Consumer Insights Manager

Suntory is a fast moving, agile and entrepreneurial business that is home to some of the nations most loved brands. The Suntory Group is one of the largest soft drinks companies and among the world's leading consumer products companies. We offer a uniquely diverse portfolio of beverages enjoyed by millions across the globe

The purpose of this position is:
To turn evidence and human understanding into competitive advantage by enabling Suntory to understand today, anticipate tomorrow and act with confidence every day.

• Identify consumer-led growth opportunities by uncovering unmet needs, tensions, motivations and evolving expectations.
• Influence category, brand, portfolio and innovation decisions with actionable evidence and clear strategic recommendations.
• Bring an external Seikatsusha perspective into business planning to help teams make more confident choices.
• Translate insights into actions that support sustainable growth and competitive advantage.
• Build deep understanding of motivations, desired end-benefits and drivers of brand choice.
• Guide the development of distinctive and meaningful brand assets that create emotional bonding and strengthen long-term brand equity.
• Support concept, communication, innovation and experience development through sharp consumer diagnostics.
• Ensure brand strategies and assets are rooted in evidence, human understanding and real-life usage contexts.
• Frame the right business questions and design focused learning plans against priority decisions.
• Integrate qualitative insight, quantitative research, BI, market performance, category data and cultural signals into one coherent view.
• Move beyond findings to clear implications, recommendations and decision-oriented storylines.
• Ensure insights are effectively disseminated, understood and activated by the right stakeholders.
• Anticipate future consumer and shopper behaviors, emerging expectations and category shifts.
• Use trends, data and consumer observation to help the business look around corners.
• Balance hindsight, current performance and foresight to support future-facing decisions.
• Act as a trusted sparring partner to marketing, category, commercial and leadership teams.
• Challenge assumptions constructively, sharpen hypotheses and bring objectivity into discussions.
• Facilitate one-team discussions that combine diverse perspectives and improve decision quality.
• Build a shared consumer-led and evidence-based culture across the organization.
• Promote Gemba, direct consumer and shopper interaction and learning from real-life contexts.
• Foster agile research practices and continuous learning loops.
• Explore and embed new methodologies, digital tools and AI-enabled approaches to increase speed, quality and impact of learning.
• Act as a knowledge enabler, democratizing access to insights rather than acting as a gatekeeper.

Joining Suntory isn't just about taking on a role, it's about embarking on a career journey. You have the opportunity to work with talented, inspiring and authentic leaders and have the freedom to dream big and go for it (Yatte Minahare). At Suntory you'll find a supportive work environment that values work life balance and that will help you realise your full potential and grow for good.

Our People and Culture team are a team that genuinely care about creating a great experience for our employees and we would love you to be part of it.

• Strong expertise in qualitative and quantitative consumer and shopper research methodologies
• Ability to integrate multiple data sources into actionable insights
• Strategic thinking linking consumer understanding to business growth
• Excellent communication, storytelling, and stakeholder engagement skills
• Experience with brand, category, and innovation strategy support
• Curiosity, human empathy, and evidence-based mindset
• Ability to influence without direct authority
• Fluency in English

• Experience with digital, AI-enabled research tools and foresight methodologies
• Knowledge of Gemba learning and direct consumer/shopper interaction
• Experience in FMCG or beverage industry
• Familiarity with market data providers such as Nielsen, IRI, Kantar

At Suntory, we recognize that diverse knowledge, perspectives, and backgrounds contribute to our collective success. We are committed to fostering a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace where all individuals can bring their whole selves to work every day, regardless of race,…