Permanent, full-time role with a five-month probation period
Reports to: Managing Director (MD), Gavin Moore. Line manages: Futures and Research Delivery and Operations Executive (once appointed)
With our support you will act as ForgeFront’s team manager in an exciting, entrepreneurial and motivating position. You will form brilliant relationships with our clients, design and lead new product and service development, and be motivated to grow a company that has a positive impact on people's lives. You will have the opportunity to eventually become a director, with the potential to become a shareholder.
The sort of person we are looking for
You will love the idea of a role that comes with creating something new but be aware that this takes a tremendous amount of self-motivation and passion for what we do. You will be ready to go ‘all-in’ for ForgeFront.
You will be eager to scale a business that is already in-demand, but to date has been kept deliberately small. This means you will have an entrepreneurial mindset and be genuinely motivated by the idea of leaving your own legacy, rather than contributing to someone else’s established and/or big organisation. ForgeFront will be grown in your image, so you will contribute novel and interesting ideas for future growth opportunities across new products and services. Overall, we are looking for:
Hardworking and willing to go the extra mile in the short term to deliver value and income in the long term (both for themselves and the business)
An entrepreneurial mindset, wanting to take the initiative to build something new and exciting.
Excellent experience managing both upwards and downwards. Comfortable in giving constructive challenge.
Calmness under pressure, and embracing uncertainty. Able to take a step back at frenetic moments and re-evaluate.
Total self-motivation. Eager to crack on and deliver brilliant work to a high standard.
Knowing how to strike a balance between quality of output and speed. Consciousness that as a business that primarily generates income through the utilisation of colleagues’ time, our time is our money.
An interest in having long-term financial security by staying with the business to achieve a potentially lucrative exit for us all.
Why we are hiring
We currently have more demand for our services than capacity to deliver. Until this point, we have been focused on undertaking the work that most interests us, but we now seek to pivot and embrace the demand with new full-time colleagues. Growth is therefore now an important objective for the company. Internally we use the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) to structure our business. Our 1-year plan and 3-year picture contain targets for increased revenue and team size.
Location and contract
This role is in-person 3 days a week, with our office located in Bath, South West England. The role will therefore suit someone living in Bath, or able to commute.
This is a permanent, full-time role of 35 hours a week. The first five months are a probation period, with regular check-ins and a final review before it ends. During probation, either side can end the employment on one week's notice if the role is not the right fit.
Responsibilities
1) Project management
Oversight of all ForgeFront's project work
Delegating work to the project team and allocating resource
First line of QA on significant project deliverables (e.g. final reports), and QA of all deliverables (e.g. weekly summaries)
Knowing when upcoming project deliverables are due, the likely lead-in times and what must be prioritised
Responsible for maintaining project to-do lists on Microsoft Planner, with clear owners and end dates
With other colleagues, delivering project work
Flagging to the MD upcoming payment milestones
Occasionally chairing internal EOS Level 10 meetings
2) Client relationship management
First line of contact for clients if issues arise
Present at the majority of project meetings and key milestones for projects e.g. final presentations
Expected to deal with client correspondence without oversight from the Founder (Sam Douglas-Bate) or Managing Director except for those that can be justifiably categorised as Urgent and Important (i.e. using an Eisenhower Matrix).
Escalation to the Managing Director if a significant risk emerges to project delivery, or there are repeated attempts by the client to expand the project scope beyond ForgeFront's bid, or the client wants to discuss project finances (outside of milestone payments)
3) Associates and partner liaison
Ensures that ForgeFront Associates are delivering the quality expected
Ensures Associates are delivering in proportion to their payment for the project
Reporting any issues with Associate/partner performance to MD
Identification of viable and cost-effective Associates or partners for projects if skillset not already identifiable in ForgeFront's existing pool.
4) Business development
Identifies relevant bid opportunities and brings these to the Founder/MD.
Leads on an initial list of Clarification Questions to potential clients and collates further input from across the team
Holds the pen on initial drafting of the bid submission materials, including first proposal on budget.
Organises and manages input from the wider team on bids with appropriate lead-in times. Other team members' input will be in a reviewing capacity rather than drafting large sections of bids
Preparation and delivery of any follow-up bid presentations required. Expected to lead these presentations with support of the proposed project team
Outside of end-to-end bid delivery, proposes and develops leads for the business e.g. a new procurement framework, a new and innovative partnership.
Note, as the team scales, all colleagues may be responsible for delivering tasks beyond their responsibilities until the hiring process is complete.
In the case of the Futures and Research Project Manager, this may mean, for example, more time spent delivering project work (see 1) Project management, bullet point 6) until further hires are made in 2027. In the future we also hope to hire a business development specialist who may fulfil the responsibilities above (see 4) Business development).
Must be able to demonstrate:
A track record of managing research projects for clients from start to finish, including budgets, deadlines and client relationships.
A track record of delivering research-led projects, not including in an academic setting.
An entrepreneurial mindset. This includes several provable case studies of new initiatives they have conceived, designed and delivered for new projects or initiatives.
Business development skills. This includes several case studies of identifying, creating and capturing long-term value for an organisation through markets, customers, engagements or relationships.
Strong knowledge of the UK’s public sector landscape, such as the structure of the UK Government/Whitehall and different tiers of government.
An understanding of futures and foresight (note: a general understanding of what the industry is and does is adequate)
Distilling complexity for senior leaders, such as government ministers, C-suite executives and/or company boards.
Qualitative and quantitative research experience.
