Director, Customer & Message Optimization

The Director, Customer & Message Optimization is the platform owner and capability leader for message development, concept testing, and customer segmentation research within BMS's Global Market Research Center of Excellence (CoE). This leader is responsible for building, governing, and continuously improving the shared platforms and capability frameworks that Therapeutic Areas (TA) and Business Units (BU) Market Research teams use to develop, test, and optimize brand messaging, value propositions, and customer engagement strategies across BMS's portfolio.

• Build and govern the shared platform infrastructure that TA and BU MR teams use to design, field, and analyze message testing, concept evaluation, value proposition development, and customer segmentation research.
• Define and maintain the platform's structural elements, output formats, and analytical frameworks built into message and concept testing tools to ensure cross-TA comparability while allowing TA-level design flexibility.
• Own the platform governance model (rules, documentation standards, and escalation processes that govern how TA teams configure, adapt, and report from CoE message and concept testing platforms).
• Partner with the Director, CoE Strategy & AI Innovation on message and concept testing platform vendor requirements and preferred supplier selection, ensuring vendors are governed in a manner consistent with the CoE's broader capability architecture and AI roadmap.
• Own the platform development roadmap for AI-enabled and self-serve message testing and concept optimization tools, sequenced against TA/BU capability needs and CoE platform priorities.
• Define the platform validation framework for AI-enabled message and concept testing, establishing how AI-generated outputs are tested for reliability and decision-readiness before teams adopt new platforms for live programs.
• Support TA/BU MR teams through the adoption of new message testing platforms, providing capability onboarding, user support, and change management as teams transition from traditional vendor-led approaches to AI-enabled and self-serve models.
• Monitor AI message testing platform output quality on an ongoing basis, flagging platform-level anomalies or reliability concerns to the CoE and relevant TA stakeholders.
• Serve as the CoE's primary advisory resource for TA and BU teams on all message testing and concept optimization platform questions, providing expert guidance on platform configuration, output interpretation, and capability use as requested on a pull basis.
• Partner with TA/BU MR leads to gather message and concept testing platform requirements, test new capabilities, and identify cross-TA/BU opportunities for shared instrument development or coordinated research approaches.
• Track platform adoption across TA/BU teams, identify barriers to adoption, and work with TA/BU leads to address them, ensuring CoE message and concept testing platforms add genuine value rather than being mandated.
• Represent BMS's message and concept testing platform requirements in vendor relationships, ensuring preferred suppliers build and deliver against the platform standards the CoE has established.

• Minimum 8 years of experience in Market Research, commercial insights, or a related analytics function within the pharmaceutical, biotech, or healthcare industry.
• Bachelor's degree required; MBA or advanced degree strongly preferred.
• Strong working knowledge of message testing, concept evaluation, value proposition research, and customer segmentation approaches, sufficient to credibly engage with expert MR practitioners and translate their needs into platform requirements.
• Demonstrated experience owning or governing a shared research platform, analytics tool, or capability infrastructure used by multiple teams or stakeholders simultaneously.
• Clear understanding of AI-enabled research platforms and the practical implications of transitioning from traditional vendor-led message and concept testing to AI-assisted or self-serve approaches, including platform validation, output comparability, and change management.
• Proven ability to drive platform adoption in a matrixed organization where stakeholder teams have high autonomy and established ways of working.
• Experience working with and managing external research vendors, including platform quality oversight, scope management, and performance evaluation.
• Strong change management and stakeholder influence skills.
• Strong executive communication skills, with the ability to explain platform capability investments and transition decisions in business-impact terms for senior commercial leadership.
• Familiarity with global regulatory requirements for Market Research data usage and privacy compliance as applied to message and concept testing platforms.

• Able to build and govern a shared message and concept testing capability platform that serves diverse contexts without imposing a…