Director Consumer Insights, House of Suntory, New York

This strategic role will collaborate with the Brand House teams to drive consumer-centric decision making and help to formulate end to end brand strategy: to support communication strategy, brand equity, consumer targeting, innovation pipeline development, product and packaging, and brand investment decisions. • Given the importance of the House of Suntory portfolio to Suntory Global Spirits, this person has the responsibility of setting the bar high in terms of strategic acumen, leveraging commercial and business analytics in addition to high skill sets in insights and in-depth brand strategy.

What makes this a great opportunity?

This individual is a key part of driving and shaping our business in a highly attractive and growing category and on amazing brands. They will build a strong network across the organization, from insights, R&D to marketing and sales, and work closely together with cross-functional counterparts globally. The role provides the opportunity to make a big impact within a short period of time.

This role reports to the Global Head of Insights for Full Bottle Spirits (Senior Director).

Role Responsibilities

• The Director, Global Consumer Insights HOS, will be responsible for supporting global insights and thought leadership for the House of Suntory portfolio which spans Japanese Whiskey, Gin, Vodka categories. This category is one of the most important categories and growth driver for Suntory Global Spirits. It has ambitious expansion plans for geographic whitespace launches beyond Japan where it draws a lot of expertise and volume.
• The Director will be critical in identifying growth opportunities for the HOS category globally.
• The Director will be a key architect in defining learning plans designed for identifying, developing and integrating consumer and brand insights throughout the Global Brand House to drive marketplace success.
• This strategic role will collaborate with the Brand House teams to drive consumer-centric decision making and help to formulate end to end brand strategy: to support communication strategy, brand equity, consumer targeting, innovation pipeline development, product and packaging, and brand investment decisions.
• While having point accountability for custom market research, the incumbent must also draw from a variety of information sources and internal resources to develop insights that provide a competitive advantage for SGS.
• This role will collaborate closely with the regional Insights partners in priority markets for the HOUSE OF SUNTORY categories.
• Given the importance of the House of Suntory portfolio to Suntory Global Spirits, this person has the responsibility of setting the bar high in terms of strategic acumen, leveraging commercial and business analytics in addition to high skill sets in insights and in-depth brand strategy.
• The key stakeholders of this role involve the Global Category Marketing Heads and Country Marketing heads that have a huge influence on the outcomes of the House of Suntory portfolio.

Qualifications

• Excellent strategic acumen/ commercial understanding skills
• Has strong global experience in insights, strategic planning and commercial analytics
• Strong leadership and people management skills
• High degree of intellectual curiosity and creative insight, coupled with a drive for actionable, tangible results
• Works effectively with a cross functional team, agency and suppliers
• High level of accountability, flexibility and self-direction to work autonomously
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills - experienced and comfortable communicating with executive-level management
• High skills in story-telling - succinct and impactful style
• Team player with ability to work well in a fast paced, unstructured entrepreneurial environment
• Highly adaptable, works well in an environment of change
• Manage multiple projects simultaneously and complete projects in a timely manner.
• Successfully influence cross-functional team members and high levels of the organization, even with limited authority
• Lead qualitative and quantitative custom research projects throughout all stages including design, execution, analysis and recommendation
• Experience with range of research methodologies; concept testing, advertising, vis-id/packaging, positioning, consumer segmentation/demand spaces etc.
• Resourceful and fiscally-minded to leverage previous custom research and other internal resources to inform POV on brand strategy and guide business decisions
• Experience with syndicated sources (e.g. Nielsen, IRI, Panel data, MRI etc.) and ability to generate category or brand insights and to form recommendations
• Strong analytical skills and demonstrated ability to draw conclusions and extract meaningful insights from data

The salary range for this role is $185,000- $200,000 along with an annual bonus, 401K match, profit sharing, and medical and wellness benefits. The salary range is commensurate with the candidate's location, experience, and skillset. The range will vary if outside of this location.