Director, Business Insights

Valvoline Global

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

At Valvoline Global Operations, we’re proud to be The Original Motor Oil, a pioneer in the automotive and industrial solutions industry since 1866. As an affiliate of Aramco, we are driven by innovation and committed to creating sustainable solutions. We develop future-ready products and provide best-in-class services globally. Our corporate values are Care, Integrity, Passion, Unity, and Excellence. The Director, Business Insights leads Valvoline Global Operations’ (VGO) global market and consumer insights function, delivering enterprise-level intelligence that informs strategy, accelerates growth, and strengthens competitive advantage. This role defines and executes a best-in-class insights vision, elevating decision-making across marketing, product, strategy, and sales. With deep expertise in customer behavior, market dynamics, and research methodologies, the Director translates complex data into compelling, actionable narratives for senior leadership. This role oversees a team of two, manages a significant research investment, and partners closely with cross-functional leaders to shape future-forward strategies in a dynamic, fast-paced global environment.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree required in Market Research, Business, Economics, Psychology, or a related field.
15+ years of progressive experience in market research, consumer insights, or business intelligence, ideally within a global, matrixed organization.
Demonstrated success in influencing senior leaders and shaping business strategy through insights.
Deep expertise across quantitative and qualitative research methodologies (e.g., segmentation, brand health, U&A, conjoint).
Strong proficiency with insights platforms and tools (e.g., Qualtrics, SPSS, Nielsen, Kantar, GRIP).
Exceptional communication and storytelling capabilities, with the ability to translate complexity into clear, compelling executive narratives.
Proven people leadership experience, including developing talent and leading teams in cross-functional environments.
Flexibility required to collaborate across time zones.
Domestic and international travel may be required up to 10-15% annually for key meetings, vendor engagement, and team development.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree preferred in Market Research, Business, Economics, Psychology, or a related field.
MBA preferred

Responsibilities

Define and execute a cohesive, multi-year global insights roadmap aligned with enterprise strategy, brand priorities, and innovation pipelines.
Establish clear learning agendas that address critical business questions across regions, brands, and channels.
Ensure insights are proactively embedded into strategic planning, portfolio decisions, product development and go-to-market execution.
Act as a trusted strategic advisor to senior leadership, distilling complex data into clear, persuasive insights that influence high-impact decisions across marketing, product development, channel strategy, and customer experience.
Drive adoption of advanced analytics, next-generation insight platforms, and emerging research methodologies to improve decision speed and quality.
Elevate insight storytelling standards to ensure clarity, relevance, and business impact.
Own and optimize a $2M+ global research budget, prioritizing initiatives to maximize ROI and business value.
Lead and manage relationships with best-in-class external research partners (e.g., Nielsen, Kantar, Ipsos), ensuring methodological rigor, quality execution, and actionable outputs.
Balance syndicated, custom, and agile research approaches to meet evolving business needs.
Recruit, lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing team of insights professionals across geographies, fostering a culture of curiosity, accountability, and continuous learning.
Serve as a core leader within the Brand Center of Excellence (COE), driving capability building, best-practice sharing, and functional integration.
Enable team members to operate as strategic partners to the business, not just research executors.
Identify, pilot, and scale new tools, data sources, and methodologies to enhance market understanding and accelerate insight generation.
Continuously monitor external trends, competitive dynamics, and evolving consumer expectations to proactively inform strategic choices.
Position the insights function as a forward-looking catalyst for innovation and growth.