Senior Consumer Insights Researcher — Packaging & Design Testing

Aquent; New York (NY); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Aquent is seeking a Senior Consumer Insights Researcher focused on packaging and design testing. The role involves hands-on, end-to-end research leadership to help a global CPG team make evidence-based packaging decisions across toothpaste-cap designs and related concepts.

The ideal candidate will design and execute studies, analyze results, and deliver recommendations that communicate premium quality and brand fit, with the aim of scalable, repeatable research processes for ongoing needs.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated ability to lead quantitative consumer research from brief to final recommendations.
• CPG research experience including packaging evaluation, design testing, or related product-concept research.
• Strong questionnaire design, sampling, and statistical analysis skills.
• Experience recruiting target consumers or managing consumer-panel providers.
• Ability to separate personal preference, perceived premium quality, and purchase intent as distinct measures.
• Ability to translate findings into practical decisions for packaging, design, and marketing teams.
• Comfort working independently with stakeholders across functions.

Responsibilities

• Partner with packaging, design, and marketing stakeholders to define research questions and decision criteria.
• Design quantitative studies to compare packaging options and assess preference, perceived quality, premium positioning, and brand fit.
• Develop questionnaires, screening criteria, sampling plans, and approaches for presenting concepts fairly.
• Coordinate consumer recruitment and research fieldwork through survey platforms and panel providers.
• Manage study execution, timelines, and quality checks.
• Analyze findings, assess differences between designs, and explain limitations.
• Present data-backed recommendations to help stakeholders select or refine packaging concepts.
• Develop reusable research templates and processes for future studies.

Job description

Senior Consumer Insights Researcher — Packaging & Design Testing

Role overview

We are seeking a hands‑on consumer insights researcher to help a global consumer packaged goods team make evidence‑based packaging decisions.

The initial focus is evaluating toothpaste‑cap designs to understand consumer preference and whether different options communicate premium quality or luxury. Working with existing images and mock‑ups supplied by packaging and design teams, this person will own the research process from study design through analysis and recommendations.

The role will also help establish a repeatable approach for recurring packaging research needs.

Responsibilities

• Partner with packaging, design, and marketing stakeholders to define research questions and decision criteria.
• Design quantitative consumer studies to compare packaging alternatives and assess preference, perceived quality, premium positioning, and brand fit.
• Develop questionnaires, screening criteria, sampling plans, and approaches for presenting design concepts fairly.
• Coordinate consumer recruitment and research fieldwork through available survey platforms and participant‑panel providers.
• Manage study execution, timelines, and response‑quality checks.
• Analyze findings, assess meaningful differences between designs, and explain limitations.
• Present clear data‑backed recommendations that help stakeholders select or refine packaging concepts.
• Develop reusable research templates and processes to support future studies efficiently.

Required qualifications

• Demonstrated experience independently leading quantitative consumer research from initial brief through final recommendations.
• Relevant CPG research experience, including packaging evaluation, design testing, or closely related product‑concept research.
• Strong questionnaire design, sampling, and statistical analysis skills.
• Experience recruiting target consumers or managing consumer‑panel providers.
• Ability to distinguish personal preference, perceived premium quality, and purchase intent as separate research measures.
• Ability to translate findings into practical decisions for packaging, design, and marketing teams.
• Comfort working independently with stakeholders across functions.

Preferred experience

• Oral care, personal care, beauty, skincare, or other premium consumer‑product categories.
• Studies exploring packaging aesthetics, luxury perceptions, and brand positioning.
• Research across multiple countries or consumer segments.
• Building repeatable research processes within a business.
• Qualitative follow‑up research to explain the reasons behind quantitative findings.
• Physical‑product or sensory research, if the scope expands beyond visual evaluation.

Ideal candidate profile

A senior individual contributor or hands‑on research manager who has personally delivered packaging studies for a CPG brand or research agency. The candidate should be comfortable both executing the work and advising stakeholders on what the evidence supports.

Success in this role means stakeholders receive timely, credible consumer feedback, understand which packaging designs best meet the research objectives, and have a repeatable process for future evaluations.