Senior Director Financial Services Analytics and Decisioning

Dentsu; Maryland; Hybrid; USD 143,000 - 224,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, vision, and dental insurance

Life insurance

Disability insurance

401k

Flexible PTO

15+ paid holidays per year

Paid sick and safe leave

Paid parental leave

Job summary

Merkle, part of Dentsu, is seeking a Senior Director to lead customer analytics and modeling for insurance and banking clients. You will own the analytics relationships with C-suite executives, set multi-year roadmaps, and translate first-party and call center data into strategic insights that drive growth across multiple financial services domains.

The role requires deep analytics expertise, strong stakeholder management, and hands-on review of modeling work.

Qualifications

• 15+ years in analytics, data science, or related fields, including leading modeling delivery for multiple clients or complex portfolios and managing senior leaders.
• Track record advising C-level or senior executives in insurance or banking, with strong stakeholder management and client-facing communication.
• Deep understanding of customer lifecycle, acquisition and retention economics, and CLV.
• Hands‑on depth in propensity, ranking, and CLV modeling, with the ability to review code, features, and validation directly.
• Experience with regulated customer data (privacy, consent, GLBA, FCRA and permissible purpose, state insurance regulation, TCPA as applicable).
• Strong SQL and data modeling (facts and dimensions), with working familiarity with Python or R, ETL/ELT (SSIS or similar), and BI tools (Tableau, PowerBI, or Looker).
• GCP/BigQuery experience preferred
• Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree (MBA, MS, PhD) preferred
• Strongly Preferred: Insurance and protection depth – persistency, lapse, and value of new business
• Strongly Preferred: Banking and lending depth – deposits, balances, NII drivers, cards, and consumer and commercial lending
• Credit bureau experience, including TransUnion, in consumer lending or underwriting models
• Salesforce or contact center analytics
• Predictive analytics, text and speech analytics, and AI readiness
• Lead management, next best action, or decisioning platform experience
• Uplift modeling, incrementality, or MMM at scale
• Exceptional executive communication and insight translation
• Agency or consulting experience in complex, multi-workstream environments
• Business development and expansion track record

Responsibilities

• Own senior client relationships as primary analytics partner to C-suite and senior executives across Marketing, Distribution, Customer, Product, and Finance/Actuarial (insurance) or Risk and Finance (banking)
• Set the customer analytics vision and multi-year roadmap for each account, aligned to business priorities and long-term objectives
• Provide thought leadership on lead management, next best action, incrementality, and customer value, moving clients from point solutions to operating-model answers
• Translate customer, call center, and omnichannel data (dispositions, outcomes, QA/CSAT, operational KPIs) into executive-ready recommendations that drive prioritization and investment
• Set standards for segmentation, propensity, lead scoring, and CLV, including validation, calibration, and champion/challenger design, and review features and performance before client delivery
• Lead next best action and decisioning design, including eligibility rules, business constraints, and offline-to-live validation
• Set measurement and test-and-learn standards so investment decisions rest on evidence, not attribution assertions
• Orchestrate analytics, data science, and engineering as one delivery model, including ETL/ELT, feature frameworks, and data governance in regulated environments
• Partner across operations, marketing, and distribution to turn insight into measurable action
• Modernize legacy data and analytics processes, adopting AI-enabled analytics and unstructured data where they create measurable value
• Establish frameworks, best practices, and documentation standards across the portfolio, and lead through ambiguity and client transitions with clear ownership
• Lead, mentor, and develop Directors, Team Leads, and senior modelers
• Contribute to proposals, expansion, and scoping, with commercial discipline on what is in and out of scope
• Travel to client sites as account needs require, with a typical cadence of monthly to quarterly depending on the engagement

Skills

Stakeholder management

Executive communication

Analytics leadership

Data modeling

Education

Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree preferred

Tools

SQL

Python or R

ETL/ELT

Tableau/PowerBI/Looker

BigQuery

Job description

The purpose of this role is to set the strategic direction for the team, taking ownership of the overall vision and outcomes, liaising with other channels to ensure an integrated approach/roadmap.

Job Description

At Merkle, we help top financial services clients grow through data, analytics, and customer insight. We are hiring a Senior Director to lead customer analytics and modeling for insurance and banking clients, connecting first-party, customer, and call center data to the decisions that move each client’s growth metric.

Role Summary

Own the analytics relationship and strategy for senior executives at top-tier financial services clients across banking and lending, payments, wealth and asset management, insurance and protection (excluding health), and FinServ technology. Each engagement is anchored to the growth metric the client owns. The role turns first-party, customer, and call center data into insights that drive investment and customer decisions, sets the multi-year analytics and decisioning roadmap, and owns the modeling standards behind it. The leader stays close enough to the modeling to challenge it and to build when staffing requires, while partnering on strategic thinking and guiding executive discussion, which is the core of the role rather than just hands-on build. The role is staffed where an account or portfolio needs senior coverage: as primary analytics partner on a large or complex account, or as senior oversight across accounts that share a client world, stepping in as account lead where needed. Reports to VP, Analytics, Financial Services.

