Assistant Manager Consumer Insights

Position Title - Assistant Manager Consumer Insights 

Location - Mumbai India,Head Office

Role Summary 

The role of Consumer Insights Manager, India supports the agenda for the Consumer and Shopper Insights, shapes the business strategy by delivering foresight-driven insights and actionable recommendations. This role manages the insight development across diverse brands and priority growth platforms to ensure competitive advantage.
The role ensures consumer-centricity in strategic planning, enabling the organization to anticipate market shifts, optimize brand positioning, and deliver sustainable growth.

The role primarily involves:

• Lead Insight Generation: Develop and integrate consumer and shopper insights across multiple brands and growth platforms
• Strategic Advisor: Serving as a strategic partner to key business leaders by analyzing research findings and forming recommendations to shape product development that can deliver competitive advantage
• Research & Analytics: Manage qualitative and quantitative studies, and syndicated data to identify consumer drivers and emerging trends.
• Competitive Intelligence: Monitor and anticipate trends, market conditions, competitor activity, and pricing strategies to support growth in a highly dynamic region.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with Marketing, Category Management, R&D, and external research vendors to ensure insights inform key decisions.
• Agency management: Manage relationships with external research agencies and leverage external insights resources, capabilities, and expertise in order to best serve business requirements
• Capability Building: Support programs that enhance commercial teams’ ability to interpret consumer and shopper insights, ensuring decisions are grounded in data and foresight using the latest tools and techniques available
• Embedding Best Practices: Promote standardized tools and frameworks for insight-led planning, enabling consistency and speed in commercial decision-making.

Summary of Major Duties:

Insights Development, Management & Execution 

• Co-lead with cross-functional internal business partners to define business issues, research objectives, and indicated actions
• Lead the development of effective and efficient research plans at the right level of resource investment. Responsible for identifying research methodologies, research designs, analysis plans, and final research deliverables - including data, report, findings, and business recommendations 
• Direct external suppliers and manage research projects through the process - identify, select, negotiate, and manage research suppliers to drive project execution excellence. Execute progress to ensure OTIF delivery, quality output, and within budget
• Communicate key findings, business implications, and indicated actions to business and management team with recommendations on best utilizing the information in decision-making
• Monitor the insights budget against the plan leads/coordinates the regional/global research projects; provides inputs to global team to ensure region’s interests is represented

Insight Capability, Process & Systems 

• Identify, select & manage the external research agencies to conduct the market research; provides inputs from the company’s perspective and agrees on research design, scope, methodology, etc. Monitors the progress to ensure timely delivery and quality output
• Be connected with new and innovative tools on insights  & research and evaluate the application across categories and brands 
• Acquaint brand team members with tools and techniques 

Minimum knowledge, skills and abilities required to successfully perform major duties/responsibilities:  

Qualifications

•    (Any Educational Qualifications?)
•    6-10 years research experience. Ideally at least three years in a progressive CPG company in India.
•    High potential candidates from research agencies or consulting, can be considered 
•    Both Quantitative & Qualitative Research experience a must 
•    Solid, hands-on experience in managing different types of research projects
•    Fluent in English both oral and written

Personal Qualities

•    High bias for action and result-orientation 
•    Passionate, self-motivated, pro-active, team player with a business and commercial mindset
•    Analytical skills
•    Communication and presentation skills
•    Sensitivity to various cultures
•    Interpersonal and influencing skills
•    Project Management skills
•    Willing to Travel

Competencies 

•    Research Skills
o    Data Analysis & Statistical Modeling: Proficiency in tools like SPSS, R, SAS, and advanced Excel for predictive analytics and trend modeling.
o    Market Research Platforms: Hands-on experience with Nielsen, Kantar, IRI, and other FMCG-specific consumer insight tools.
o    Quantitative and Qualitative Research Skills: Expertise in designing and interpreting U&A studies, segmentation, concept/product tests, and brand health tracking.

•    Industry-Specific Knowledge
o    FMCG Market Dynamics: Deep understanding of shopper behavior, retail execution, and category management principles.
o    Commercial Acumen: Ability to link insights to pricing strategies, portfolio optimization, and trade marketing decisions.
•    Stakeholder Engagement
o    Strong capability to influence senior leadership and cross-functional teams with insight-driven recommendations.

•    Planning & Organization
o    Leads highly complex projects
o    Influences Top & Senior cross-functional management
o    Ability to work within budget, monitor and track spends vs plan 
o    Strong project planning and project management skills

•    Strategic Consultative Partnership
o    Integrates a solid understanding of the business into all research and may establish new research procedures/protocols
o    Strong functional mastery of qualitative and quantitative research skills, including advanced methodologies, such as eye tracking, EEGs, Facial Coding, etc. 
o    Experience with innovation-specific research