch: https://www.warchild.org.uk/our-work/policies-and-reports/diversity-and-inclusion

Pre-employment Checks

Employment with War Child will be subject to the following checks prior to your start date:

a satisfactory police record check to include a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check and/or an International/National Criminal Record Check

a clear vetting and Due Diligence check

receipt of two professional satisfactory references