Consumer Insights & Capabilities Leader

Kearney

Chicago (IL)

On-site

USD 200,000 - 220,000

Full time

14 days+

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Benefits offered by this job

Generous retirement/contributions

Comprehensive medical insurance

Gym membership discounts

Equity-based awards for eligible roles

Learning and development opportunities

Job summary

Kearney is seeking a Consumer Insights & Capabilities Lead in Chicago to elevate how the voice of the consumer informs client work and to build capabilities across the firm. You will lead consumer insights on select engagements, assess research needs, and design scalable methodologies and tools.

You will also contribute to business development with consumer-driven perspectives and lead thought leadership initiatives.

Qualifications

5–10 years' experience in consumer insights and translating consumer understanding into actionable business recommendations.
Experience selecting qualitative and quantitative research methodologies based on the business question and available evidence.
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

Lead consumer insights 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.
Partner with the VP to develop and strengthen the firm’s core consumer insights capabilities, methodologies, and offerings.
Help codify best practices and develop repeatable approaches, tools, and frameworks that enable teams to deliver high-quality consumer insights consistently.
As new capabilities are developed, design the workflows, processes, systems, and supporting materials required to operationalize and scale them across the organization.
Build the knowledge and confidence of broader teams to effectively integrate consumer insights into their work.
Bring a strong consumer lens to business development efforts, ensuring proposals, hypotheses, and recommendations are grounded in consumer needs, behaviors, and evidence.
Partner with broader teams to shape differentiated, consumer-backed approaches for prospective clients.
Develop thought leadership, perspectives, and knowledge that create proactive conversations with clients and generate demand for consumer insights capabilities.
Identify emerging consumer topics, methodologies, and trends that can create new opportunities for client engagement and capability development.