Senior Research Consultant - Public Opinion, Political Attitudes

We are a civil society organization dedicated to expanding the participation of Brazilian society in developing solutions to climate change - especially among groups that have traditionally been excluded from the debate — by strengthening civic leaders and associations committed to promoting the common good.

We are looking for a researcher whose core strength is understanding people and making sense of social data — someone who can move between a dataset and a focus-group transcript and, from both, explain what people actually believe, value, and respond to. The role demands genuine technical capability across quantitative and qualitative methods (i.e., study design, sampling design, development of data collection tools, etc), and its purpose is interpretation: turning social data into a clear understanding of people, and into evidence that both informs our strategy and measures whether it is working — supporting public policy and social transformation initiatives.

What you'll do:

Understand people & make sense of social data:

• Make sense of social data, quantitative and qualitative, to explain people's values, attitudes, motivations, and behaviour — and what these mean for our strategy.

• Design and run audience segmentation studies grounded on values and core beliefs, to identify and understand how different groups think, feel, and engage.

Inform & measure strategy:

• Design and run monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) frameworks that define what success looks like, measure whether the strategy is working, and turn results into learning that improves what we do.

Research design & execution:

• Lead primary qualitative (interviews, focus groups) and quantitative social research as complementary tools for understanding the people and communities we serve.

• Design questionnaires, discussion guides, sampling plans, and data collection instruments, and lead quality monitoring across field research and surveys.

• Organize, process, and analyze public databases and the organization's own research datasets.

Reporting, storytelling & communication:

• Translate findings into clear, compelling stories tailored to funders, policymakers, partners, and the public — always centred on what the evidence means, not just what it shows.

• Produce reports, briefs, and presentations, and create visualizations and dashboards that communicate insight, not just data.

Project & vendor management:

• Take full ownership of multiple research projects, working autonomously to break them into deliverables, hold timelines, and deliver quality outputs with limited oversight.

• Identify, brief, contract, and manage external research vendors and fieldwork providers, ensuring quality control and adherence to standards.
  

What you'll bring:

• A strong ability to interpret and contextualize social data — to go beyond "what" to "why it matters" and "what to do about it."

• A genuine interest in and ability to understand organisational strategy — and demonstrated experience using research both to inform strategy and to measure its success.

• 6+ years of experience in applied social research.

• Strong qualitative research skills (interviews, focus groups, qualitative analysis) alongside very strong quantitative competence — equally comfortable with human stories and with datasets.

• Experience designing and running audience segmentation, ideally value-based or attitudinal.

• Experience designing or running monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) or impact evaluation, ideally tied to organisational or programme strategy.

• Experience with field research, surveys, and primary data production, including sampling design, questionnaire development, and data collection management.

• Experience commissioning and managing external research suppliers.

• Excellent writing and analytical synthesis skills, and the ability to translate technical analysis into stories that resonate with different audiences.

• Proficiency with data and analysis tools — Excel, and R and/or SQL. Knowledge of Python, Tableau, Power BI, QGIS, ODK, Survey Solutions, or Stata is a plus

• Familiarity with segmentation and clustering techniques (e.g., latent class analysis, cluster analysis, factor analysis) is an advantage.

• .A deep, genuine curiosity about people — what drives their attitudes, choices, and behaviour.

• Affinity with social issues, territorial development, and public policy themes, and a genuine interest in social impact and public transformation.

• Autonomy, organization, and the ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously in dynamic, interdisciplinary environments.

• Working proficiency in English in addition to Portuguese.

• Master's or PhD in social/political psychology, public policy, or a quantitative field is preferred.

Offer

• Competitive monthly rate on a consultancy contract

• 18 month contract