Molloy was formerly chief strategy officer of Confirmit, which he joined in July 2007 following the sale of MR software company Pulse Train, where he was CEO.

At Salience, his primary role will be “to streamline and integrate the group’s technology to support its strategic goals, by building best-in-class infrastructure, technology and services”, according to a statement.

“This includes helping to specify and build a comprehensive, highly specified and flexible media measurement and analysis system to meet the current and future needs of Salience’s 150-plus clients globally,” the firm said.

Prior to Pulse Train, Molloy was a main board director at NOP (now GfK NOP), managing director of Quantime (which was acquired by SPSS), and CTO of TNS.

He is a fellow of the Royal Statistical Society and a main board member of the Market Research Society.

Giselle Bodie, Salience Insight’s CEO, said: “Pat’s extensive market research and technology experience is proving invaluable as we move towards a model that increasingly incorporates these elements in both traditional and social media evaluation.”