Responsibilities

• Own senior client relationships as primary analytics partner to C-suite and senior executives across Marketing, Distribution, Customer, Product, and Finance/Actuarial (insurance) or Risk and Finance (banking)
• Set the customer analytics vision and multi-year roadmap for each account, aligned to business priorities and long-term objectives
• Provide thought leadership on lead management, next best action, incrementality, and customer value, moving clients from point solutions to operating-model answers
• Translate customer, call center, and omnichannel data (dispositions, outcomes, QA/CSAT, operational KPIs) into executive-ready recommendations that drive prioritization and investment
• Set standards for segmentation, propensity, lead scoring, and CLV, including validation, calibration, and champion/challenger design, and review features and performance before client delivery
• Lead next best action and decisioning design, including eligibility rules, business constraints, and offline-to-live validation
• Set measurement and test-and-learn standards so investment decisions rest on evidence, not attribution assertions
• Orchestrate analytics, data science, and engineering as one delivery model, including ETL/ELT, feature frameworks, and data governance in regulated environments
• Partner across operations, marketing, and distribution to turn insight into measurable action
• Modernize legacy data and analytics processes, adopting AI-enabled analytics and unstructured data where they create measurable value
• Establish frameworks, best practices, and documentation standards across the portfolio, and lead through ambiguity and client transitions with clear ownership
• Lead, mentor, and develop Directors, Team Leads, and senior modelers
• Contribute to proposals, expansion, and scoping, with commercial discipline on what is in and out of scope
• Travel to client sites as account needs require, with a typical cadence of monthly to quarterly depending on the engagement

Requirements

• 15+ years in analytics, data science, or related fields, including leading modeling delivery for multiple clients or complex portfolios and managing senior leaders
• Track record advising C-level or senior executives in insurance or banking, with strong stakeholder management and client-facing communication
• Deep understanding of customer lifecycle, acquisition and retention economics, and CLV
• Hands‑on depth in propensity, ranking, and CLV modeling, with the ability to review code, features, and validation directly
• Experience with regulated customer data (privacy, consent, GLBA, FCRA and permissible purpose, state insurance regulation, TCPA as applicable)
• Strong SQL and data modeling (facts and dimensions), with working familiarity with Python or R, ETL/ELT (SSIS or similar), and BI tools (Tableau, PowerBI, or Looker)
• GCP/BigQuery experience preferred
• Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree (MBA, MS, PhD) preferred
• Strongly Preferred: Insurance and protection depth (P&C, life, annuity, affinity) – persistency, lapse, and value of new business
• Strongly Preferred: Banking and lending depth – deposits, balances, NII drivers, cards, and consumer and commercial lending
• Credit bureau experience, including TransUnion, in consumer lending or underwriting models
• Salesforce or contact center analytics
• Predictive analytics, text and speech analytics, and AI readiness
• Lead management, next best action, or decisioning platform experience
• Uplift modeling, incrementality, or MMM at scale
• Exceptional executive communication and insight translation
• Agency or consulting experience in complex, multi-workstream environments
• Business development and expansion track record

The annual salary range for this position is $143000-$224,000. Placement within the salary range is based on a variety of factors, including relevant experience, knowledge, skills, and other factors permitted by law.

Benefits

• Medical, vision, and dental insurance
• Life insurance
• Short-term and long-term disability insurance
• 401k
• Flexible paid time off
• At least 15 paid holidays per year
• Paid sick and safe leave
• Paid parental leave

Dentsu also complies with applicable state and local laws regarding employee leave benefits, including, but not limited to providing time off pursuant to the Colorado Healthy Families and Workplaces Act, in accordance with its plans and policies. For further details regarding Dentsu benefits, please visit www.dentsubenefitsplus.com.

Location & Working Arrangement

USA - Remote - Maryland

Brand: Merkle

Time Type: Full time

Contract Type: Permanent

Our hybrid way of working combines remote flexibility with regular in‑person collaboration to spark ideas and strengthen our teams. Many of our employees who live within commuting distance (90 minutes) from one of our Headquarter or Hub Offices (NewYork, Chicago, Detroit, LosAngeles) are required to work in the office 2-3 days per week including one Team Day. The minimum number of days may vary by office and role. Dentsu may designate other HQ or Hub offices at any time. Those who do not live near an office may be designated as a remote employee, depending on the role and business needs. Regardless of your work location, we expect you to be flexible to meet the needs of our Company and clients, which may include attendance in an office from time to time.

Equal Opportunity Statement

Dentsu is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees. We do this without regard to race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, ancestry, physical or mental disability, marital status, political affiliation, religious practices and observances, citizenship status, genetic information, veteran status, or any other basis protected under applicable federal, state, or local law. Dentsu is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to, among others, individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans. If you need an accommodation because of a disability to search and apply for a career opportunity with us, please send an e‑mail to [e-mail] by clicking on the link to let us know the nature of your accommodation request and your contact information. We are here to support you.

Company Overview

About dentsu For over 120 years, innovation is a core tenet of our offering – exploring new ways to reach, engage and nurture relationships with audiences. Together we drive a multiplier effect for clients at a global scale, through the development of Integrated Growth Solutions that are underpinned by our promise to clients: innovating to impact. Be a force for good. Sustainability is a vital part of our business and an important area of focus for our clients. We’re leading the way – helping to build a more sustainable planet. Dream loud. In this moment of transformation, we need our people to be fearless, embracing change and ambiguity, driven by the love for their work and excitement for the future. Team without limits. We create opportunities for connection and collaboration between our colleagues and clients, building a sense of belonging and having some fun along the way.

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