Consumer Insights & Capabilities Lead

Kearney Italia, Inc.; Chicago, Northern (IL, KY); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

401(k) match

Wellness program

Home office stipend

Job summary

Kearney is seeking a Senior Manager to lead Consumer Insights & Capabilities across client engagements in the Americas, Chicago. The role combines leading insights workstreams with shaping scalable capabilities, methodologies, and tools to deliver high‑quality consumer insights.

You will collaborate with leadership to codify approaches, drive business development with a consumer lens, and develop thought leadership that translates evolving consumer needs into differentiated client strategies.

Qualifications

• 5-10 years’ experience in consumer insights, consumer research, and translating consumer understanding into actionable business recommendations.
• Experience selecting and applying qualitative and quantitative research methodologies based on the business question and available evidence.
• The ability to synthesize complex research and data into clear, compelling insights and implications for senior stakeholders.
• Strong project and workstream leadership skills, with the ability to operate independently and collaborate effectively with consulting teams, clients, and external research partners.
• Experience building or codifying consumer insights methodologies, tools, frameworks, or organizational capabilities.
• A strong consumer orientation and an ability to bring the consumer perspective into strategy, innovation, and business development.
• Excellent communication, facilitation, and stakeholder‑management skills.
• A collaborative and entrepreneurial mindset, with an interest in helping build and grow Kearney’s consumer insights capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the consumer insights lead on select client engagements, independently leading workstreams and stepping in for the VP as needed.
• Assess clients’ existing consumer research and knowledge to determine what is known, identify critical gaps, and develop a clear point of view on the additional insights required.
• Recommend the right research approaches and studies based on the business question, existing knowledge, timeline, and desired outcomes.
• Lead the day‑to‑day execution of consumer insights workstreams, partnering with project teams, the Consumer Insights COE, research partners, and clients.
• Synthesize research into clear, compelling insights and implications that directly inform strategy, innovation, and decision‑making.
• Bring project teams up to speed on consumer learning and facilitate the application of insights, including ideation, concept development, and evaluation of ideas.

Skills

Consumer insights

Project leadership

Stakeholder management

Communication

Collaboration

Business development

Job description

Kearney is seeking a Senior Manager to lead Consumer Insights & Capabilities across client engagements in the Americas, Chicago. The role combines leading insights workstreams with shaping scalable capabilities, methodologies, and tools to deliver high‑quality consumer insights.

You will collaborate with leadership to codify approaches, drive business development with a consumer lens, and develop thought leadership that translates evolving consumer needs into differentiated client strategies.