The Director of Consumer Insights at Finch Brands is responsible for supporting insights community clients with both account management and research expertise, with a focus on elevating and leading both the work product and the internal Finch team.
This role is client facing and serves as the primary point of contact for ongoing market research needs throughout the year for up to 3-4 different clients. Research will cover a range of quantitative and qualitative topics and methodologies, and this role must be able to understand, prescribe, plan, and analyze research that drives forward the strategies of Fortune 500 and start-up clients alike across a variety of industries. This individual is ultimately responsible for the quality of all deliverables and satisfaction of clients.
The ideal candidate will have deep knowledge of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies (e.g., MaxDiff, Statistical Testing, etc.). They must be able to demonstrate experience with projects ranging from multi-phase research plans to qualitative explorations, to brand research, and feel comfortable playing the role of consultant and thought partner for clients who may not understand their research needs, or how to interpret and act on the findings. This role requires a balanced skillset of account management, project management, and research excellence.
Main duties:
- Account and project leadership – the go-to for all client related needs and questions while ensuring delivery maintains in scope, on time, and of high-quality. Out-of-scope requests may also be managed by this role.
- Client strategist – helping clients think through complex research needs and outputs.
- Research leadership – crafting learning plans and research instruments of varying complexity and carrying research through the process end-to-end. This includes the development of compelling research stories with clear insights and actions, as well as willingness (and ability) to support junior team members throughout the entire project life cycle - from scoping, to drafting, to programming & quality assurance checks, through to statistical analysis and storytelling.
- Team leadership – managing the quality of deliverables and quality of life for team members, providing coaching and learning opportunities when appropriate.
Required Experience and Skills:
- Candidates will have a Bachelors or Masters degree in fields spanning, business, marketing, advertising, sociology, market research, or statistics.
- 7+ years experience in either client or supplier-side research role, with a track record of leading and growing account/client relationships.
- 2+ years experience managing complex, multiphase research projects related to brands, products, or consumer behaviors/attitudes.
- 2+ years managing and coaching others with ability to inspire and develop team members.
- Ability to perform at a high level and multi-task in a very fast-paced environment.
- Proven experience and a natural ability to connect the dots and drive toward big picture insights.
- Ability to design, draft, and program questionnaires, mod guides, and other research activities - both qual and quant.
- Proficient in financials and operations management.
- Desire to bring structure to team and account.
- Flexible and solutions-oriented.
- High proficiency in MS Word, PowerPoint, and MS Excel are an absolute must - including data manipulation, formulas, lookups, formatting, and chart creation.
- History of working in the trenches in data analysis and reporting.
- Knowledge of statistical analysis programs (Such as MarketSight, Q, R, SPSS, etc.) required.
- Be able to push storytelling to include the what, so what, and now what of research.
- Have high standards and abilities regarding data visualization and storytelling technique.
- Ability to push research and business objectives forward through a mix of standard and innovative quant and qual methodologies.
- Project management - ability to juggle multiple priorities and wear many 'hats', balancing the demands of project work with the needs of clients & internal team members
- Manage client priorities and expectations as well as resource allocation/workload within teams.
- Strong focus on QA and superb attention to detail.
Candidate Attributes:
- Self-starter mentality (Be a driver, not a passenger) with a strong bias for action
- A growth-oriented mindset and willingness to move beyond their current comfort zone to develop new skills
- A remarkable work ethic and superior attention to detail
- An ability to learn new things quickly
- Collaborates effectively and has coworkers' backs
- A natural curiosity regarding brands and business with a focus on delivering results