Global Solutions Development, Brand Guidance - Senior Director

Job Title

Global Solutions Development, Brand Guidance – Senior Director (Skale 80 / 90)

Role Overview

Leads the strategic development of the Brand Guidance portfolio of solutions, driving the growth of Brand Guidance through a strong understanding of client needs and translating that into cutting-edge ideas, methodologies and solutions.

Clients would say: I love working with you because….

You have a fantastic grasp of my challenges and use your research and brand expertise to develop products and solutions that meet my needs and are better than anything else in the industry.

Kantar colleagues would say: I love working with you because….

You are a genuine expert who works collaboratively with me and many other teams to get things done. You inspire me to offer the latest and best solutions to my clients and make it easy for me to explain the benefits of these solutions to my clients. 

Role Description

Are you a visionary leader who can work at pace with multiple stakeholders? We are seeking an exceptional individual who has deep understanding of client challenges, and is willing to spend time with clients and our client service teams to stay on top of emerging challenges and opportunities. You will combine this with deep research and brand expertise to help Kantar better meet client needs through the development and future proofing of our Brand Guidance offer.  

Reporting to the global solution leader for Brand Guidance you will partner closely with the Brand Guidance R&D and Marketing Science team to embed Kantar IP and our latest thinking into our solutions. You will hand over a development brief and spec to the Product Development team so they can manage the tech and operational build. In this pivotal role, you will have a team of three who you will manage and who will work closely with on different parts of the Band Guidance portfolio.

You will excel in connecting and collaborating across the Kantar organisation, instrumental in influencing at senior levels internally and externally. You will be a simple but powerful communicator who can translate complex concepts and break them down so that our teams get the most out of our solutions and can deliver with impact for our clients. You will work closely with the global marketing and activation team on this.

As a senior leader, you will be commercially minded. You will be concerned with ensuring our Brand Guidance solution area continues to be the growth engine of the Kantar business. To this end you will have a great understanding of what competitors are doing. You will be financially literate and able to use, or willing to learn to use, KBI to stay across the financial performance of different products within the Brand Guidance portfolio. You know that ultimately delivering value for clients has to lead to value for Kantar.

Role Requirements & Capabilities

Know Your Specialism

• Personal mastery and a comprehensive understanding of Kantar methodologies and philosophy, in particular, in brand equity and Brand Guidance.
• Can relate Kantar perspectives to industry-wide topics (e.g. Ehrenberg-Bass, Behavioural Economics) to offer a well informed and intelligent point of view on how to build great brands
• Strong research design and analytical skills; able to translate brand expertise into research inputs and outputs
• Exposure to different markets, preferably experience that covers developed & developing markets

Client Leadership

• Experience of client account management (at director or experienced manager level)
• The ability to clearly define a client’s core business question & adopt a consultative approach to empathetically support clients in solving their business issues
• Able to make a difference in client conversations

Commercial Leadership

• Drives commercial opportunity across Kantar by spotting opportunities to develop and improve our offer   
• A proven contributor to winning and retaining client work; contributes occasionally to critical proposal development and pitches. 

People Leadership

• Experience directing complex projects with multi-stakeholders, multiple markets, and a complex matrixed team
• The ability to work within a global cross-functional team and occasionally external partners to drive success
• A bold self-starter attitude, comfortable working in small, flexible, and often remote / virtual teams
• Has a network across Kantar (or the ability to build a network) that they can leverage to get things done
• A confident and succinct communicator, this role requires interaction with senior stakeholders across Kantar
• Must be willing to challenge and to defend your position if required!

Offer Leadership

• Stays on top of the competitive picture; understands competitor solutions and their respective strengths and weaknesses. Makes sure this is communicated to our teams in partnership with the activation team.
• Fully conversant in the Brand Analytics offer and able to seamlessly connect it into the broader Brand Guidance solution set
• Ideally neuroscience savvy and a decent understanding of statistical and analytic techniques in research solutions

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Location

Kantar Rewards Statement

At Kantar we have an integrated way of rewarding our people based around a simple, clear and consistent set of principles. Our approach helps to ensure we are market competitive and also to support a pay for performance culture, where your reward and career progression opportunities are linked to what you deliver. 

We go beyond the obvious, using intelligence, passion and creativity to inspire new thinking and shape the world we live in. Apply for a career that’s out of the ordinary and join us. 

We want to create an equality of opportunity in a fair and supportive working environment where people feel included, accepted and are allowed to flourish in a space where their mental health and well being is taken into consideration. 

We want to create a more diverse community to expand our talent pool, be locally representative, drive diversity of thinking and better commercial outcomes. 

Kantar is the world’s leading data, insights and consulting company. We understand more about how people think, feel, shop, share, vote and view than anyone else. Combining our expertise in human understanding with advanced technologies, Kantar’s 30,000 people help the world’s leading organisations succeed and grow.