The Insights Manager is responsible for the development, implementation and management of brand-relevant strategies, plans, programs, and tools to assist the sales team in increasing visibility, distribution, and market share. Further to this, the Insights Manager needs to lead the regular and promotional pricing strategy of the business, identifying price related opportunities and/or risks. This individual must be able to leverage data gained from business intelligence tools, market research and consumer insight, together with a strong understanding of brand principles to create best practice solutions that will help maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of the sales operations across the South African region.

RESPONSIBILITIES
Areas that play to your strengths
All the responsibilities we'll trust you with:
Business Strategy

Proactively identifying shopper and market data that would help to deliver Commercial Strategies
Providing data-driven insights, analyses, and recommendations to the business and to key stakeholders that optimise long-term category growth by positively shaping strategy on:
Availability and reach
Promotions and Pricing
New Product Initiatives
Competitor performance
Post Campaigns
Companywide performance and opportunities

Business Insights

Identify, develop and implement necessary processes to enhance sales business performance.
Build & manage the data platform necessary to run analysis and generate insight – directly manage data providers.
Identify opportunities and challenges. Quantify the opportunities.
Prioritise and provide solutions to overcome the challenge or maximise the opportunity.
Sales development analysis (by customer, by channel, by distribution point, etc.)
Channel specific strategies and tools/tactics (Retail, Impulse etc.)
Fully understand the South African shopper and use shopper data to drive business decisions at the point of sale

Offtake Off Premise Reporting

Proactively producing regular and ad hoc account trackers and shopper and market reports for both customer and internal use
Collection, analysis, evaluation and presentation of trade sales, financial sales data and distribution data.
Track Insights monthly and provide consistent, accurate and timely reporting of opportunities for defending & growing market shares.
Track and monitor progress of all Sales initiatives
Perform special analytical projects as assigned

External Stakeholder Management

Managing all relationships with market and shopper data and research providers (e.g. Nielsen, Silo, Spar Insights,)
Establish good working relationships with 3rd party data suppliers
Negotiate annual contracts and increases
Work with data suppliers to ensure data accuracy and on time delivery
Be the point of contact between suppliers and the internal organization
Communicate with distribution partners to ensure trade sales data is accurately captured and reported
Collect and report sales and distribution data from our distribution partners in the region by working closely with them to ensure accurate and timely collection of data.
Oversee Master Data Management (MDM) of all incoming data from all “sell in and sell out” data sources

EXPERIENCE
Your areas of knowledge and expertise that matter most for this role:

Higher commercial degree/ University Degree (business, marketing or similar) preferable.
8+ years experience in FMCG sector, ideally as Business Insights Manager, Category Manager, POS Manager or Key Account Manager.
Data-driven, yet a lateral thinker
Concise, impactful presenter
Can identify and prioritise the key insights from a wealth of data
Excellent analytical skills and problem-solving skills with sales data from internal and external sources
Excellent communication skills, including presentation and training skills
Strong planning and project management skills
Takes ownership of the delivery and effectiveness of insights that drive decision making
Driven to understand the background to the question before attempting to answer it – uncover the insight that will really help
Inquisitive nature which pushes the boundaries on finding new information to support an initiative or the next innovative point of sale or category development concept
Creative, with an eye for detail and know how to use the data to tell a story
English written & spoken