Desirable additional criteria:
A track record of scaling a team or organisation
A track record in strategy, policy, government or futures thinking
Experience working on defensive measures or security issues, either in government or the private sector (note, this does not include offensive or attack capabilities, which are services we do not provide)
An understanding of the types of businesses that may need to procure external research, insights, futures and foresight
International networks and contacts in markets beyond the UK (e.g. the USA, Africa, or the Middle East)
An understanding of UK government procurement. This might include procurement portals (e.g. Jaggaer, In-tend, Ariba and R-Cloud), where to find opportunities (e.g. Find a Tender and frameworks) and organisations (e.g. Government Commercial Agency)
Interest in vibe coding and playing with AI tools
Note: we may ask for references to vouch for the experience.
Other information:
Salary: We encourage applicants to view this opportunity beyond the stated salary. With this role you will have the opportunity to progress to a director-level position, with the potential to become a shareholder, which could bring dividends and a payout on exit. This role therefore needs to be seen as an entrepreneurial opportunity to scale an already in-demand business towards a potential exit. This may have longer-term financial benefits beyond the salary.
New business incentive scheme: Under this scheme, any colleague who directly brings in a piece of new business, exclusively from their own contact base and hitherto unknown as a stakeholder to ForgeFront, receives a one-off bonus worth 15% of the total contract value. This includes leads you find in the course of your work, as long as they meet these conditions.
Leave and L&D: You will get 28 days' annual leave a year (including bank holidays), plus your birthday off. We have an open-door L&D policy, meaning if there is a course or initiative that you want to undertake our default is to give you the time and support to pursue this.
Pension: we auto-enrol you in our Nest workplace pension, with a 3% employer contribution.
Flexible working: we work in person 3 days a week from our co-working space in Bath. For the rest of the week, you can work from where you want. In addition, we operate on the basis that if you work longer hours one day, you can take back the time by logging off earlier or logging on later the next day.
Security clearance: some of our defence and security work needs national security vetting. You will need to be willing and able to obtain Security Check (SC) clearance.
About ForgeFront
ForgeFront is a boutique consultancy focused on research, insights, futures and foresight. We have a methodology and course called 'Future.Ctrl' which includes the tools and methods we use with clients to deliver these services.
We supply services and products to large businesses, the third sector, and governments. Much of our recent work has been for the UK Government, where we deliver through the Futures Procurement Framework and other frameworks for research and insights.
We are members of the Association of Professional Futurists, the Global Futures Society and ADS, the UK trade association for aerospace, defence, security and space. We have excellent international partnerships with other organisations working on research, insights, futures and foresight.
ForgeFront has previously been a deliberately small business, but due to significant demand for our services our priority is now growth. We are also aiming to produce more products, such as our Future.Ctrl course and our Forge futures maturity assessment tool. Throughout this new journey we will maintain our entrepreneurial mindset and flat structure.
Our values
These were agreed by the team at a strategy day in 2026. They are incredibly important to us and form the basis of all our recruitment.
Value 1: Quality, rigour and delivery excellence. We combine scientific robustness with a human touch and hold every output to clearly defined standards. We want clients, associates and partners to know they are getting work that is technically strong and helpful.
Value 2: Vision and entrepreneurship. We create exciting, compelling strategic pictures that change how clients see their future. To do this we stay entrepreneurial and agile: spotting opportunities to create more products (rather than services) and being proactive rather than reactive.
Value 3: Team wellbeing, autonomy and low bureaucracy. We protect each other’s time and headspace. We choose flexibility, short meetings and high autonomy over heavy process.
Value 4: Motivation and personal drive. We choose work that excites and stretches us. Remuneration matters, but motivation comes first. If a project stops being interesting or meaningful, we say so and adjust.
Value 5: Ethics and public-interest purpose. We focus on work that helps society make better decisions, and we turn down work that conflicts with that aim.
Value 6: Collaboration and human-centred working. No single voice in our company owns the truth. We believe we build better answers when we challenge each other openly, kindly, and on the basis of evidence. We treat clients, associates and stakeholders as people we are partnering with, not as an ‘us and them’ relationship.
Value 7: Brand, design and aesthetic standards. Visuals matter to us and our clients. Reports, decks, emails, podcasts and platforms should be as carefully considered as the analysis behind them.
Next steps
Stage 1: nothing fancy, please send a CV and short answers (up to 200 words each) to the three questions below, to directors@forgefront.co.uk. Please include your name and the job title you are applying for in the subject heading.
Tell us about a research-led project you managed for a client. How did you keep it on time, on budget and to a high standard?
Tell us about an entrepreneurial piece of new business or a new initiative you identified and helped win or launch. What was your role?
Why does this role at ForgeFront appeal to you?
Deadline: 30 November 2026
Stage 2: an interview with Gavin and/or Sam, via MS Teams, in early December.
Stage 3: a final in-person interview with Gavin and Sam in Bath, in mid/late December.
We would love you to start with us in January 2027, or as soon as your notice period allows.
Adjustments: if you need any adjustments to apply or to attend an interview, please let us know.
Right to work: you will need the right to work in the UK. We are not able to sponsor visas.
Your data: we will use the information you send us only for this recruitment, and we will delete it six months after the process ends. You can ask to see, correct or delete it at any time by emailing directors@forgefront.co.uk. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk).
Note: ideally, we would give feedback to everyone who applies for a role with us. But we are a small team, and our previous experience of the overwhelming demand to work at ForgeFront means we will be unable to provide this feedback – if we could, we would!