Consumer Intelligence & Strategy Lead - GM Canada

Description

Hybrid - This role is categorized as hybrid. This means the successful candidate is expected to report to the Markham Elevation Centre three times per week, at minimum.

This posting is not for an existing vacancy within the organization and is open to new applications. (New Head Count)

AI Disclosure: As part of the application process, Artificial Intelligence will be used in the hiring process for this role

The Consumer Intelligence & Strategy Lead will drive GM Canada's consumer insight agenda in partnership with the Head of Marketing Applied Science & Intelligence, turning data into compelling stories and clear strategic direction. This role owns how we understand Canadian consumers across brands, and how that understanding becomes commercial impact: driving brand growth, market share, EV adoption, dealer performance, and retail conversion. You will translate research, analytics, and performance data into actionable recommendations that shape brand strategy, media, creative, and retail execution.

• Synthesize data from multiple sources (surveys, brand trackers, site analytics, MMM, digital analytics, retail, JD Power, YouGov, etc.) into clear, persuasive narratives about consumers, segments, behaviours, cultural moments, and commercial performance.

• Translate insights into commercial levers that improve brand preference, demand generation, EV consideration, and retail throughput.

• Lead executive level readouts on consumer sentiment, brand health, and funnel performance, providing clear recommendations on media, creative, and retail investment.

• Partner with Finance and Sales to quantify and track the business impact of insight driven decisions.

• Serve as GM Canada's authority on Canadian consumer and cultural trends, including EV adoption, charging behaviour, and evolving mobility and ownership attitudes.

• Define and own the consumer insights roadmap (brand equity, demand spaces, segmentation, EV and ICE journeys, asset and message testing, concept testing, campaign evaluation, and retail questions).

• Shape and challenge annual brand, portfolio, media, and EV transition strategies using evidence from research and analytics.

• Lead end to end design and delivery of major research programs (trackers, brand studies, campaign and retail evaluations, segmentation/demand spaces, asset and copy testing).

• Integrate dealer insights and retail performance data to identify friction points and opportunities across the purchase and ownership journey.

• Partner with Sales and CX to ensure consumer and dealer insights inform retail programs, dealer communications, and EV education.

• Set standards for research quality, methodology, and vendor selection; ensure compliance with GM legal, privacy, and data handling requirements.

• Work closely with Marketing Applied Science & Intelligence and media analytics teams to connect consumer research with simulations, forecasting, media and retail performance reporting, and in market tests.

• Partner with Applied Science to ensure brand, media, and retail KPIs ladder up to a unified view of performance and that consumer insight is embedded in measurement frameworks.

• Steer insights led conversations in partnership with Manager of Research & Insights working across agencies, contractors, analytics partners with strong analytical and storytelling capabilities.

• Embed insights into brand planning, media briefing, creative development, and retail program design.

• Create playbooks and frameworks that raise insight literacy and drive consistent, insight led decision making across the organization.

• Operate effectively in a matrixed, multi brand environment, aligning diverse stakeholders around a single, insight driven recommendation.

• Identify opportunities to simplify, automate, or modernize the insight toolkit, including self serve tools, modular questionnaires, automated trackers, and always on cultural and social listening.

• Champion modernization of the insights stack, including AI enabled text analytics and emerging methodologies, to improve speed, cost, and decision quality.

• Pilot new methods (e.g., creative/asset testing, demand spaces, advanced segmentation) where they add clear business value.

• Drive a "test, learn, scale" culture, documenting what works, codifying playbooks, and institutionalizing best practices.

• 8-10+ years in consumer insights, marketing research, or marketing analytics, with demonstrated experience influencing strategy (client side experience strongly preferred).

• Proven track record leading end to end insight programs, from framing business questions to method selection, vendor management, storytelling, and action planning.

• Deep experience with quantitative research methods (trackers, brand and campaign studies, concept/asset testing, segmentation, demand spaces); qualitative experience an asset.

• Demonstrated ability to integrate survey data, digital analytics, MMM/attribution outputs, and retail performance into a coherent narrative.

• Strong storytelling skills with the ability to simplify complexity and influence senior nontechnical audiences.

• Solid command of statistics and research design principles; comfortable challenging methodologies and assumptions.

• Experience leading or mentoring a team and managing agencies/vendors and budgets.

• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business, Economics, Statistics, Psychology, or related field; Master's degree preferred.

• Strong proficiency with SPSS (or similar statistical packages) and advanced Excel (pivot tables, Power Query/models, complex formulas).

• Handson experience with questionnaire design and sampling frameworks, including incidence/feasibility assessment and power/precision tradeoffs.

• Applied experience with conjoint analysis (Sawtooth, Qualtrics XM Conjoint) and MaxDiff analysis (Sawtooth or Rbased implementations).

• Familiarity with segmentation, factor analysis, and cluster analysis to size opportunities and define actionable consumer segments.

• Practical understanding of experimental design for inmarket testing (A/B and multivariate), including test/control setup and reading results into budget and strategy decisions.

• Experience in automotive, retail, CPG, or other complex multibrand, multichannel environments.

• Familiarity with marketing mix modeling (MMM), attribution, and media effectiveness and how they connect to primary research.

• Experience partnering with media and creative agencies to embed insight into briefing, creative development, and investment decisions.

• Insight driven decisions clearly reflected in brand plans, media allocations, and retail programs.

• Improved brand health, EV consideration, and retail conversion metrics over time.

• A unified, insight informed measurement approach adopted across brand, media, and retail teams.

• Faster, more efficient research and insight cycles enabled by modernized tools and ways of working.

• Strong cross functional trust and influence, with stakeholders proactively seeking out the insights team.

• Strong strategic thinker who is as comfortable in the "why" as in the "what" and "how".

• Natural storyteller who connects consumer reality to brand and commercial outcomes.

• Pragmatic and outcome oriented who is focused on sharp recommendations over exhaustive analysis.

• Collaborative, low ego leader who builds trust across marketing, media, analytics, finance, and sales.

• Curious, proactive, and willing to challenge assumptions using data and clear logic.

• Paid time off including vacation days, holidays, and supplemental benefits for pregnancy, parental and adoption leave.

• Healthcare, dental and vision benefits including health care spending account and wellness incentive.

• Life insurance plans to cover you and your family.

• Company and matching contributions to a Defined Contribution Pension plan to help you save for retirement.

• GM Vehicle Purchase Plan for you, your family, and friends.