Position:Director, Consumer Insights
Location:Toronto, ON (Hybrid - 3 days/week)
Director, Consumer Insights at a glance...
The Director of Consumer Insights will lead the function for the Canada market and will partner with the Business Unit President and Marketing leadership to enable consumer-first thinking to inform strategy, with a consumer-informed forward-thinking approach. This role is a key member of the North America Consumer Insights leadership team.
The Director of Consumer Insights will set the Consumer Insights agenda andidentifyfuture growth opportunities / white space for the BU. The role is also accountable for driving the Enterprise-Wide transformation agenda for insights within the BU while championing the consumer and keeping the most meaningful business actions at the forefront across the relevant platforms,categoriesand brands. This influential roleis responsible foridentifying,developingand integrating consumer insights throughout these businesses to drive a growth mindset and agility while driving a consumer-obsessed culture. The Director of Consumer Insights will have leadership responsibilities – and will need to adapt and flex to needs on both leadership, management and day-to-day coaching – infusing the rightbehavioursthroughout their insights team (e.g. prioritize, drive future mentality and synthesize / distill information into actionable insights,etc) – crafting a culture and focus of organic brand growth & innovation. This position will have input into the transformation agenda roadmap to include areas in foresight, prediction, agility, capabilities agenda, digital revolution, social listening, partner consortium, and more.
What's on the menu?
Own the Consumer Insights agenda as a strategic growth function, setting direction on where to play and how to win—using consumer understanding to unlock profitable, sustainable growth.
Serve as a senior strategic leader and thought partnerto BU Marketing and cross-functional leaders, shaping business and brand strategy through rigorous insights and clear point of view.
Drive end-to-end insight-to-action leadership, translating complex learning into decisive “so-what” implications, recommendations, and prioritized actions that accelerate growth.
Define and lead the integrated learning strategyacross key marketing levers (e.g., communication testing, product/claim testing, packaging testing) for both existing and new products.
Identifygrowth opportunities and consumer tensionsacross the platform—pinpointing where to improve long-term brand equity, relevance, and conversion.
Lead innovation “dig sites” and pipeline development, partnering with Marketing and R&D toidentify, develop, and size a multi-year pipeline of new products and concepts.
Shape the 3-year Growth Strategyand ensure pull-through into annual brand plans, including strategy, creative development, optimization, and go-to-market decision-making.
Influence at all levels of the organization(up, across, and down), aligning stakeholders around a common growth narrative and enabling faster, better decisions.
Create clarity in ambiguityby prioritizing multiple workstreams,settinga plan of action for the team, and driving strong project leadership and results.
Elevate enterprise capabilitiesby developing standard methodologies, tools, and ways of working as part of a Consumer Insights Centre of Excellence /transformationagenda.
Communicate with impact through storytelling, delivering distilled, empathetic insights that build understanding and catalyze action across the organization.
Lead and develop a high-performing team (3 direct reports)through coaching, mentorship, and talent development—building a strong bench of strategic insight leaders.
Recipe for Success - apply now if this sounds like you!
Proventrack recordinleadingstrategic consumer insights / consumer researchto drive business and brand growth
Strongpeople leader with experience coaching, developing, and inspiring high-performing teams;demonstratedleadership credibility in setting vision and driving direction
Manufacturer/client-side experiencesupportinga portfolio of products/brands(highly preferred)
Deepexpertiseacrossqualitative and quantitative researchmethods and tools spanningadvertising/communication testing, innovation, brand building, andsyndicated services
Demonstrated ability todistill insights into clear “so-what” implicationsand mobilize stakeholders—bringing theconsumer to the forefrontto drive measurable business impact
Strongtrack recordoperating effectively inambiguityand leading throughchange management / transformationefforts
Hands-on experience withPOS data (Nielsen/IRI),panel data, andsocial listening(required)
Advanced capability withanalytical toolsand translating data into actionable growth recommendations (required)
Highemotional intelligence (EQ)with the ability to build trusted, effective cross-functional relationships and influence at multiple levels
Exceptionalstorytelling and communicationskills—creative, influential, and executive-ready—with excellentorganization and presentationabilities (written and verbal) andproficiencyacross theMicrosoft Office Suite
Our Total Rewards philosophy is to provide a meaningful and flexible spectrum of programs that equitably support our diverse workforce and their families and complement Kraft Heinz’ strategy and values.