Insights Lead

People. Planet. Community

Dairy’s journey starts on the farm and the road we travel demonstrates our unwavering commitment to sustainable nutrition as our farmers provide lasting and meaningful nourishment to people, the planet and our communities, both urban and rural. We are a nonprofit organization located in the greater Chicagoland area and we’re always looking for talented people to join our team who share the passion and motivation to promote the goodness of dairy.

Rosemont, IL – Hybrid/Flexible Arrangement | Possible remote (preference given to local candidates). Visa sponsorship and relocation are not available for this position.

Position Overview:

Seeking a Consumer Insights thought leader responsible for devising and championing meaningful insight and measurement of consumer behavior, perceptions, and market impact in the development of industry-wide communications and new product innovation for foodservice, retail, eCommerce, dairy co-ops, and processors.   

You will be the voice of our consumers, generating high-quality insights and intelligence to increase sales and trust in dairy among the next generation of consumers.  You will have a strong role in developing innovation pipelines for key partners from platform identification, ideation and concepting through to commercialization and assessment. 

This high impact role requires a combination of strong analytical skills and strategic thinking, to translate data into actionable insights and identify implications, opportunities and potential threats for partner organizations and Dairy industry, as well as master storytelling abilities to inspire and drive activation. 

In this role you will lead strategy work, design and direct research, dive deep into the data to extract relevant insights and work with internal stakeholders and external partners to inspire and drive activation. 

Business Acumen:

·         Have proven experience in influencing business strategy through consumer and market insights

·         Ability to work well in x-functional team environments being the voice of the consumer/customer

·         Comfortable with various syndicated data including IRI, Technomic, Datassentials, Euromonitor, Innova.

·         Ability to ‘connect the dots’ and proactively integrate data from multiple sources, including proactively seeking and complementing custom consumer research with syndicated data, trends, learnings from prior studies, etc.

·         Agility in working with different innovation approaches (e.g., design thinking, jobs to be done, accelerators, in-market pilots, etc.)

·         Innate curiosity to seek out the why behind the data and illuminate it for others

Functional Skills:

·         Expert in leading different types of domestic and global research studies – e.g., long-term opportunity/ threat identification, new business development, segmentation, domestic and global market structure, strategy development. 

·         Ability to lead insights through new product development process – including ethnography, jobs-to-be-done, co-creation, idea / concept testing, in-market pilots / testing.

·         Proven capabilities in advancing an organization’s ability to understand consumer engagement, consumer value, and the impact of our sales and marketing investments

·         Ability to design marketing measurement strategies to determine which channels and messages have the greatest impact on sales and trust

·         Creation of insight reporting/dashboards

·         Experience in uncovering communications and new product opportunities through market immersions and ethnographies

·         Experience in working with and leading global research and communication agencies

Leadership Skills:

·         Trust - Can establish strong working relationship with all external and internal stake holders

·         Influence - Has passion, conviction, and command of the facts to influence senior management and industry of potential opportunities and threats

·         Dealing with Ambiguity – Proven effective at working in an extremely ambiguous environment with limited guidance with resolve to break down barriers and solve problems

·         Agility – Comfortable quickly pivoting and adjusting strategy and tactics in an ever-changing environment

·         BA required; MA/MBA preferred

·         10+ of Consumer Insights experience with both traditional and non-traditional research methods

·         5+ years in position with direct influence on Senior Leadership

Reporting Relationships:  Individual Contributor position that reports to the Senior Vice President, Strategic Intelligence.

Travel:  Approximately 25%

Additional Information:

New Hire Salary Range:

$140,000-$165,000 annually. This posting contains a salary range that DMI believes, at the time of this posting, that it might be willing to pay for the posted job in the location(s) specified. We anticipate hiring for this position near the middle of the range. It is uncommon, except for situations where an external candidate possesses experience, credentials and/or expertise that far exceed those required or expected for the position, that DMI would consider paying a salary near the higher end of the range.

We know that to meet our goal of growing dairy demand, we need the best people. We offer competitive compensation and generous benefits to help our employees balance their work and personal lives. Our Rosemont office is conveniently located and is accessible to the CTA Blue Line. We offer free regular and chocolate milk on tap.

Our comprehensive health and welfare plans offer medical, dental, vision, life, short-term and long-term disability and flexible spending accounts (health care, dependent care, transit and parking). We also offer generous maternity and paid paternal leave plans. Our 401k provides up to a 10% match and includes a Roth account. DMI reserves the right to change or end its benefits plans or programs at any time.

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Dairy Management Inc.™ is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer committed to the principles of diversity. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, ethnicity, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Dairy Management Inc.™ (DMI) is funded by America’s more than 26,000 dairy farmers, as well as dairy importers. Created to help increase sales and trust for dairy products, DMI and its related organizations work to increase demand through research, education and innovation, and to maintain confidence in dairy foods, farms and businesses. DMI manages National Dairy Council and the American Dairy Association and founded the U.S. Dairy Export Council and the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy. DMI works with state and regional promotion organizations to implement these programs across the country.

We regret it is not possible to communicate with candidates except those who most closely match our requirements. Thank you.