Dole Packaged Foods is a purpose led organization that is a champion of accessible fruit nutrition and builds a brighter future for people through the goodness of fruit.

The Director of Category & Consumer Insights will lead the development and execution of strategic insights initiatives, driving growth and innovation across the company’s categories. This role will be responsible for providing actionable, forward-looking insights to inform high-level business decisions and optimize category performance. The Director will guide the integration of consumer, category, and competitive insights into strategic and operational planning. A key focus of this role will be collaborating with senior leadership across marketing, sales, and product development to ensure insights are leveraged to drive business outcomes.

This role provides flexibility to work in a hybrid environment of home and our Westlake Village, CA office. (Hybrid is defined as 3 times per week in the office).

Leadership & Development:

• Insight-Driven Strategy Development: Lead the strategic vision for category and consumer insights, ensuring alignment with broader business objectives and growth initiatives. Shape long-term insights strategies that inform key decisions in innovation, brand positioning, and category management.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with senior leaders across marketing, innovation, sales, R&D, and supply chain to integrate category and consumer insights into the overall business strategy. Provide guidance and thought leadership to cross-functional teams, ensuring insights are embedded into key decision-making processes.
• Thought Leadership and Innovation: Position the insights function as a strategic driver for innovation and market growth. Anticipate market trends, emerging consumer behaviors, and competitive shifts, providing actionable foresight to guide strategic initiatives and go-to-market approaches.
• Building Capabilities: Drive the evolution of insights methodologies and best practices within the team. Ensure the development and implementation of advanced analytical tools, processes, and frameworks to optimize decision-making and improve business performance.
• Supplier & Partner Management: Select and manage relationships with external analytics partners, research firms, and vendors to enhance internal capabilities. Lead the negotiation and alignment of key insights initiatives with external providers.

Category Insights:

• Category Performance Leadership: Oversee and guide the analysis of category performance across multiple dimensions (e.g., market share, sales trends, competitive performance). Ensure insights are leveraged to drive category growth and optimize product assortment strategies.
• Strategic Market & Competitive Intelligence: Lead the strategic monitoring and analysis of market trends, consumer behavior, and competitive activity to identify emerging opportunities and risks. Provide strategic recommendations on competitive positioning and market differentiation.
• Innovation & New Product Insights: Provide leadership on innovation performance, ensuring insights from market testing, product launch evaluations, and consumer feedback are effectively integrated into decision-making processes. Guide product development teams in identifying market opportunities for new products and innovation.

Consumer Insights:

• Consumer-Centric Strategy: Lead efforts to identify and understand key consumer segments, motivations, and behaviors. Use consumer insights to shape strategic decisions across brand development, marketing campaigns, and product innovation.
• Consumer Segmentation & Demand Drivers: Drive the development of advanced consumer segmentation models that inform targeting strategies. Ensure a deep understanding of demand drivers and purchase behavior at both retail and e-commerce touchpoints.
• Brand & Market Health: Oversee the monitoring and reporting of brand health and market trends. Provide strategic insights that help the company assess brand performance, identify growth opportunities, and guide positioning strategies.

Business Impact & Reporting:

• Business Reporting & Metrics Ownership: Lead the development of business reports and dashboards that provide executive-level insights on key category and consumer metrics. Ensure consistent, high-quality reporting that enables timely decision-making.
• Strategic Recommendations & Communication: Deliver compelling insights presentations and strategic recommendations to senior leadership, translating complex data into clear, actionable business strategies. Drive the adoption of insights across the organization.
• Other duties as assigned

Experience, Knowledge, & Skills You Bring:       

• 7-10+ years of experience in category and consumer insights
• 5+ years in a management role, demonstrating leadership and team management capabilities
• Deep understanding in CPG industry, including market dynamics, consumer behavior, and competitive landscape
• Proficiency in using advanced analytical tools and techniques to gather, analyze, and interpret data
• Strong experience in partnering with cross-functional teams to integrate insights into the overall business strategy
• Experience in leading the development of business reports and dashboards for executive-level insights, delivering compelling insights presentations, and strategic recommendations to senior leadership

What You’ll Need to Succeed:

• Passionate about a purpose driven career
• Strong leadership and team management skills, with the ability to influence and guide cross-functional teams.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to translate complex data into clear, actionable business strategies.
• Strong interpersonal skills, with the ability to build rapport with employees and stakeholders, and demonstrate emotional intelligence and empathy.

Education & Certification:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Economics, or a related field is required
• MBA preferred

Physical Requirements:

• Ability to sit and use the computer for extended periods of time; ability to answer phones and use a variety of office equipment; ability to lift 15 pounds and reach overhead.

Travel Requirements:

• Occasional travel may be required

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, sex, color, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, or on the basis of disability.

FOR JOBS BASED IN CALIFORNIA:

Hiring Pay Scale: $175,000 to $215,000

Dole Packaged Foods is committed to paying our Associates fairly and equitably. The pay rate offered will consider a wide range of factors, including but not limited to experience, education, accomplishments, and location. Pay scales are subject to review on a regular basis and will be updated as appropriate.