Role Profile
Role title: New Product Director: Informa Healthcare Innovations
Reporting to: Managing Director: Informa Healthcare Innovations
Division: Informa Healthcare
Function: Business Development
Role description
You will undertake a range of research projects, using qualitative and quantitative research techniques in order to
provide external market information necessary to strategic decision-making in Informa Healthcare, specifically in the
new Informa Healthcare ‘innovation’ team, part of the Informa Healthcare Communications unit.
This new and exciting team has been designed to drive product development in Healthcare, across all product formats
(books, journals, online etc), often in conjunction with pharma sponsors. Product development in this team will be
driven by market research so this role will require you to work directly with the Managing Director of the
Communications unit on a range of important and interesting projects. You will be responsible for managing a Market
Research Executive, setting research objectives and ensuring best practice is adopted.
In addition to the new product development research, this position will provide tactical support for the custom sales
team in developing custom publication offerings for the European Pharma market.
The types of projects you may be involved in include:
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CUSTOMER FEEDBACK SURVEYS AND FOCUS GROUPS – asking our customers for their opinion of our
products and services to inform product and service improvements
CUSTOMER DATA SURVEYS – systematically collecting data on our customers for use in marketing and to
inform decision-making
PRIMARY AND SECONDARY CARE PHYSICIAN CONTENT AND SERVICE NEEDS ANALYSIS – creation of a
detailed profile of the working practices of these two target user groups including detailed analysis of the use of
social media by Healthcare Professionals in their day-to-day working practices
PRODUCT, SERVICE AND TECHNOLOGY REVIEWS – product/service gap analysis
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS – assessing Healthcare’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats relative to
our competitors pre, during and post product/service launches
PHARMA / HEALTHCARE MARKET & TRENDS ANALYSIS – systematically monitoring and identifying
significant developments and trends and alerting the business to their possible impact or the opportunities they
present
GAP / GEOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS – determining our penetration into key markets and customer groups and
identifying gaps in untapped areas
In addition to the research project activities, this position will
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Author affinity program - working closely with the Director of Product Solutions build a comprehensive profile
of Informa author communities and plans to increase recruitment of leading clinical papers
Informa Healthcare e-Library Programs - to “Champion” and commercialise the Informa Healthcare e-Library
program
Key accountabilities for your role
Primary research – the collection of data, statistics and
other information to create an in-depth view of a
product / industry / customer group / competitor
landscape etc. Should ensure that subsequent
quantitative and qualitative research is meaningful and
relevant and provide information that helps the Project
Owner to understand the background to the results
being presented.
Includes, but not limited to:
Discussions with colleagues
Brainstorming internally and externally
Internet research
Reading company reports
Reading books, newspapers and other print publications
Email and phone communication with industry bodies
and individual experts
Library / archive research
Use of Informa information sources (Citeline,
Datamonitor etc)
Competitor calls
Attending conferences / courses / briefings
Project planning & monitoring – establishing and
defining the objectives, scope and methodology of the
project and tracking progress against deadlines.
Adapting the scope and methodology in line with initial
findings and keeping the Project Owner fully involved
with the progress of the project.
Includes:
Prioritising the project
Understanding the business rationale
Discussions with key colleagues
Establishing the brief
Planning the methodology and timeline
Defining the samples
Identifying and overcoming barriers to success
Setting and keeping to deadlines
Keeping timesheets and project logs up to date
Providing regular verbal and written feedback reports
Asking for clarification / approval before pursuing new
lines of enquiry
Quantitative research – the (usually written) collection
of statistical data from your samples, primarily to
discover ‘what, where, when’ information.
Includes:
Identifying and building lists for each sample
List research and management
Analysis, reporting & implementation – analysis of your
findings to ensure the synthesis of the research via the
interpretation of data and contextualisation of information.
Requires clear and appropriate written and verbal
presentation of findings, in line with business requirements;
and the provision of encouragement and assistance to the
business units in acting on the research findings.
Includes:
Data analysis and prioritisation
Fact checking
Sense checking
Inconsistency checking
Identifying trends
Drawing conclusions
Filling in gaps in knowledge
Highlighting of key findings
Calls to actions
Seeking feedback on research processes and findings
Encouraging implementation of research recommendations
Reporting and presentation:
Written – the production of:
Written reports in Word
Creation of charts and tables to best display data
SWOT analyses
Competitor bibles
Excel presentations of data
PowerPoint presentations
Webinars
Verbal – the running of:
Briefings
Presentations
Brainstorms
Workshops
SWOT sessions
Establishing a customer-focused culture – encouraging
people across IBI to appreciate the value of customer-led
product and service improvement, and facilitating them in
undertaking research and implementing SOPs to make this
possible.
