Market Research Manager - OTC/Pharma

The Market Research manager will own, develop and implement market research activities of the organization and support brand management and trade marketing teams with rich, actionable category, consumer and shopper insights. He/she will develop the independent research capabilities and standards of the organization and will be the single point of contact for any research activity. Key activities will include marketing research for existing brand portfolio expansion as well as new launch related research. He/she would needs to be comfortable with and have experience of category, consumer and shopper research and insight generation.

Beyond the above functional responsibilities, the Market Research Manager will need to take the extended stakeholders along in key decision making - R&D, Sales, Marketing, Regulatory /claims.

The Market Research Manager reports to the Marketing Head. He/she works very closely with research agencies, brand management, and trade marketing teams.

Responsibilities

- Lead the creation of a systematic, periodic and effective process for capturing inputs, opportunities and risks from the consumer and market (including but not restricted to Retail and Household Panels, direct consumer interactions, consumer surveys, online research etc)

- Ability to synthesize the in-depth market/ consumer understanding to feed it into the business in a actionable manner i.e. enable decision making whether for pricing, marketing, product etc; impact on volume forecasts and business projections; brand / category performance, launch evaluations, competitor activity

- Disseminate knowledge to the broader organization via creation of templates/ trainings etc to enable a comprehensive understanding of market/ consumer data & insights and fundamental trends shaping the future

- Help appoint and build a network of relationships with external research agencies to tap into and leverage as per the business needs (insights, concepts, products, packaging, portfolio, equity, shopper study etc) in a cost and time-effective way.

- Own and effectively manage allocated research budgets

- Key Metrics – Research Costs vs. Budget, Innovation successes rate, Turnover from Innovation, Concept scores (Uniqueness/Relevance) during new launches, Research Completion OTIF,

Education and Experience Requirements:

Education: MBA from reputed Indian/Global business school

Work Experience: 6-7 years of FMCG or Consumer Healthcare Market Research experience (OTC and niche/nascent category research experience is a plus). Top FMCG companies will be preferred.

Key Skills and Competencies:

- Demonstrated ability to mine actionable insights from large quantities of research data, leading to business impact

- Handled a portfolio of brands/categories

- Driven new category / brand launch-related research

- Appointed new agencies on his/her own

- Able to lead and work independently, in an entrepreneurial setting

- Proven expertise in the area of understanding consumer/shopper behavior

- Strong analytical and data interpretation skills

- Strong understanding of brand management

- Customer centricity and ‘service’ mindset

- Ability to work in entrepreneurial setups

- High external orientation and good understanding of consumer and shopper trends, understanding of Consumer Healthcare trends / insights is an added advantage, but not mandatory

- Strong demonstrated ability to manage and get high performance from market research agencies

- Good project management skills

- Strong communication skills and ability to communicate effectively across levels and functions

Personal Characteristics

- Entrepreneurial spirit

- Proactive

- Team player

- High level of empathy

- Strong intuitive business and shopper understanding

- Operates with Discipline and Scarcity mind-set