Senior Manager, Insights (CPG)

*Our client is a purpose-driven healthy and sustainable snacking company committed to creating delicious and nutritious snacks.

**This position is hybrid, 3 days in office in North York, Canada.

Position Summary

Reporting to the Vice President, Marketing, the Sr. Manager, Insights will champion a deeper, richer understanding of the consumer/shopper across the organization and will spearhead initiatives to unlock and integrate insights into marketing decisions. This is a new role, and the right candidate will bring deep expertise in designing/managing custom research projects while informing strategic and tactical marketing initiatives.

You will be responsible for anticipating and assessing the business’s insight needs, providing both strategic and tactical recommendations to seize key opportunities. This includes optimizing the value of existing research, managing the research budget, and enhancing the insight capabilities of the marketing team. You will also lead the development of a comprehensive learning agenda, working closely with the broader marketing team to identify and solve key business and brand challenges with actionable solutions.

Primary Responsibilities as follows-

• Partner with marketing colleagues and the VP of Marketing to develop key brand goals, objectives, and strategies.
• Leverage consumer/shopper insights and category knowledge to identify and articulate issues and growth opportunities for the brand and the Incubator portfolio.
• Inform and develop go-to-market strategies targeting ‘Strategic Value Consumers’ (SVCs) and priority segments.
• Ensure strategic decisions align with global business objectives and reflect the unique needs and behaviours of market-specific consumers (Canada, US, Europe).

• Utilize insights to shape and prioritize key strategic issues and anticipate future consumer/shopper insight needs to support long-term brand plans.
• Identify and develop “test & learn” opportunities to refine go-to-market approaches.
• Analyze marketing spend efficiency, effectiveness, and creative performance, ensuring alignment with brand equity drivers and marketing mix decisions.

• Build collaborative partnerships with the internal agency team, ensuring insights inspire new creative directions and impactful communication plans.
• Integrate strategic consumer insights into briefs and measure the return on brief.
• Act as a thought partner, encouraging creativity rather than acting as a gatekeeper for new ideas.
• Identify lessons from past efforts to inform future creative development and marketing initiatives.

• Identify and champion growth strategies based on consumer trends and unmet shopper needs.
• Provide thought leadership on new product development opportunities.
• Lead the monitoring and analysis of new product activity by category and establish criteria and standards for innovation and product development.

• Apply a balanced ‘risk/reward’ approach to research design and consumer/shopper insights.
• Foster collaborative relationships with key research suppliers, continually assessing the ROI of their products/services.
• Provide leadership on research design and methodology, ensuring consistency and validity across research programs.
• Triangulate findings to ensure data integrity and insight application.

• Drive consumer/shopper-centric decision-making within the marketing team.
• Identify and leverage common insights across brands and categories.
• Ensure key consumer and shopper trends are embedded in cross-functional decision-making processes.
• Lead knowledge enhancement and storytelling capabilities within the marketing team.
• Develop and apply more cost-effective research methodologies, tools, and processes.

• Manage the marketing research budget and ensure resources are allocated to key business priorities.
• Apply a ‘risk/reward’ mindset when planning and investing in research activities.

• Stay updated with industry trends and the latest methodologies.
• Encourage experimentation to evolve research techniques.
• Share knowledge to upskill the team.

• 8+ years of experience in an insights/market research/analytics role, preferably within CPG.
• Strong knowledge of POS/Household Panel data tools such as Nielsen, Spins, Numerator.
• University degree required, ideally in business/marketing or a quantitative discipline (e.g., statistics).
• A master’s degree with a concentration in marketing, research, or quantitative analysis is an asset.
• Strategic thinker with the ability to apply insights and analytical rigour across all stages of the ‘consumer/shopper decision journey’ (pre-shop, shopping occasion, post-shop).
• Comfortable with both high-level strategic thinking and detailed, hands-on work.
• Expertise in working with suppliers for: Marketing Mix Modelling, Equity Tracking, Product Testing (CLT, HUT, Concept Testing) and Segmentation studies.
• Strong, broad-based knowledge of business practices, marketing principles, product development, and ideally, manufacturing processes.
• Exceptional analytical skills and deep knowledge of a wide range of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies/techniques.
• Awareness of emerging consumer/shopper trends.
• Proven experience as a champion for the consumer/shopper, adept at integrating insights into day-to-day decision-making.
• Ability to communicate complex concepts to individuals with diverse backgrounds throughout the organization.
• Track record of building and maintaining strong consulting relationships across functions and levels of the organization.
• Skilled at managing conflicting interests and effectively interacting across functions.
• Proven ability to learn from colleagues and contribute value to their thinking.
• Recognized as a key partner and someone capable of communicating and selling ideas internally.

AIP Connect believes in equal opportunity. Our recruitment consultants are committed to inclusive recruitment and selection practices and will not discriminate based on age, colour, ability, national origin, race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation.

Accessibility:  If you need any accommodations during the interview process, please let us know.