Research Analyst - Strategic Communications

Job description

The company Small businesses move fast. Opportunities often don’t wait, and cash flow pressures can appear overnight. To keep going, and growing, SMEs need finance that’s as flexible and responsive as they are. That's why we built iwoca. Our smart technology, data science and five-star customer service ensures business owners can act with the speed, confidence and control they need, exactly when it's needed. We’ve already cleared the way for 100,000 businesses with more than £4 billion in funding. Our passionate team is driven to help even more SMEs succeed, through access to better finance and other services that make running a business easier. Our ultimate mission is to support one million SMEs in their defining moments, creating lasting impact for the communities and economies they drive. The team As the Research Analyst for the Strategic Communications team, you will build iwoca's evidence base for public policy arguments. You'll become the expert on what iwoca's data can tell us about our impact - on customer outcomes, business survival, pricing, and the wider economy - and translate that into compelling materials for policymakers, journalists, and senior stakeholders. You'll work alongside our communications team and report to the Director of Strategic Communications, with regular interaction with iwoca's executive team. The role sits at the intersection of data, policy, and communications and collaborates with Risk, Product, Operations, Finance, and Investor Relations to extract insights and translate them into materials that shape how iwoca is understood externally. There's a clear career trajectory here. With time, you could build a new research function, or you might discover that you love the communications and become a data-driven PR professional. Either way, you'll have the opportunity to shape the role and take on real responsibility from day one. THE RESPONSIBILITIES - Extract and analyse data from iwoca's loan book, loss rates, customer outcomes, and pricing distributions to uncover insights that support our public positioning. - Build and maintain briefing packs on key topics: business survival rates, pricing, personal guarantees, automation, and regulatory impact. - Translate complex data into clear, defensible documents with key statistics, talking points, and visualisations for non-technical audiences. - Coordinate with external research partners (e.g. Capital Economics) - preparing data packages, briefing them on our business, and quality-assuring their outputs. - Work with Comms to respond rapidly to media or policy inquiries - producing accurate data when inbounds come in. - Publish work and write data-driven content for iwoca's website, supporting marketing lead generation, media and investor relations. - Support the Comms team on existing data-driven PR initiatives such as our SME Expert Index and Business Hotspots research. - Run a quarterly review process with senior stakeholders to identify emerging concerns and commission new analysis. THE REQUIREMENTS - Comfortable working with raw data in Python or SQL, including cleaning, transforming, and visualising datasets to uncover insights - Demonstrates curiosity to use and learn more about AI tools. You’ll already be comfortable using AI tools in practical ways to help solve problems, increase productivity and improve quality of work, showing good judgement about when to use them and the ability to explain the reasoning behind that use. - Use AI tools to explore data, generate insights, and improve workflows, with a focus on accuracy and analytical rigour. - Strong analytical skills with a structured approach to problem-solving – you're curious, methodical, and comfortable getting to the root of a messy or ambiguous question - An excellent communicator – you can take complex data and translate it into simple, compelling narratives for colleagues in comms, policy, or the executive team. - Self-starting and adaptable - able to work independently in a fast-paced environment where priorities can shift quickly - Comfortable moving between strategic thinking and hands-on execution – whether it's investigating a data anomaly or presenting findings to senior leadership - Academic or practical experience in a quantitative field, such as Economics, Finance, Product, Maths, Engineering, or Computer Science - Previous experience in a role involving data analysis and AI - whether in consulting, policy, finance, journalism, or a research setting. Salary is flexible based on experience. - An interest in small businesses and the policy debates around SME finance - you don't need to be an expert, but you should be curious about the space. NICE TO HAVE - Experience working in or with government, regulators, think tanks, or policy teams - Familiarity with economic impact modelling or econometric analysis - Experience producing research for external publication or media use - Understanding of UK financial services regulation or the alternative lending market The culture At iwoca, the best idea wins. We model our culture on independent thinking, challenging untested logic, and evidence-based decisions. We prioritise learning and growth, and give people the autonomy to develop in the direction that makes them most effective. We're a tech company and believe in the power of AI to help us work faster and better. We provide the infrastructure where every iwocan always has access to the best models and where those models have access to all of our data. We will help our people to learn how to use and grow with the new tools available to them. The offices We put a lot of effort into making iwoca a great place to work: - Offices in London, Leeds, Berlin, and Frankfurt with plenty of drinks and snacks. - Events and community-led groups, including running groups, padel, and monthly ping-pong and pool competitions. The benefits - Flexible working hours. - Medical insurance from Vitality, including discounted gym membership. - A private GP service (separate from Vitality) for you, your partner, and your dependents. - 25 days’ holiday per year, an extra day off for your birthday, the option to buy or sell an additional five days of annual leave, and unlimited unpaid leave. - A one-month, fully paid sabbatical after four years. - Instant access to external counselling and therapy sessions for team members that need emotional or mental health support. - 3% Pension contributions on total earnings. - An employee equity incentive scheme. - Generous parental leave and a nursery tax benefit scheme to help you save money. - Electric car scheme and cycle to work scheme. - Two company retreats a year: we’ve been to France, Italy, Spain, and further afield. And to make sure we all keep learning, we offer: - A learning and development budget for everyone. - Company-wide talks with internal and external speakers. - Access to learning platforms like Treehouse. Useful links: - iwoca benefits & policies https://coda.io/@iwocauk/iwoca-benefits-policies-uk