Everything at Ben & Jerry’s centers around people. From ensuring our employees and suppliers can take part in the profitable growth of the company, to making the best tasting ice cream for our fans – People are at the heart of everything we do!  This position will play a critical role within Ben & Jerry’s Global Team to champion our consumers and put our fans at the core of the decisions we make.

Ben & Jerry’s sits in a very unique position within Unilever which offers the opportunity to work in a fast pace and innovative values-led company, while leveraging operational excellence of Unilever. We are looking for people with the research experience and data driven results combined with an entrepreneurial spirit. A true passion for the 3-part mission, a champion for our fans, and a strategic focus to find value for our consumers and future consumers, will be essential to success in this role.

This position plays a key role within Ben & Jerry’s and offers multiple opportunities for the insights team to have a true impact on our fans experience. One of the great benefits to this CMI position within Ben & Jerry’s is the autonomy you get to truly craft the strategy and designing the approach to get at the deepest level of fan understanding and impact:

Lead the Global Insights Team: The global insights team consists of 3 different sub teams all centered around a mission to champion, understand, & advocate for our fans keeping them at the heart of our decisions. Each team plays a unique role in Loving our Fans More Than They Love Us:

Traditional Insights Team: You will have a team of 3 research associates (2 in the US, and 1 in the EU) and will be responsible for delivering research plans, debriefs, and clear recommendations. Solutions point of views from the research that should be clearly embedded across multiple teams within the organization. Your job is to set the priorities for the team, work within the resources you have been allocated to ensure Speed, Quality, and Cost are all considered for various projects across the marketing and strategic roadmaps. You will be responsible for oversight of research across all Ben & Jerry’s markets as well as research that informs our entry into new markets. Supporting and empowering your team to design their own research and careers will also be a key component to success within the insights team.

People Data Center (PDC): Ben & Jerry’s is fortunate enough to have its own dedicated People Data Center (PDC) that also sits in South Burlington, VT and supports the brand on creating new tools to bring us closer to our fans faster than ever before. The PDC has three main buckets of focus: Analyzing Online Trends in Communication, Digital Media Analysis, and Tool Development to help solve some of the most complex big data questions and make solutions more accessible to teams bringing them closer to our fans and faster than ever before. The PDC consists of two direct reports: one focused on Analyzing Online Trends and Communications/Digital Analysis, and the other focuses on Big Data and Tool Development. The Global Insights Manager will be responsible for incorporating the PDC into research, setting priorities, and upholding the mission and vision of the team to ensure the focus on Fan Impact is seen. The PDC team acts as a beacon for other Unilever PDC teams to lead by exemplifying the strength and potential this team can have and the Global Insights Manager is responsible for cascading that value and impact back to Unilever.

Consumer Services Team: Our Customer Service team looks after our fans in the US and Canada regions only. This team is lead by a Customer Service Manager and supported by 3 full time positions, 1 part time position, and 4 remote positions (the remote positions are dynamic and support the brand on an as needed basis). This is the team that is continually on the pulse of our fans and requires support for things that may occasionally come up:

• Critical Management/Support: These are issues that come up infrequently but require supporting the Consumer Services Manager with guidance and process for anything that could be of concern for product quality.
• Social Mission Response: The social mission of the company is critical for this team to uphold, and at times can elicit strong responses from individuals that hold differing ideological principles. In these moments high contact volume requires support and guidance
• Future Vision of the team: As the times evolve in the world of customer services this team should look to you for guidance and support on how to evolve utilizing trends and innovative processes to stay at the forefront of defining exceptional customer service. Unlocking the future potential of this team in the research space will be critical to success as a Global Insights Manager.

Strategic Analysis and Impact: One key focus for the Global Consumer Insights Manager will be the ability to step back from the day to day and look at the bigger picture. Through analysis that have already been completed, to organizational process like building an innovation funnel or communication plan and seeing the questions that are continually coming up and understanding why à All to build out stronger more strategic work. Partnering with the insights team to take learning across all regions and combine together a Global Strategy that ensures the learning is boiled down to a simple framework/guardrails/key learnings that can be easily applied across the business.

Foresight & Trend to Futureproof the Business: One unique ability that unlocks the potential of this role is the focus on Trends and the future of Ben & Jerry’s. This focuses on Trend Mapping, looking at trends from both a lifestyle perspective and an innovation perspective (Flavors, formats, category trends) and helping the business not only understand WHAT is happening but more importantly WHY that trend has taken place and the role it will continue to play.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Direct the design and execution of research and provide insights and recommended action to support the brand in the US, EU, as well as in our Asia and New Market expansion areas.  Areas of focus include New Products, existing product lines, Scoop Shops, Social Mission, Integrated Marketing/Integrated Brand Campaigns, Advertising, and Digital/Social Media.
• Partner with Brand Development on innovation strategy and process.  Ensure that innovation roadmap and products launched are based on solid consumer insights. Continually iterating with our fans to push the boundaries of our must win attributes including setting the curve for future innovations.
• Provide salient consumer learnings to aid in the development of successful communication campaigns.
• Identify new research methods and suppliers to address Ben & Jerry’s business issues and ensure the brand stays on the cutting edge of innovation and research.
• Identify and bring on new suppliers and manage existing research supplier relationships.
• Develop frameworks & research to monitor brand performance as well as new innovation across channels within Europe and Asia / New Markets for B&J’s.
• Lead Foresight and Trend program to identify future trends, new developments, brand performance and positioning to be used in strategic planning and decision-making. 
• Lead Research for our scoop shops and ensure a strong innovation roadmap/game plan are in place that lead the marketplace, drive experiences, and showcase the brands innovation at its best.
• Strong Management experience to lead three different teams, and integrate each team based on their unique contribution to the broader team. Foster career pathing and development through setting a visionary tone to help drive the future of research at Unilever.

Qualification

Experience:

Demonstrated high performance, 5+ years of relevant consumer/market research (concept tests, product tests, tracking, copy testing, brand image, etc.).  CPG consumer/market research experience required. Strong understanding of Digital Analytics/Social Listening Analysis/Big Data Impact to direct the People Data Center.

Education:

Undergraduate degree required.  Advanced degree in Marketing, Marketing Research, or Social Science preferred but not required.