Research Consultant

Organisation: Continuum Sport & Leisure Ltd
Salary: £23,000 - £25,000
Location: City of London
Contract type: Permanent (Full time)
Closing date: 23 July 2025
Interview date: 30 July 2025
Job Description: About Us

Continuum is a successful, market leading sport and leisure consultancy company. We provide a wide range of services to all areas of the sport and leisure industry. Our vision is to maximise the social, physical and economic impact of sport and physical activity by strengthening the sector and levering in additional investment. To do this, we are driven, agile, collaborative, inclusive, positive and we always work with integrity.
Established in 2001, we have continued to go from strength to strength. Our work is nationally recognised and we have achieved Sport England Framework Partners status for Grants Management, Strategic Outcomes Planning and Leisure Service Delivery and Needs Assessment (Active Environments). Our service offer includes:
• High quality programme and project management services.
• Delivery of national scale programmes on behalf of Sport England and other clients.
• Content development in the form of guidance notes, toolkits, webpages, blogs, news articles, and supporting the creation of animations and videos.
• Stakeholder engagement and consultation.
• Strategic planning linked to increasing levels of participation in physical activity and sport, playing pitches, indoor and outdoor sports facilities, and tackling inequalities.
• Feasibility studies, options appraisals and supporting the development of planning applications.
• Securing and assessing grant funding.
• Gathering insight and evaluating the impact of projects, programmes and investments.
• Interim management.

We have a diverse and ever-expanding Client base from within the public, private and not for profit sectors including; Sport England, National Governing Bodies of sport, Local Authorities, Active Partnerships, national and local charities, leisure operators, educational organisations, sports clubs and groups, and developers.
We are passionate about helping organisations achieve real, lasting results across the sport and leisure sector. If you are too, please read on!
About the Job

Description: Research Consultant

Job Purpose: To support; content creation, communications, stakeholder and client engagement, website development, project and programme administration, research and data collection, evaluation, strategic analysis, reporting, and funding applications.

Reports to: Consultant / Senior Consultant.

Employment type: Full Time.

Salary: £23,000 - £25,000.

Location: Continuum’s London Office and some home working. Travel to and from Client meetings, occasional working from Client offices and overnight stays may be required.

Holidays: 29 Days PA including statutory Bank Holidays.

Job Duties

Project and programme coordination:
o Coordinate information and data.
o Produce and circulate minutes and action logs.
o Monitor inboxes and online forums.
o Monitor performance against key performance indicators.
o Create and maintain clear and transparent record keeping systems.
o Respond to enquiries.
o Provide support to the wider team.

Strategic analysis and reporting:
o Undertake desk-based research using a variety of secondary data sources.
o Support the production of strategies, reports and funding applications.
o Collate and support the analysis of data to evaluate programmes and project outcomes.
o Prepare maps using postcode and census data using a GIS platform.
o Prepare and support the delivery of presentations.
o Support the production of tenders.
o Organise, support, and undertake site visits.

Content production and communications:
o Support the production of written content, infographics, reports, numerical analysis and case studies.
o Support the creation of content for, and the management of, website content, social media channels, stakeholder communications, and online forums.
o Support the pre and post-production stages of videos and animations.
o Support the development of marketing and communications content and assets.
o Work with client’s communications and marketing teams.

Support stakeholder and client engagement:
o Organise and attend online, in-person meetings and stakeholder events.
o Support the production and distribution of communications to stakeholders and clients.
o Develop and maintain positive relationships with clients and stakeholders.
o Liaise with stakeholders and clients and create records of discussions.
o Support primary research and data collection via surveys, stakeholder interviews, discussion groups and events.

Person Specification

Qualifications:
o A minimum of Grade C/5 in GCSE English and Maths or equivalent (essential).
o A minimum of degree or similar qualification in a subject area that complements our service offer (desirable).

Skills and Experience - Essential:
o Minimum of 6 months experience of working in a professional office environment.
o Excellent verbal communication skills with the ability to confidently and professionally communicate with people at all levels, conduct face to face and telephone consultations and liaise with organisations and members of the public.
o Excellent written communication skills with experience of preparing digital communications, written analysis, newsletter style copy, reports and other publishable materials to the highest standards using plain English and referencing relevant evidence.
o Proficient in the use of ICT and experienced in using Windows packages especially Word, Excel and Powerpoint. The successful candidate will be able to format Word documents and Powerpoint presentations, create and apply formulas in Excel, prepare Excel databases and will be experienced in using search engines to aid research.
o Strong numeracy skills and experience of analysing numerical datasets.
o Experience of utilising primary and secondary research tools and techniques for the purposes of consultation and analysis. The successful candidate will have some experience of preparing and analysing questionnaires, conducting interviews, and reviewing historic studies/data sets.

Skills and Experience - Desirable:
o Experience of working within the sport and leisure, marketing/communications (social media / digital content production), public, or third sector.
o Working knowledge of the wider value of sport and an understanding of the various sectors of the leisure industry.
o Experience in producing written content and/or other forms of content, promotional/marketing materials and wider communications, including social media and websites.
o Understanding of mapping and GIS software.
o Knowledge and awareness of strategic planning including Local Authority playing pitch and facility strategies.
o Experience working with sport and leisure stakeholders, clients or partners.
o Experience supporting the development, maintenance, or content of a website.
o Experience of record keeping and file management.
o Experience of supporting and undertaking consultation.
o Driver with clean driving licence and access to a car.

Personal Qualities

Essential:
o Passionate about sport and its ability to improve lives.
o Passionate about tacking inequalities.
o Confident communicator.
o Personable.
o Well organised and punctual.
o Dynamic, friendly, team player with the ability to work individually.
o Hard working and calm under pressure.
o Analytical with good attention to detail.
o Loyal and eager to develop within the company.
o Good telephone manner.
o Able and willing to work overtime as and where required.

Inclusion:
We pride ourselves on being an open and welcoming organisation. We recognise the value of having a diverse and inclusive workforce. We would especially welcome applications from:
o People with lived experience of the power of sport and its ability to tackle inequalities and improve lives.
o People from culturally diverse backgrounds.
o Members of the LGBTQ+ community.
o Disabled people.
How to apply: How to Apply Please submit: o A CV outlining your experience, skills, and training/qualifications. o A completed Application Form (please email to request). o A completed Equalities and Diversity Monitoring and Evaluation Form (please email to request). Please email recruit@continuumleisure.co.uk to request the documents and return all completed forms with your CV by the closing date of Wednesday 23rd July 2025. Please note that any applications that do not contain a CV, application form and equalities and diversity monitoring form, cannot not be considered. Applications received after this date will not be considered. All short-listed candidates will be required to undertake a written test and attend an interview in London. Interviews will take place on Wednesday 30th July 2025.