Manager, B2B Customer Insights

3M • Maplewood, MN

16h • Onsite

About The Position

The Manager, B2B Customer Insights sits within 3M’s B2B Customer Insights Center of Excellence and leads research that informs how 3M understands its business customers, including their needs, journeys, brand perceptions, pricing, and customer experience. The role collaborates with stakeholders across business groups and Marketing Sciences colleagues to translate research objectives into sound study and analysis plans, connect findings to business KPIs, and support commercial decisions.

The manager owns end-to-end research delivery, including complex quantitative surveys and qualitative studies with B2B buyers, specifiers, and decision-makers. The position also manages project scope, budgets, timelines, vendors, and quality; communicates executive-ready recommendations; develops reusable research resources and quality standards; and coaches and develops analysts. The role is multinational, with candidates considered in Maplewood, Minnesota, or Sumaré, São Paulo. On-site presence of at least four days per week is expected, with alternatives determined according to location and local guidelines. Travel may include up to 5% domestic or international travel. Relocation may be authorized. Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the country of employment without employment-visa sponsorship, as applicable.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in marketing research, business, or a social science such as anthropology, sociology, or psychology, completed and verified before starting.
• Seven years of experience in market research, customer insights, voice-of-customer, or customer experience in a private, public, government, or military environment.
• Seven years of demonstrated experience designing complex quantitative surveys for industrial, technical, or other specialized or low-incidence audiences, including instrument design, field diagnosis, and coaching others on questionnaire craft.
• Seven years of proven ability to lead qualitative research with buyers, specifiers, or technical decision-makers, including designing programs, moderating complex interviews, and building qualitative storylines that inform commercial decisions.
• Legal authorization to work in the country of employment without employment-visa sponsorship, as applicable.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree in marketing research, business, social science such as anthropology, sociology, or psychology, or a related field from an accredited institution.
• Working knowledge of CX and feedback platforms such as Qualtrics, Medallia, or Sprinklr, and experience with survey programming tools.
• Experience owning end-to-end domain studies in customer segmentation, brand, CX/VoC, pricing research, journey mapping, or innovation research and linking findings to commercial action.
• Experience structuring ambiguous or complex research requests, selecting appropriate research approaches, defining tradeoffs, and turning loosely defined business questions into well-scoped studies.
• Track record of presenting research recommendations to senior stakeholders, handling constructive feedback, and facilitating discussion toward a decision.
• Experience developing junior research professionals through structured feedback, coaching on research craft, and building team capability.
• Proven ability to lead qualitative research with B2B buyers, specifiers, or technical decision-makers, including designing programs, moderating complex interviews, and building qualitative storylines that inform commercial decisions.

Responsibilities

• Design and own complex quantitative surveys end-to-end for B2B audiences, including questionnaire development, programming quality assurance, field-quality oversight, and diagnosis of fieldwork or low-incidence challenges.
• Lead qualitative research with B2B buyers, specifiers, and decision-makers by designing interview guides, moderating complex interviews, and developing qualitative storylines with commercial implications.
• Design sampling and field strategies appropriate to business decisions, assess bias and feasibility for hard-to-reach audiences, and document reachable populations, non-response, and implications for interpretation.
• Translate business questions into executive-ready recommendations by integrating surveys, interviews, customer-experience data, and secondary inputs; present recommendations to senior stakeholders.
• Own end-to-end project delivery, including scope, budget, timelines, vendor relationships, and study quality gates; maintain reusable documentation in the CoE insight repository.
• Partner with internal stakeholders across business groups to refine briefs, connect research outputs to business KPIs, and follow insights through to agreed actions with commercial teams.
• Build the CoE’s research capability by creating reusable survey, qualitative, and CX reporting resources; provide structured feedback and develop analysts; and establish team quality standards.
• Partner with Marketing Sciences colleagues to translate research objectives into analysis plans, align on weighting, significance testing, segmentation, and driver-analysis choices, and ensure analytical outputs are correctly interpreted in recommendations.
• Comply with corporate policies, procedures, and security standards while performing assigned duties.
• Contribute to 3M’s Environmental Health and Safety culture by following safety policies, identifying hazards, and engaging in continuous improvement.

Benefits

• 3M offers programs intended to support employees’ physical and financial well-being.
• 3M regularly benchmarks pay and benefits against comparable companies.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager