Sr. Manager, Consumer Insights

Bob Evans Foods•New Albany, OH

About The Position

The Senior Manager, Consumer Insights serves the important role of representing the voice of our consumers. Through collaborative partnership with Brand Management, R&D, Sales and Senior Leadership this individual will identify growth opportunities and translate insights into measurable business results. The role combines consumer research, analytics, trend analysis, innovation support and strategic planning expertise. Utilizing a blend of thoughtful and innovative methods, the Senior Manager orchestrates primary research and integrates findings with learning from other sources to support both high-level strategy and tactical decision-making throughout the organization. Provide foresight into consumer behavior that could impact the performance of our food categories in the future. Deepen organizational understanding of today’s dinner and breakfast meal occasions, corresponding Jobs to Be Done and meaningful growth opportunities both within our existing portfolio’s reach and beyond. Establish close connectivity with 3rd party POS and Panel partners to identify marketplace opportunities on which to capitalize and risks to mitigate. Explore and evaluate new consumer research technologies, methodologies and partners to enhance effectiveness, drive efficiency and enable speed. Design and execute primary research to create and optimize communication content. Drive successful innovation by developing insights-led platforms and concepts that grow our categories and business. Design and execute primary research, and mine and integrate syndicated sources and previous consumer understanding, to provide prioritization and direction for new product innovation, from idea generation to in-market evaluation. Partner with Category Management to maximize insight extraction from our syndicated POS & panel data providers as well as expanded retailer-specific databases and analytics tools. Provide foundational grounding on channel trends and shopper trends, observations, and insights; support sales partners on customer activation with consumer and shopper understanding gleaned from secondary sources and primary research. Create learning plans that build knowledge and insight, leveraging learning from past research and syndicated sources, that focus on answering key business questions. Ensure research adopts the appropriate level of rigor to inform different business decisions and execute within timing and budget expectations. Support a continual learning environment by raising the business team’s consumer-centered analytic understanding of their business. Brief external research partners to deliver actionable analyses and recommendations. Provide clear, actionable recommendations and consulting for cross-functional partners to ensure activation of the learning. Ensure appropriate use of findings and recommendations with business partners; offer coaching on how to think about the data when needed. Create new methods or apply traditional methods and datasets in new ways. Present insights to senior leaders in a clear, compelling and data-based business narrative.

Requirements

Bachelor’s Degree required, with social sciences or business, marketing and statistics background preferred.
Advanced degree such as an MBA with marketing or consumer research focus, or an MMR preferred.
Minimum 10 years of experience in market research with a CPG company or food retailer.
Advanced ability to interpret and apply data to inform a business decision.
Demonstrated skill in pulling insights from multiple sources and unexpected places to drive breakthrough understanding and action plans.
Intellectual curiosity and a sense of creativity and exploration.
Ability to creatively solve problems with available tools & ambiguous information.
Advanced understanding of different statistical analyses and data manipulation; comfortable working with syndicated data (Nielsen/Circana).
Passion for staying up-to-date on insight industry topics and methodologies such as when and how to develop and use AI tools or different segmentation approaches.
Ability to quickly learn and use new DIY survey tools and dashboards.
Demonstrated skill in managing external agency partners and ability to drive deliverables with internal partners without formal authority.
Ability to deliver deep consumer understanding in simple, story-like fashion to empower business decisions, at a level of detail befitting the audience (peers, partners, and senior leaders; 1-to-1, small group and large group settings).
Ability to drive and execute a learning agenda in a fluid environment.
Solid communication and prioritization skills that build productive working relationships with cross-functional and external partners.
Excellent project management skills and ability to work on multiple projects simultaneously.
Ability to anticipate work needs and follow through with minimal directions.
Must possess the ability to always maintain external confidentiality.
Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).

Responsibilities

Represent the voice of our consumers.
Identify growth opportunities and translate insights into measurable business results.
Orchestrate primary research and integrate findings with learning from other sources to support high-level strategy and tactical decision-making.
Provide foresight into consumer behavior that could impact the performance of food categories.
Deepen organizational understanding of dinner and breakfast meal occasions, Jobs to Be Done, and growth opportunities.
Establish connectivity with 3rd party POS and Panel partners to identify marketplace opportunities and risks.
Explore and evaluate new consumer research technologies, methodologies, and partners.
Design and execute primary research to create and optimize communication content.
Drive innovation by developing insights-led platforms and concepts.
Design and execute primary research, mine and integrate syndicated sources and previous consumer understanding for new product innovation.
Partner with Category Management to maximize insight extraction from syndicated POS & panel data providers and retailer-specific databases.
Provide grounding on channel trends and shopper trends, observations, and insights.
Support sales partners on customer activation with consumer and shopper understanding.
Create learning plans that build knowledge and insight, leveraging past research and syndicated sources.
Ensure research adopts the appropriate level of rigor to inform business decisions and execute within timing and budget expectations.
Support a continual learning environment by raising the business team’s consumer-centered analytic understanding.
Brief external research partners to deliver actionable analyses and recommendations.
Provide clear, actionable recommendations and consulting for cross-functional partners.
Ensure appropriate use of findings and recommendations with business partners.
Create new methods or apply traditional methods and datasets in new ways.
Present insights to senior leaders in a clear, compelling and data-based business narrative.