UK-Based Project Manager

Project Management • London, UK

At a glance

Who: An organized master of timelines with 3-5yrs exp as a Project Manager in qualitative research

What: End-to-end project management (from client kickoff to budget reconciliation) of small to large scale qual/quant research projects.

When: Hiring immediately to support business expansion

Where: Based in London or UK based (Hybrid/In-office)

Office Environment: Collaborative, entrepreneurial, and people focused

Salary: £40,000 - £45,000 per annum, depending on experience.

If you're ready to join a team that values people, creativity, and the power of understanding clients' audiences to impact their business outcomes, we want to hear from you!

What we're looking for

We are seeking a Project Manager for our London office to act as the internal engine of our project delivery. Your focus will be purely operational as you will support the resourcing, planning and execution of projects and play a vital role in the success of our business.

What you'll be doing

• End-to-End Project Ownership:
  Day-to-day execution of qualitative methodologies including writing screeners, consumer recruitment, contracting global suppliers.
• Strategic Resourcing: Partner with project leads at the kickoff stage to map out resources, plan timelines, and set the foundation for a successful client engagement.
• Recruitment & Vendor Mastery: Write compelling screeners and manage external recruitment partners to ensure we find the exact "needle-in-a-haystack" participants our clients need.
• Commercial Rigor: Own the "hard costings" for every project. You'll be responsible for tracking hours and managing budgets to ensure our work remains as profitable as it is impactful.
• Cross-Atlantic Collaboration: While your focus is the UK, you'll be a key player in our global expansion, contributing to US-based projects and complex international costings.
• Proactive Communication: Act as the central hub for updates, ensuring project teams, the wider PM department, and our clients are always aligned and informed.

What you'll need

• Operations Expertise: You have 3-5 years of experience managing the logistics of qualitative and quantitative research projects (interviews, focus groups, and online communities).
• Recruitment Rigour: You are an expert at drafting complex screeners and have a proven track record of managing fieldwork agencies and participant recruitment vendors to tight deadlines.
• Financial Fluency: You're comfortable with numbers. You can build project costings from scratch, track billable hours against budgets, and ensure projects remain profitable without sacrificing quality.
• Vendor Knowledge: Familiarity with UK, global, Europe, and APAC vendors.

Who this role is for

• Smart as f*ck people who:
  • Have a passion for people and understand that "resources" are actually people. They work to remove blockers and protect their team's time because they care about the human element of production.
  • Think 'we', not 'me'.
  • Thrive in fast-paced, strategic collaboration with clients and colleagues.
  • Self-motivated and can drive project success despite ambiguity.

Have we piqued your curiosity?

Sound like the role for you? We'd love to hear from you! Even if you're not 100% sure about potential fit, we still encourage you to apply. We're looking for the right person, not the perfect series of checkboxes.

Working at The Sound

The Project Manager role comes with a competitive salary of £40,000 - £45,000 (dependent on experience)

This hybrid role is ideally located in London. We have a WeWork space where the team meets at least two times a week. (Flexible to change)

Benefits include:

• Bonus pool
• Pension scheme
• Private Medical Cover with AXA Health
• Generous gender-neutral parental leave policy
• 28 standard bank and public holidays in England and Wales plus 5 additional company holidays.
• 10 days annual allotment for "sick and safe" leave
• Annual company-wide get-together offsite for 3 days
• Flexible WFH/WFO policy
• Meeting-free Fridays running all year
• Summer Fridays; half days through the summer
• A month-long paid sabbatical after five years
• Training sessions and guest client speakers
• Sponsorship of the Marketing Week Mini-MBA

Who we are

The Sound is a Global Exploration, Strategy, and Innovation consulting agency dedicated to engaging brands with people. Understanding people is at the heart of everything we do.

We collaborate with the world's most recognized and beloved brands, both large and small, to overcome their most significant obstacles. We're fortunate to tackle incredible and varied assignments-the kind that challenge your abilities, expand your thinking, and cultivate your creativity.

To solve client challenges related to brand, marketing, communications, and product development, we utilize cutting-edge market research methodologies and marketing models. When our efforts align, the results are tangible business outcomes. Our clients truly value us as partners in their success and are just as pleasant, engaging, and enjoyable to collaborate with as we are.

The team you'll be working with is an awesome collection of brilliant minds and wonderful spirits. (The hyperbole here is warranted!). No two people on our team are the same; we delight in the diversity of personalities, perspectives, experience, and expertise across the team. It's why magic happens here at The Sound.

Behind the scenes

EEO: The Sound values DEI and is a proud Equal Opportunity Employer committed to building a workforce that reflects the spectrum of perspectives, experiences, and abilities of the world we live in. We recognize that our differences make us strong, and we actively seek out diverse candidates through partnerships with organizations, institutions and communities that represent various backgrounds. We champion belonging and inclusion for all identities, including, but not limited to, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, ability status, gender, and country of origin, striving to create a culture where all individuals feel valued, respected, and empowered to bring their authentic selves to work.

AI Use: We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.

UK GDPR: Privacy Notice for Applicants: The Company collects and processes personal data relating to its applicants, employees, and former employees to manage pre-employment, employment, and post-employment obligations. We are committed to being transparent about how we handle your data and to meeting our data protection obligations under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. For further information regarding the types of data we collect, our legal basis for processing, and how your information is protected, please contact the MarketCast UK HR Team.