Strategic Insight Lead

Bibby Financial Services Ltd; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 55,000 - 70,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Car Allowance

Performance Bonus

Hybrid working

Private healthcare

Company pension

Flexible benefits

Wellbeing centre

Retailer discounts

Job summary

Bibby Financial Services is seeking a Strategic Insight Lead to sit in the Strategy Team and shape critical decisions by combining customer evidence, behavioural data and market intelligence. The role spans Manchester, London, Birmingham or Banbury and partners with senior leaders to ensure insights drive delivery.

You will lead an always-on SME panel, work with Data, Finance and Product, and use AI-enabled tools to broaden the team’s reach and impact. Hybrid working is offered.

Qualifications

• Significant experience in insight, strategy, research or commercial analysis, ideally within financial services or B2B.
• Strong commercial judgement and ability to connect customer evidence with financial performance.
• Record of turning research into decisions and measurable outcomes.
• Experience working across countries or cultures is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Turn BFS’s biggest strategic questions into focused research and analysis.
• Present recommendations to the executive team with evidence-backed answers to challenges.
• Turn insight into action by coordinating owners, dates and follow-through to delivery.
• Mobilise colleagues who own outcomes and report back on effectiveness to the executive team.

Skills

Strategic insight

Stakeholder management

Data analysis

Commercial acumen

Education

Degree in business/analytics

Tools

AI-enabled tools

Job description

Strategic Insight Lead - Manchester, London, Birmingham or Banbury: £55,000 - £70,000pa plus Car Allowance, Performance Bonus & Benefits.

Bibby Financial Services are growing, and we’re looking for a Strategic Insight Lead to join our Strategy Team. The Strategic Insight Lead will be at the centre of how BFS makes its biggest decisions. You will bring together customer evidence, behavioural data, market intelligence and commercial performance to help the business decide where to compete, what to build and how to deliver it.

This is not a role that produces research and hands it over. Insight must lead to a decision, an accountable owner and a clear next step. You will work closely with senior leaders to ensure evidence is understood, acted upon and carried through into delivery. You will operate within a small, high-reach Strategy Team, working with shared analysts, specialist external partners and AI-enabled research and production tools. There is room to build a career quickly here for the right person.

At Bibby Financial Services (BFS), we’ve been helping small and medium-sized businesses thrive and grow since 1982. Working across 9 countries, we provide the funding and support that give our clients the confidence to take their next step, whether that’s expanding, innovating or breaking into new markets. We’re proud to be part of Bibby Line Group, a long-standing family business and one of the UK’s oldest independent companies.

What you’ll be doing:

• Turn BFS’s biggest strategic questions into focused research and analysis.
• Present your own recommendations to the executive team and answer challenge with evidence.
• Turn insight into action. Work with senior leaders to shape decisions, make sure each one carries an owner and a date, and follow through until the outcome lands in the business.
• Mobilise the colleagues who own each outcome, none of whom will sit in your team. Report back to the executive team on whether it worked.
• Work hand in hand with the Internal Comms lead to connect insight to the story the business is telling.
• Establish and run an always-on SME panel to test needs, propositions, pricing and channels.
• Ensure research distinguishes between what customers say they want and what their behaviour demonstrates they value.
• Combine formal research with behavioural data and insight from client-facing colleagues.
• Work with Data, Finance and Product teams to link customer evidence with business performance.
• Produce a clear monthly view of customer behaviour, competitors and market change for senior leaders, and flag where it should reopen a decision.
• Run research across our existing and expansion markets, through partners and colleagues on the ground, in languages you may not speak yourself.
• Commission specialist research partners where they add scale, and challenge what they deliver.
• Use AI, shared analysts and repeatable tools to increase the team's reach and pace.

Who are we looking for?

• Significant experience in insight, strategy, research or commercial analysis, ideally within financial services, B2B services or a client-side insight function, including complex qualitative analysis.
• Strong commercial judgement and the ability to connect customer evidence with financial performance, operational delivery, risk and enterprise value.
• A record of turning research and analysis into decisions and measurable business outcomes.
• Curious about markets beyond the UK. Experience of working across countries or cultures is a strong plus.
• The ability to build credible relationships at every level, from the sales floor to the leadership team, understand their agendas and anticipate the questions the business will need to answer.
• Strong storytelling skills, with the ability to make complex evidence clear, memorable, actionable, and to connect each finding to the wider strategy rather than telling one story at a time.
• Experience designing and commissioning qualitative and quantitative research.

What you’ll get in return:

• 25 days’ holiday plus bank holidays, increasing with service, with buy/sell options
• Car Allowance
• Performance Bonus
• Hybrid working
• Private healthcare for you and your family
• Company pension scheme
• Flexible benefits (gym membership, tech, health assessments and more)
• Access to an online wellbeing centre
• Discounts with a wide range of retailers
• Plus, much more!

There’s no place quite like BFS and we’re proud of that. And it’s all down to you - you make us the people with which every ambitious business loves to work which is highlighted through our values: We partner with customers for long term success, We redefine what’s possible, We deliver what matters, when it matters and We support each other to be our best.

Please note: The closing date for this role is Friday 23rd October 2026.

We're absolutely committed to being a truly inclusive place to work, where everyone has an equal opportunity to reach their true potential. Let us know if you need adjustments to support you through any stage of the Recruitment process.