Associate Director of Shopper Integrated Intelligence, Global M&M’S Retail

Job Description

M&M’S is on a journey to its next phase of transformative growth with a bold vision to double the business. This will be achieved through a ‘One M&M’S’ team approach, designed to fully unlock and amplify the unique ecosystem across our core CPG Brand and Retail business.

The Associate Director of Integrated Intelligence (Shopper Insights & Analytics), Global M&M’S Retail plays a pivotal role in turning data and insights into action for our Retail business. This leader will drive robust guest and consumer insights generation, acting as a key insights' owner and co-pilot to the development of Retail‑first growth strategies that bring the brand to life in compelling and effective ways.

Through the development and deployment of insights, future‑back measurement capabilities, and data‑driven growth analysis, this role will deepen our understanding of guests — from their journey across the M&M’S ecosystem to how they engage with our signature experiences and respond to new products — uncovering insights that can better inform our ecosystem strategy, reimagine/optimize our experiences, and Retail growth planning choices (across Stores and Digital/.Com).

• Consumer & Shopper Insight Generation: Lead development of global learning plans [including shopper journeys, purchase/shopper decision trees, ethnographies] and design/execute strategic research that helps the M&M’S Retail team better understand who our existing and target guests are and the depths of their demographics/psychographics in order to unlock more effective, consumer‑led growth planning strategic choices (across marketing activations, reimagining experiences, visual merchandising, media buying).
• Future‑back Measurement & Capability‑Building: Be on the forefront of developing new-to-the-world measurement and insights tools/methodologies that help quantify the impact of consumer journeys across M&M’S Brand Ecosystem touchpoints; support the development and activation of M&M’S first‑party data strategy & plan, leveraging the power of 1PD to uncover learnings and inform the overall One M&M’S ecosystem; partner with Mars Snacking Digital Technologies, Analytics and Integrated Intelligence teams to inform tech‑driven needs and capabilities, being the voice of M&M’S guest and shoppers.
• Agile Innovation Insights: Support the development of M&M’S Retail innovation strategy and pipeline development (across product and merch), providing foresights/trends and driving standardized concept testing approaches to validate consumer desirability.
• Performance Tracking & Reporting: Lead M&M’S Retail guest and external Retail competitor/consumerism analysis and reporting (i.e., foot‑traffic, sales conversion, funnel metrics), including ownership of data acquisition, stewardship and vendor/agency management.
• Act as a key M&M’S Shopper Insights Partner: Partner/Coordinate with Global and Regional Brand Integrated Intelligence teams to help inform broader M&M’S Brand GTM Excellence and Dcomm strategy initiatives from an insights perspective (i.e., Digital Merchandising Must Haves).
• Connecting the Dots, Stakeholder Influence & Alignment: Clearly communicate strategies, results, and learnings to build alignment across senior leadership and cross‑functional partners globally; act as single point of connection across One M&M’S, partnering with brand human intelligence and regional shopper insights for priority ecosystem initiatives.

• 6-10+ years of experience in integrated intelligence, shopper insights, customer/consumer experience, with focus on retail, experiential, or consumer brand marketing.
• Proven track record of designing and executing market research initiatives and learning plans.
• Strong analytical and commercial mindset, with experience managing vendors, budgets and a Retail P&L/operational understanding.
• Proven ability to connect dots, build strong relationships and work collaboratively in a highly matrixed organization with a variety of stakeholders.
• Excellent leadership‑level communication and presentation skills (both oral and written).

• Experience with flagship or high‑profile retail environments.
• B…