Senior Manager, Insights & Analytics (Contract Employee)

the Ad Council

18d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Ad Council is seeking a Senior Manager, Insights & Analytics (Contract Employee) to lead research, strategy, and evaluation for national public service campaigns focused on their Mental Health Initiative. This initiative aims to shift social norms, reduce mental health stigma, and promote proactive well-being. The role requires strong analytical skills, a comprehensive understanding of market research, excellent communication and project management abilities, and a dedication to social change. The position reports to the VP, Insights & Analytics and involves collaboration with internal teams, agency partners, and research vendors throughout the campaign lifecycle, from initial research to ongoing evaluation. The role is crucial for ensuring campaigns are evidence-based, audience-centered, and measurable, translating complex data into actionable insights.

Requirements

4+ years of relevant experience in quantitative and qualitative research, including study design, analysis, and reporting.
Strong understanding of a wide range of qualitative and quantitative market research methodologies.
Excellent analytical, organizational, and project management skills.
Ability to identify actionable insights and communicate them clearly — verbally and visually — to non-research audiences.
Experience developing measurable objectives and KPIs to guide strategic briefs and program evaluation.
Experience with multicultural marketing campaigns and coordinating multicultural research.
Comfort managing multiple priorities and productive relationships with agencies, vendors, and stakeholders.
Advanced proficiency in MS Office, especially PowerPoint and Excel.
Familiarity with digital marketing metrics, including website and social analytics.
Ability to work East Coast hours.
Passion for social impact with experience or strong interest in mental health.
Commitment to building an inclusive and equitable work environment.

Nice To Haves

Experience in mental health research or familiarity with the mental health landscape, including stigma reduction and behavior change.
Comfort using AI tools as part of a modern insights toolkit — enhancing efficiency while maintaining human judgment, accuracy, and research best practices.
Experience with user experience or human-centered research.
Familiarity with basic statistics; experience with SPSS, SAS, and/or DisplayR is a plus.
Understanding of the evolving digital and social media landscape.
Experience with project management tools such as Asana.
A curious, learning-oriented mindset; comfort working through ambiguity and turning complexity into clarity.

Responsibilities

Contribute to the design, analysis, and reporting of campaign tracking studies, custom research, and evaluation projects for various mental health efforts targeting diverse audiences.
Drive formative research to inform campaign strategy, including literature reviews, landscape assessments, expert interviews, desk research, ethnographies, and qualitative/quantitative consumer research.
Lead strategic and creative testing, including qualitative and quantitative advertising effectiveness research.
Manage evaluation research, including campaign evaluation plans, brand lift studies, and ongoing tracking surveys.
Partner with external research vendors on study execution, including questionnaire development, programming, fielding, weighting, QA, and final deliverables.
Draft surveys, discussion guides, and research instruments; support programming for rapid-turn research.
Draft and distribute RFPs, support vendor selection, and co-manage vendor relationships through project completion.
Conduct advanced quantitative and qualitative analysis, including trend analysis and subgroup analysis.
Analyze data, develop compelling presentations, and synthesize findings into clear insights and strategic implications.
Translate research findings into practical recommendations that inform campaign strategy, creative development, and optimization.
Present insights to colleagues, agencies, funders, and partners, tailoring the presentation for each audience.
Ensure research insights are incorporated into strategic briefs and carried through the creative and program development process.
Serve as an insights partner to Strategy, Creative, PR, and Media teams throughout campaign planning and execution.
Provide research-informed feedback during creative and resource reviews to ensure messaging resonates with target audiences.
Work with the Analytics team to capture, track, and report ongoing campaign performance metrics.
Support key internal and external meetings by updating presentations, capturing meeting notes, and following up on action items.
Manage multiple research projects and timelines simultaneously across campaigns.
Develop and maintain internal tools to track research activities, including calendars, timelines, KPI trackers, and shared folders.
Balance strategic thinking with strong execution, maintaining attention to detail while moving projects forward efficiently.