Strategic Insights Senior Manager - 9 to 12 months maternity cover

The Bel UK office is located in Sevenoaks, Kent, with a hybrid working policy combining office and remote work.

As part of the Global Strategic Insights organization, you will also work closely with Business Analytics, Foresights for Growth, and Global Brands Champions teams.

Contract: 9 to 12-month fixed-term contract, starting in January 2027.

Reporting line: The strategic insights senior manager UK & DACH belongs to the global SI team, with a direct reporting line to the EMEA Strategic Insights Director.

MAIN MISSIONS

At Bel, the vision for the Strategic Insights function is to create competitive advantage by delivering best-in-class Insights, Analytics and Foresights capabilities powered by data, technology and human understanding.

As Strategic Insights Senior Manager for UK & DACH, you will act as a strategic business partner for Marketing, Sales and Leadership teams. You will lead the local insights agenda, influence key business decisions, and help unlock sustainable growth opportunities through a deep understanding of consumers, shoppers, markets, brands and categories.

You will identify growth opportunities, challenge assumptions, bring a clear point of view on strategic choices, and transform complex data into actionable business recommendations.

In addition to supporting the UK and DACH markets, you may occasionally be required to support other Southern European markets, particularly Portugal and Spain, and global initiatives in line with strategic business priorities.

Your main responsibilities will be to:

Lead the learning agenda

• Lead a robust learning agenda aligned with local business priorities and growth ambitions.

• Leverage trends, data, consumer & shopper insights, and other relevant resources, such as macroeconomics, inform local strategies, accelerate business growth, and identify new business opportunities. 

• Identify learning gaps and turn them into a learning roadmap with clear objectives.

• Manage local SI budget with a ROI and business impact mindset.

• Leverage agency partnerships (data and ad hoc) to maximize added value. 

• Recommend potential new vendors and methodologies to address key business issues in the most efficient and impactful way.

Drive and expand data & analytics culture and usage

• Drive business and brand performance analysis and processes.

• Leverage various data sources (POS data, HH purchase dynamics, consumption trends, etc.) to explain drivers of business performance and inform both tactical and strategic business decisions with actionable recommendations.

• Support Marketing, Sales, Finance and Supply Chain teams in category and retail ad hoc analysis to understand underlying trends and impact on brand/retailer volume performance.

• Support advanced measurement approaches such as MMM when relevant

Lead local ad hoc research

Bring a strategic support to the local teams on local brand strategies, portfolio strategy … and provide clear point of view on next steps (go/no go, recommended improvements…)

This may include (not exhaustive): 

• Consumer understanding projects: U&A, Segmentation, Drivers & barriers, Ethnography, Social intelligence

• Shopper understanding projects (multi-channel): Path to purchase, Category understanding, RGM, Price & Promo analytics, Merchandizing tests

• Brand, Communication / Media projects: BHT, Brand Audit, Media & Touch points Optimization, Pre & Post Tests

• Innovation / Renovation projects: idea screeners, concept, product, packaging tests, post launch analysis 

• Trends and Foresights: local workshop facilitation leveraging global trends supports developed by the SI team, local insights sharing to feed global strategies, roll out of Bel knowledge management platform (Wikibel) 

Support global brands initiatives in UK & DACH:

• Partner with Global Brands Champions and other Strategic Insights teams on key global projects.

• Ensure local markets contribute relevant learning and perspectives to global strategies.

• Roll out and amplify global Strategic Insights programs and methodologies.

Manage and develop a junior team member:

Provide coaching, guidance and regular feedback to a junior Strategic Insights team member, fostering their professional development, autonomy and contribution to the team’s success.

Contribute to the Strategic Insights full team life, mission & transformation:  

• Share business cases and best practices with other members across the globe.

• Roll out & amplify SI global programs such as: Brand Health Tracker, Localization of global trends/ needstates, Business Analytics programs etc.

• Drive the global digital analytics roadmap: implement the global digital analytics roadmap, in collaboration with relevant internal teams and external partners, to progressively strengthen the use of digital data and social intelligence in business and brand decision-making across markets.

Success in this role will be measured by your ability to:

• Build strong and trusted partnerships with senior stakeholders.

• Influence strategic decisions through evidence-based recommendations.

• Deliver measurable business impact through insights and analytics.

• Develop a strong culture of consumer centricity and data-driven decision making.

• Ensure high quality, accuracy, timeliness and relevance of deliverables.

PROFILE/SKILLS

Education & Experience:

• Minimum 10 years of experience in Consumer Insights, Market Research, Business Analytics or related areas.

• Strong experience in FMCG/CPG environments.

• Experience working in multicultural and international organizations.

• Experience supporting senior decision-makers and business leadership teams.

• English fluent. Additional European languages are a plus.

Technical skills

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.

• Experience working with large and complex datasets from multiple sources.

• Expertise in consumer and shopper research.

• Expertise in panel data analysis (Nielsen IQ, Circana, Kantar/Numerator, or equivalent).

• Experience with Power BI and data visualization tools.

• Ability to convert complex data into clear and impactful business recommendations.

• Familiarity with digital analytics and social listening tools

Soft skills

• Strong business acumen and a growth mindset.

• Strategic thinker able to connect insights to business priorities.

• Accountable, autonomous and proactive.

• Clear and compelling storyteller.

• Able to influence and constructively challenge stakeholders.

• Results-oriented and focused on business impact.

• Agile and flexible

• Curious learner, with strong appetite for new tools and approaches (AI, DIY, etc.)

• Eager to work with people from different countries and cultures.