Director - Research & Insights

This job posting is anticipated to remain open for 30 days, from 11-Feb-2026. The posting may close early due to the volume of applicants.

Join a financial services firm where your contributions are valued. Edward Jones is a Fortune 500 company where people come first. With over 9 million clients and 20,000 financial advisors across the U.S. and Canada, we’re proud to be privately-owned, placing the focus on our clients rather than shareholder returns.

Behind everything we do is our purpose:
We partner for positive impact to improve the lives of our clients and colleagues, and together, better our communities and society. We are an innovative, flexible, and inclusive organization that attracts, develops, and inspires performance excellence and a sense of belonging.

People are at the center of our partnership. Edward Jones associates are seen, heard, respected, and supported. This is what we believe makes us the best place to start or build your career.

View our Purpose, Inclusion and Citizenship Report.

¹Fortune 500, published June 2024, data as of December 2023. Compensation provided for using, not obtaining, the rating.

The Director of Research and Insights will proactively drive thought leadership and strategy with primary goal to establish a Financial Advisor (FA) or Consumer Insights Hub that prioritizes:

• Faster distillation of data
• Shareable intelligence
• Decision-ready insights across all functions

The role will lead the development and execution of strategic research with the objective of delivering actionable insights that directly influence firm decisions and business outcomes. This role has the unique firm responsibility to understand client behaviors, preferences, needs, wants, and wishes through best-in‑class primary and secondary research. The insights derived from this role will enable FA, client, and prospect decision‑making across the organization, personalized marketing and experience, brand, product development, and FA satisfaction.

Reporting to the Head of Martech, Analytics, and Insights, the Director will collaborate with cross‑functional teams to deliver impactful insights that shape business strategies and enhance client experiences.

• Connect the dots across disciplines:
  Integrate behavioral science, advanced analytics, primary and secondary research, and AI‑enabled/synthetic data insights for clients and FA/branch segments.
• Rapidly translate insights into action:
  Directly influence brand strategy, messaging, thought leadership, CX/VoC investments, and search‑driven & open‑source intelligence.
• Drive organizational intelligence:
  The mandate is to make the entire organization smarter and more insightful, rather than just managing a research team. Develop and implement a comprehensive research strategy to deliver actionable insights in support of business objectives, and firm, client, and FA outcomes, preferences, and behaviors.
• Accountable for best in industry research of clients, prospects, and FAs to enable strategic firm decision making, and optimal Marketing and Experience execution.
• Be a thought partner for EBM and firm leaders, anticipating needs and leveraging functional expertise to add insights effective decision making. Present insights and recommendations to senior leadership and stakeholders in a clear and compelling manner.
• Partner with other areas of EBM to ensure insights are integrated into campaigns, content development, design, market and business strategies.
• Manage and evolve regular reporting of brand health and equity metrics.
• Work closely with data and analytics teams to combine quantitative and qualitative work, resulting in comprehensive insights that are impactful to the business.
• Create and maintain a repository of insights to support ongoing initiatives and decision‑making.
• Lead and mentor a team of researchers and analysts, fostering a culture of innovation and excellence.
• Build capabilities within the team to leverage advanced research tools and methodologies.
• Manage research operations, vendors and governance to optimize sample, budget and efficiency of research execution and capabilities.

• Bachelor’s degree in marketing, business,…