Includes:
Knowledge dissemination
Giving advice
Identifying opportunities for research projects
Ensuring all divisions are undertaking research
Identifying internal barriers to customer engagement and
raising them to the business units
Creation of best practice guides and toolkits
Database extraction
Application of suppression files
Preparing and testing questions
Survey design
Incentivising
Promotion of the survey via advertising and marketing
campaigns
Creation of accompany email / direct mail pieces
Arranging print and design if required
Follow up / revision for unresponsive lists
Exporting and sorting response data
Outsourcing projects where required
Qualitative research – the undertaking of (usually
verbal) discussions / interviews and meetings, primarily
to define ‘how and why’ information.
Includes:
Indentifying interviewees
Booking meetings and calls
Incentivising
Preparing and testing questions
Undertaking telephone interviews
Undertaking face-to-face interviews
Sourcing suppliers
Running focus groups
Attending conferences
Transcribing conversations
Aggregation of useful sources of information
Training
Coaching
Highlighting successes
Individual and team PR and profile raising
Personal and team development – a minimum of 5% of
time to be devoted to personal development. Requires self
assessment and the invitation of feedback, self-motivated
research and the setting of personal goals.
Includes:
Inviting face-to-face and written feedback
Running feedback surveys
Identifying successes and failures
Reading relevant publications
Networking and building relationships internally and
externally
Identifying best practice elsewhere and employing methods
of informal training to increase knowledge. I.e. looking for a
mentor, coach or sponsor
Sharing best practice
Communicating with other divisions and setting up
meetings
Appraising yourself of the business strategy and direction
Formal training
Using the internet for research and learning
Admin
Includes:
Email and messaging management
Filing
Answering queries
Personal system management, IT updates etc
Management of invoices, expenses and fee payments
Production of reports for managers
Organising trips and meetings
Diary management (holiday and sickness)
Team meetings
Arranging travel
Maintaining an awareness of SOPs
Functional competencies: level 2 key behaviours
You are constantly building your knowledge of Informa
and its products
You network across the business, so that you can draw on
the skills of people outside of your team and encourage
their commitment to your projects
You have strong time management skills and an ability to
prioritise, so that you can manage a number of projects
simultaneously
You have an enthusiasm for the markets in which you
work and desire to obtain industry knowledge
You know where to source information in the markets in
which Informa operates to support research activity
You are personable and build contacts quickly to use in
your research
You are astute and inquisitive , meaning you probe
continually to broaden your understanding of situations
You understand what constitutes commercial success
You have the skills to interrogate business systems to
extricate the relevant data
You have a high degree of literacy and numeracy
You ensure you have a clear understanding of the brief
and that you can communicate it when necessary
You possess self-discipline, producing work to the brief
assigned
You have an eye for spotting trends and correlations
between numbers
You have excellent typing and keyboard skills and
familiarity with IT packages relevant to the job
Core competencies: level 2 key behaviours
Communication
• Quickly process information, break it down and communicate the salient points as appropriate
• Develop avenues of questioning to ascertain correct information and ensure understanding
• Influence, negotiate and persuade others as required
• Communicate difficult messages sensitively and professionally
• Juggle a range of information and deliver it in the right form to the right audience
• Deliver effective presentations internally with confidence
• Write concise reports for internal and external use
• Read and interpret financial data
Customer Focus
• Set up formal and informal routes for communication and feedback to align delivery with needs
• Evaluate own practice to ensure processes are appropriate for customer needs
• Ensure you understand the wider process of delivery - not just your own job
• Make yourself answerable, available and approachable to customers
Creativity
• Ask questions to ascertain how and why we do things a certain way
• Make suggestions for reinventing processes and finding more efficient ways of doing the job
• Think round a problem and methodically work through issues to come up with solutions
• Readily accept new ideas
Team Working
• Anticipate when team members need help or support and offer your assistance as appropriate
• Develop understanding of wider team and how other functions contribute to the business
• Support group initiatives and contribute to a business that works across functions, groups and divisions
Drive for Results
• Work autonomously at times and demonstrate the ability to self-motivate
• Work efficiently and calmly under pressure, maintaining accuracy and attention to detail
• Manage a range of information at the same time and maintain focus on deadlines and priorities
• Always have the end goal in sight and work to the bigger picture
• Take responsibility as part of your job to understand the workings of the business as a whole and the direction in
which it is going
• Deliver on or before deadlines
• Understand the key deliverables of your role and aspire to over achieve
• Say ‘no’ when work is outside your remit or is impacting on delivering more important results
• Take responsibility for driving your own career development to ensure ongoing drive and commitment to the role
Required for the role:
You should be...
 Willing to learn about IBI’s products and markets
 Keen to understand people and how they work
 Willing to take on a variety of projects
 Happy to take the initiative
 Commercially aware
 Results orientated
 Highly motivated
 Driven to improve
 Resilient
 Tolerant
 Energetic
 Optimistic
 Confident
 Communicative
 Analytical
Desirable qualifications & skills
Educated to degree level
Required: 3+ years’ experience in B2B publishing
Some experience of the healthcare / medical market; ideally at least 1 year
Preferably, 1-3 years’ experience in business development, marketing or research
Excellent writing skills are essential as is a willingness to conduct phone and face-to-face interviews – asking ‘difficult’
questions when required!