Senior CATI Operations Manager — Remote, Market Research
About the Role
We run multi-market CATI fieldwork for ANZ and international market research clients, and we’re looking for an experienced operations manager to take ownership of the call floor. You’ll be responsible for fieldwork execution, dialler performance, quota management, and the productivity of our interviewer teams.
This is a senior, deeply hands-on role. You’ll have real autonomy over how the floor runs, but you’re also expected to roll up your sleeves — personally running shifts when needed and working directly with front-line interviewers, not just managing through layers.You’ll be accountable for hitting completion targets, maintaining quality, and keeping projects on budget.
The Hybrid Future — What Makes This Different
Every senior CATI manager knows what’s coming. Voicebots are going to reshape telephone interviewing within the next few years, and operations leaders fall into two camps: those who get sidelined by it, and those who lead the transition. We’re looking for the second kind.
TKW Research Group is partnering with a tier-1 multinational AI platform provider to develop a survey voicebot — conversational AI that can conduct natural-sounding interviews at scale. Your role in this isn’t theoretical: as the voicebot moves from pilot to production, you’ll be the operational lead running the blended human/voicebot floor.Deciding which interviews go to human interviewers and which go to the voicebot. Managing quality across both channels. Calibrating the hybrid model to deliver better data than either could alone.
If you’ve been waiting for a CATI role where you get to shape what telephone research becomes — rather than manage its slow decline — this is it.
What You’ll Do- Manage CATI fieldwork end-to-end: sample distribution, quota matrices, completion tracking.
- Personally run live shifts when required — this is not a desk-only role. You’ll be on the floor (remotely) directing interviewers in real time, especially during critical fieldwork windows and across time zones.
- Monitor dialler performance in real time — contact rates, call dispositions, interviewer yield — and make tactical calls to keep productivity up.
- Coordinate Shift Supervisors, QA staff, and a remote interviewer pool.
- Troubleshoot operational issues live and work directly with the survey programming team when scripts need adjustments.
- Maintain ISO 20252 / ESOMAR-aligned quality processes.
- Produce daily and weekly operational reporting for the COO.
- 7+ years in CATI operations within a market research agency or fieldwork BPO, with 3+ years in a senior management role.
- Strong working knowledge of dialler logic, CATI platforms, and call centre KPIs.
- Genuinely good with front-line interviewers — you can motivate, coach, and direct base-level interviewers directly, not just manage through supervisors. The best candidates have come up through the floor and haven’t lost the common touch.
- Solid grasp of market research methodology: sampling, quotas, weighting basics, and QA standards (ISO 20252, ESOMAR).
- Forward-looking on AI in research — you don’t need technical AI experience, but you should see voicebots as an opportunity to lead, not a threat to manage around.
- Comfortable with flexible shift patterns to cover multi-timezone fieldwork (agreed in advance — not random).
- Home office with reliable power, dual internet connections, and a setup capable of running monitoring tools and video calls daily.
- Strong written and spoken English.
How to Apply
Send your CV plus a short note covering:
- The largest CATI operation you’ve personally run (team size, markets, sample volumes).
- The dialler platforms you know best.
- Your shift flexibility.
- Your view on how voicebots will reshape telephone interviewing — and where you see your role in that shift.