Head of Consumer Insights, Applebee's

Dine Brands • Pasadena, CA

50d • $220 - $250

About The Position

Based in Pasadena, California, Dine Brands Global, Inc. (NYSE: DIN), through its subsidiaries, franchises restaurants under Applebee's Neighborhood Grill + Bar, IHOP and Fuzzy's Taco Shop brands. With over 3,500 restaurants combined in 18 countries and 354 franchisees as of December 31, 2023, Dine Brands is one of the largest full-service restaurant companies in the world. For more information on Dine Brands, visit the Company's website located at www.dinebrands.com.

Reporting to the CMO of Applebee's, the Head of Consumer Insights will be a well-rounded and disciplined market research specialist, who is a motivational, hands-on influencer with a strategic mind-set and the reputation for getting things done. This individual will be responsible for the management of all consumer research functions and will be responsible for developing strategies and programs which inform and inspire consumer marketing and product development while tracking effectiveness against brand health metrics.

This individual will possess a passion for consumer insights and be accomplished in using insights to help our brands develop and successfully execute company strategies. With accountability for leading the overall direction for enterprise-wide consumer insights, this role will lead a small team of professionals.

Requirements

• A minimum of 12 years post-college business experience with a strong foundation in market research
• 10 or more years in top tier consumer research or insights roles for winning, multi-location retail, restaurant or hospitality organizations. Prior experience in publicly held companies is ideal
• Track record of successfully meeting and exceeding performance goals
• Demonstrated general business acumen and the executive presence that establishes functional leadership and credibility
• World class marketing research/insights knowledge with the ability to create and communicate a clear, inspiring message that translates into practical, results-focused action plans
• Strength in statistical analysis and analytical methods to ensure the department output is complete and accurate
• Clear capacity to influence, persuade, and convey ideas in a meaningful way to secure commitment and support from others while generating excitement and enthusiasm
• Business reputation as a strong leader with a passion for setting clear, measurable objectives, delegating responsibility, recognizing outstanding performance, and correcting sub-par performance
• Leadership reputation for establishing mutual trust with associates, franchisees and peers, with an emphasis on integrity, honesty and high professional standards
• Excellent verbal, presentation and written communication skills across all levels of the organization including Board of Director level interactions in formal and informal settings
• Demonstrated experience and advanced media and public speaking skills
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent, with an advanced degree or MBA highly preferred and expected

Responsibilities

• Serving as an inspirational leader of approximately 2-3 research professionals; building a high-performance team which both attracts and retains pre-eminent talent
• Serving as the "voice of the consumer", ensuring that new initiatives are well grounded and supported by verifiable data and analytics. The incumbent will ensure consumer insights are used to drive the creation of strategy verses solely to validate an existing or future brand specific marketing program
• Build best-in-class relationships with our franchise communities. Develop methods and practices that result in phenomenal franchisee-franchisor relationships advancing our competitive advantages
• Inform and help execute the enterprise 3-year strategic plan. This entails identifying, collecting and analyzing global macro and industry specific economic indicators and trends that are pertinent to the long-range vision of the enterprise
• Provide peers and key leaders in the enterprise with macro-economic and industry related trends on a regular basis. Ensure that key leaders are aware of external factors that may impact the quality of business decisions being made. Develop and institutionalize an effective, forward looking, dashboard of related indicators that are pertinent to our goal of becoming the Franchisor of Choice with financially healthy franchise partners
• Refine and further implement measurement tools which improve the return on company and program-based investments. Using operational metrics, build original customer insights that outpace industry and segment sales and traffic growth in our brands
• Establish or refine existing partner relationships with research suppliers, implementing vendor management and evaluation systems which foster a productive work relationship and stimulates partner excellence and innovation
• Appropriately influence internal and external constituencies through a fully integrated functional communications plan; establishing open, honest and trusting relationships which drive improved teamwork and better decisions across the enterprise.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Executive
• Industry: Food Services and Drinking Places
• Number of Employees: 501-1,000 employees