The position of Market Research Manager reports to the Director, Global Market Research. The incumbent will support corporate and division decision-making through planning, designing, managing, implementation, analyzing and communicating findings and business implications from market research activities. Specific areas of focus will be as the primary point of contact for Market Research with selected lead divisions, as well as some involvement supporting Global Marketing and Communications, Corporate Development and other key corporate groups.
This position is key to defining the issues to be addressed by Global Market Research as well as implementing and completing projects. This includes working with Marketing in lead divisions to develop long range, ongoing programs for assessing customer perceptions that can be used in developing business strategies, guiding innovation and positioning Ecolab product and service offerings. This also encompasses following up with business managers to assist in using the analyses appropriately, and to assess if they are having a positive impact on the business.
Responsibilities:
- Directing the assessment of customer satisfaction, product acceptance, and quality of service for Ecolab’s products and services;
- Recommending and helping develop effective short- and long-term strategies for current and potential businesses;
- Advocating the customer’s viewpoint within the company’s sales and marketing organizations;
- Through business research, identifying competitors’ structure, channels of distribution, operating strategies, and other relevant information;
- Developing and implementing focus groups, telephone surveys, online research and other forms of customer feedback;
- Providing research assessing issues related to the potential acquisition of businesses;
- Providing business units with recommendations regarding new market and product opportunities;
- Understanding the market positions of lead divisions and developing methods to refine analyses of market size, share and industry growth;
- Directing the analysis of customer reactions to new product introductions by Ecolab or competitors;
- Learning and maintaining up-to-date working knowledge of assigned Ecolab business units, as well as of their customer industries, products and services, and competitors; and
- Providing added value by becoming knowledgeable about the body of prior market research analyses for assigned business units and leveraging that knowledge in developing new insights for accelerating growth and profitability.
Basic Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in a business-related discipline
- Minimum of five years of progressively responsible B-to-B marketing research experience on the client side
Preferred Qualifications:
- MBA or advanced degree
- A disciplined approach to marketing research, with the ability to effectively relate to the marketing, sales, and finance functions will be key to the success of this position
- Familiarity with a wide range of quantitative and qualitative research techniques is important
- Past experience in moderating group discussions and ideation sessions is a plus
- Excellent verbal and communication skills, a high level of integrity and willingness to function in a hands-on, fast paced environment is an absolute must
- The ideal candidate will have a global orientation, and experience working on projects having worldwide scope with team members who have international responsibilities.
- Demonstrated influencing skills to work internally with and through people in a wide range of levels and positions who do not have a direct reporting relationship to Market Research, and externally with third-party market research supplier and consulting partners
