Shopper Insight Manager

At IGD, we’re proud to be a Great Place to Work, where our people are empowered to grow, inspired to lead and ready to make a difference. At the heart of that experience is how we attract, welcome and support new colleagues to join us.

That’s where you come in.

We’re looking for a Shopper Insight Manager who will bring expertise and thought leadership to IGD’s insight programme, providing insight and foresight that helps our clients understand the forces shaping food, grocery and shopper behaviour.

This is a leadership role designed for someone with a strong reputation for their expertise, knowledge and ability to shape thinking. You’ll play a pivotal role in developing high-impact insight, strengthening client engagement and building IGD’s voice in the market. The role includes line management responsibility and plays an important role in developing future insight capability within IGD.

What you’ll do

Content and thought leadership

You will lead the development and continual evolution of IGD's shopper research programme, ensuring it remains commercially relevant, strategically focused and genuinely useful for clients. You’ll be expected to:

• Shape IGD's shopper insight agenda, innovating in research methods, and bringing thought leadership that influences industry thinking
• Direct, lead and shape the content plan and research programme, including input into priorities, resource allocation and budgeting
• Ensure the team delivers consistently high-quality outputs that meet agreed standards for insight, foresight, storytelling and commercial impact.
• Drive strategic focus areas for IGD’s insight programme, identifying where we can add most value for clients and the wider industry
• Deliver thought-leading reports, articles, presentations and client-ready outputs of the highest standard
• Continuously review content analytics, client feedback and market developments to identify new ideas aligned to strategy and client needs
• Work with marketing, communications and commercial teams to drive awareness of IGD’s insight through all relevant media channels

Customer engagement and influence

A core part of this role is to strengthen IGD’s relationship with clients and the wider industry. You’ll be expected to:

• Proactively engage with clients to understand their challenges, priorities and knowledge gaps, using this to shape the insight programme
• Deliver thought-leading presentations at high-profile IGD and industry events
• Lead strategic client engagement, including deep dives, webinars, advisory sessions and senior stakeholder conversations
• Lead and deliver a programme of client engagement events, forums or advisory boards
• Develop a strong senior-level external network
• Build a client-first mentality across the team by sharing client feedback, market intelligence and examples of what strong engagement looks like

Research and methodology

You will bring an expert perspective to research design, analysis and interpretation, helping IGD produce robust, credible and future-facing insight. You’ll be expected to:

• Provide expert interpretation of research data and insight, integrating multiple sources to create a clear, evidence-based perspective
• Lead and design full research programmes, ensuring the right methodology is used for the right business question
• Advocate for new methodologies and approaches that improve efficiency, strengthen foresight or help close the say-do gap
• Work closely with data and analytics colleagues to innovate reporting, visualisation, tools and processes

People leadership

• Manage, coach and develop a shopper analyst, helping them unlock their potential and progress their career
• Balance team workload, priorities and resources to deliver against objectives
• Set clear objectives and development plans, ensuring strong performance and continued growth

What we’re looking for

We’re looking for someone who combines insight expertise, commercial credibility and strong client influence. You’ll need:

• At least 8-10 years’ experience in insight, research, strategy or a related field, ideally with strong exposure to grocery, retail, FMCG or consumer goods
• Deep knowledge of the industry, with excellent commercial awareness and strategic…