At Northwestern Mutual, we are strong, innovative and growing. We invest in our people. We care and make a positive difference.
We're strong and growing. In a company with such a long and storied history, this may be the most exciting and important time to be a part of Northwestern Mutual. We're strong, innovative and growing.
We invest in our people. We provide opportunities for employees to grow themselves, their career and in turn, our business.
We care. We make a positive difference in our communities. Nationally, thousands have benefitted from our support of research and programs to fight childhood cancer. Each year, our Foundation, employees and financial representatives donate time, talent and financial support to causes they're passionate about.
Northwestern Mutual, a 160+-year-young company, is amid a transformation that's taking the company and brand to exciting new heights. The Consumer Insights team is looking for a passionate leader who can elevate our transformation of emerging consumer markets - women and underrepresented consumers.
Our ideal candidate gets excited about working on behalf of our consumer and stitching together compelling stories rooted in deep consumer insights. The Assistant Director, Consumer & Market Insights will operate as an agent of change across our company.
You'll work cross-functionally with teams to drive consumer awareness, affinity and long-term relationships. You will also collaborate and influence internal cross-functional partners as we build out a data agnostic Insights & Research culture that looks across consumer, field, category, and brand data.
Principal Responsibilities:

• As a member of a high-performance Consumer Insights team, you bring a consumer lens to our work every day. A "trend seeker" who's able to add to discussions on consumer insights, cultural trends, etc. should be able to then apply insights to drive teams to action, inform creative briefs, drive integrated strategies that ultimately increase brand relevance and impact.
• Help to drive clarity across core and emerging growth segments by creating a focused and proactive learning agenda (e.g., tracking data, consumer fact bases, concept testing/refinement, message optimization, client experience enhancement, thought leadership, etc.).
• A creative problem solver who can apply diverse thought and experiences; Monitor relevant consumer, brand and category trends specific to emerging dynamics: (e.g., Growing Wealth Transfer Trends; Impacts of Student Debt, Evolving CX expectations, etc.).
• Where applicable, test and refine field content and communications to support needs of all clients and consumers.
• Work cross-functionally with product, client marketing, and digital teams to develop communication and strategies that are grounded in deep consumer and competitive understanding.
• Advise discussion guides and surveys among field/client/prospect as needed.
• Leverage brand/reputation/social tracking data to drive baseline understanding and action for consumer segments of interest.
• Deliver reports, competitive insights and implications to assigned business partners to inform decisions that improve the consumer/client experience.
• Work with technical resources to design integrated internal and syndicated datasets to yield deeper analysis where possible.
• Find opportunities to improve the team's analytical capabilities by evaluating current processes, new trends, working with business partners, and taking initiative to apply new and improved research approaches.
• Proactively share relevant information and competitive insights.
• Interpret and synthesize multi-source data into insights that lead to practical marketing strategies and plans for the brand.
• Work with fellow researchers to own (and improve) knowledge management tools, processes and resources associated with the Consumer Insights team.
• Tracks and maintains insight project budgets and billing
• Be a go-to source for ad-hoc category analysis for Consumer Insights and marketing team.

Minimum Requirements:

• 10+ years' experience in consumer insights, strategy and/or consulting; Significant time supporting marketing strategy ideation sessions and client marketing experience. Experience in diversity & inclusivity marketing efforts preferred. Financial Services not a requirement.
• Bachelor's degree (or higher) in business, marketing, advertising, communications or related field.
• A self-starter who's able to self-direct the management and execution of programs from inception through completion - on target, on brand, on time, on budget.
• A strong communicator both in written and verbal form
• A strong collaborator, who is skilled at working with various levels and functions across an enterprise
• Comfortable influencing without authority, requiring strong relationship skills across various department disciplines
• Data-driven decision maker with strong foundation of branding best practices, strategies and insights
• A creative problem solver who can apply diverse thought and experiences to optimize brand results
• Professional, upbeat, inquisitive personality who accepts disruption and challenging the status quo.
• Be comfortable advocating for the consumer and driving consumer insight-led actions across the enterprise.

Benefits:
Great pay package, 401K, Company sponsored retirement plan, Educational assistance, Performance based incentive pay, Medical, dental and vision insurance, Parental leave, Caregiver time off....and more
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W e are an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age or status as a protected veteran, or any other characteristic protected by law.
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