Fan & Audience Insights Lead

Job Title: Fan & Audience Insights Lead

Job Grade: RL3 (Lead)

Reports to: Head of Insights & Strategy

Location: Vantage                         
Department: Marketing Services

Sub-department: Insights & Strategy

Salary: £50,000

The Club

Brentford FC is a bit different from other Premier League football clubs. We put our fans first, we are a true community club and while we are financially sustainable, we are not afraid to take calculated risks. We take huge pride in our environment and culture within the Club which focuses on development, inclusion and not being afraid to think differently.

Being progressive, humble and respectful while sticking together as one team across the Club guides how we work and the decisions we make each day.

We also firmly believe that a diverse workforce is a better workforce which will help us develop ideas, solve problems and ultimately grow Brentford FC.

We play in a new stadium, 15 minutes from Heathrow in vibrant west London.

We will never forget where we have come from, but we are excited about the future that lies ahead.

Job Overview

The role of the Insights & Strategy department at Brentford is to leverage data, research and strategic analysis to drive fan retention, growth and commercial revenues.  As part of the team, the Fan & Audience Insights Lead will be tasked with maximising the club’s understanding of its fans’ behaviours and attitudes, creating strategies to enable the club’s next phase of growth.

The successful candidate will work across all phases of the fan life cycle. They will be responsible for keeping the club up-to-date with consumer trends, and will scope and run research projects to identify and size new growth opportunities.

The Lead will act as a key advisor for the Marketing Department. Through fan behavioural data, survey data, panelled research and competitor analysis, they will identify specific target audiences,  educating campaign planning and A/B testing. They will then work alongside the rest of the Insights department to understand how fans interact with the club, including ticket and membership utilisation, providing further points of optimisation.

Along with their direct report, a Senior Insights Exec, the Lead will be the main port-of-call for the Fan & Community Relations team. They will work to monitor fan sentiment through surveys and focus groups, with the aim of improving fan experience across all touchpoints with the club. They will represent the Insights team at fan group meetings, presenting findings as part of key decision-making processes including ticketing and in-stadium experience.

Finally, the Lead will also provide ad-hoc support to the Partnerships (sponsorship) team, demonstrating club’s reach and engagement to prospective new partners, and impact measurement for pre-existing partners.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the club’s market intelligence efforts, keeping the club up-to-date with emerging consumer trends

• Scoping and fulfilling targeted research projects aligned with the club’s growth ambitions

• Work alongside the Marketing team to build out strategies to appeal to brand new fans and deepen engagement with pre-existing fans

• Ensure the fulfilment and effective analysis of all club fan surveys, reporting strategic recommendations to key internal and external stakeholders

• Analyse key fan behaviours (e.g. ticket utilisation, membership trends) to optimise decision making on new and existing club products and processes

• Lead the Insights team’s relationships with the club’s fan groups, presenting insights to support discussions around key business decisions

• Partnerships insights support, including fan and audience analysis and reporting on partnerships effectiveness

• Scope and build dashboards of fan data for key internal stakeholders to assist with day-to-day reporting and decision making

• Line management of a Senior Insights Executive

• Day-to-day account management of select club data suppliers, including SportBusiness, YouGov and Blinkfire

• Ad-hoc support on insights projects across all off-field departments subject to business needs

Knowledge

• Extensive audience research and analysis for growing brands or sports organisations

• Application of consumer demographics, psychographics and behaviour to shape decision making

• Creating segments and building strategies to engage specific audiences

• An understanding of brand tracking

• Experience using panelled research solutions (e.g. GWI, YouGov)

• Survey writing and analysis experience

• An understanding of TV audience measurement

• An understanding of social media metrics or ticketing data would be desirable but not essential

• Partnerships sales insights and partnerships impact measurement experience desirable but not essential

Specialist Skills

• Extensive desk research and report writing experience

• The ability to turn data into compelling narratives for a range of stakeholders

• Strong written and verbal presentation skills. Experience presenting to both internal and external stakeholders

• Experience running on quantitative consumer research projects (e.g. fan surveys or focus groups)

• Strong Excel and PowerPoint skills

• Experience of building dashboards for a range of audiences, SQL and PowerBI experience valuable but not essential

People Skills

• Strong interpersonal skills, with the ability to build trust with a range of internal stakeholders

• Comfortable communicating and presenting to internal and external audiences

• Mentoring and upskilling staff from other departments to maximise their use of data and increase process efficiency

• Line management experience desirable

External Impact

• Represent the club at major fan group meetings, using data to communicate and support key strategic fan-focussed decisions

• Be the first port-of-call for fan insights for the Fan & Community Relations, Marketing and Partnerships Departments

• Attend regular marketing meetings on behalf of the Insights & Strategy team

• Present key fan insights to senior stakeholders around the business

• Account management of select data providers

• Represent the club at industry events

Decision Making

• Regular reviews of key research supplier relationships to ensure maximum impact and value for money

• Scoping fan-focussed research projects and managing them to completion

• Building out the club’s market intelligence resources around fan and audience growth both within and outside of the sports industry

• Optimisation of internal processes to maximise the use of fan data in decision making

Innovation

• Lead research projects to support the club’s growth ambitions

• Review how the club currently uses fan data and profiling, maximising its impact internally and externally

• Contribute to the strategic direction of the Insights & Strategy Department with a specific focus on consumer research, market intelligence and maximising the club’s understanding of its fanbase

General Club Accountabilities

• To comply with all Club policies, including health and safety, data regulations and other legal, ethical and social requirements

• To build and maintain good working relationships while maintaining a professional image

• To keep confidential any information gained regarding the Club and its personnel

• To always maintain a flexible approach to work

Inclusion Statement

Brentford FC is proud to be an organisation that values equity, diversity and inclusion. We strive to create a culture that celebrates difference and ensures fairness, safety, representation, and belonging.

We recognise that some groups remain underrepresented in our workforce and are actively working to change this. As part of that commitment, we strongly encourage applications from people of all backgrounds — particularly those from ethnically diverse communities, women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and disabled people.

We’re committed to a fair and inclusive recruitment process, with all decisions made based on merit and suitability — regardless of background or protected characteristic. Should you be selected for interview, we welcome the opportunity to discuss any specific arrangements, accommodations or reasonable adjustments you may require to be made.

Safeguarding Statement

Brentford FC is fully committed to promoting equality, and to safeguarding the welfare of all children and adults at risk. Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility and is a core part of the Club’s culture. All staff and volunteers share a collective duty to create and maintain a safe and supportive environment, both on and off the field.

To ensure this, all staff are required to complete regular safeguarding training appropriate to their role. This training supports a proactive and informed approach to safeguarding practice.

The successful candidate will be expected to understand, adhere to, and actively uphold all relevant safeguarding policies and procedures. This includes recognising signs of abuse or harm, responding appropriately, and reporting any concerns in a timely manner to the Club’s Safeguarding Team.

Brentford FC operates safer recruitment practices. We remind individuals that it is a criminal offence for a person barred from engaging in regulated activity to apply for a role that involves such activity.