About the Job

General Mills International is a dynamic business with powerhouse iconic brands such as Haagen Dazs, Old El Paso, Nature Valley, Betty Crocker & so much more. It has a wide footprint across more than 89 markets, playing in more than 22 categories in 4 big geographical clusters (EUAU, Brazil, China & Growing emerging markets).

In this role, you will head up the Head of Consumer Insights for China. China is one of the most dynamic markets in General Mills International with huge headroom for growth. China boasts of iconic brands Haagen Dazs, Wan Cai Ferry & Blue Buffalo competing strongly across omnichannel.

The Head of Consumer Insights for China is a critical leadership role responsible for driving consumer-centric decision-making and fostering business growth across China. This role serves as a key business partner to the China leadership team & China Marketing Director, providing strategic insights and recommendations based on a deep understanding of consumer behavior, shopper behavior. market trends, and competitive dynamics. Additionally, this role directly partners with the regional Brand development team of Wan Cai Ferry which is present in 3 markets.

You will report into the CMI Director for International, and coach a team of 3 Consumer insights & data analytics experts who sit in Shanghai & Mumbai. You will drive impact and influence at all levels across the whole organization - communicating insights and action with clarity. 

Key Responsibilities:

• Strategic Leadership & Performance steering:

o  Partners with the China leadership team and the Regional Wan Cai Ferry brand team to create and implement an ambitious but consumer centric growth strategy, and Use insights to shape marketing, R&D, and innovation, ensuring decisions are consumer-led .

• Lead the China Monthly Business Review (MBR) performance highlights in partnership with the Analytics lead, identifying key drivers of success and areas for improvement.
• Steer business growth by identifying cross-market and cross-brand challenges and opportunities based on performance analysis and emerging trends.

o  Track Record with successful product launches, brand repositioning, or market expansions and steer business on future growth plans

o  Proactively brings forward external inspiration, and recent trends and new approaches to insights and strategy development.

• Strategic understanding & learning programmes
• Defines, prioritizes & implements the learning and data acquisition agenda across the region, local markets and key Brands. Identifies and fills in gaps of strategic understanding of consumers across key markets 
• This includes strategically assessing key shopper insight needs & retailer research partnerships across China, in collaboration with the Category lead.
• Lean into strategic retailer shopper researches to enhance our selling stories and retailer relationships, as well as ensure consumer voice is helping define demand generating decisions
• Enable test and learn space with digital partnership with marketing , sales , R&D and D&T and external platform partnership on rapid concept validation , personalization at scale and drive fewer and bigger NPD and PPA
• CHINA Insights & Capabilities Development:
• Drive Consumer Insights (CI) and Marketing Capabilities/Culture building initiatives for China, aligning priorities & key topics with the China Marketing leads
• Lead capabilities development for China specific needs and ecosystems
• Drive consumer intimacy within the Leadership Team (LT) and across the CHINA  organization, ensuring the consumer is at the heart of every decision.
• Team & budget Management:
• Lead and develop a high-performing team of consumer insights professionals, ensuring alignment of priorities with business needs and fostering individual growth and development.
• Leads budget management for China CI.
• CI Transformation:
• Lead and drive initiatives for the transformation of CI capabilities, including but not limited to:
• In-housing of research studies to drive efficiency, consistency, and cost savings.
• Promoting consumer empathy throughout the business, ensuring a consumer-first mindset.
• Accelerating digital and AI solutions into everyday use / Deploy Generative AI tools (e.g., GPT for trend foresight, synthetic consumers for concept testing) to accelerate insight generation.
• Integrate first-party data (CRM, e-commerce) with 3rd-party ecosystems (Alibaba’s Uni Marketing, Tencent’s ID Graph) for unified profiling.
• Lead predictive analytics using AI/ML models (e.g., NLP for social listening, computer vision for shelf behavior) to uncover latent needs ahead of competitors.

o  Aim to be the Lighthouse of AI-powered consumer insights in the International Segment , data and analytical capability . Train commercial teams on consumer-empathy capabilities.

• Future focus & Predictive thinking:
• In Collaboration with the Growth analytics team, build self-service dashboards with embedded AI. Implement real-time sentiment tracking (e.g., RedBook/Douyin API feeds) to course-correct campaigns.
• Leverage AI-driven tools to predict demand and track emerging trends

o   Improving our future focus and foresight capabilities to anticipate and capitalize on emerging trends. Identify local taste trends, health & wellness shifts, and digital commerce behaviors unique to China’s market.

 Minimum experience & Qualifications:

·      15+ years of experience in consumer insights, market research, or a related field, with a proven track record of driving business impact.

·      Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business, Psychology, or a related field; Master's degree preferred.

·      International experience - Strong understanding of consumer behavior, market trends, and competitive dynamics in China

·      Experience leading and developing high-performing teams.

·      Experience working with interdependent cross-functional teams in a highly dynamic and challenging environment 

·      Experience working in an agile environment with shifting priorities and multiple concurrent work streams

·      Excellent communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills.

·      Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.

• Strong command of deep analytics into storytelling for top management

·      Experience and proficiency with a variety of research methodologies, both qualitative and quantitative, traditional & agile + AI.

• Savviness in digital marketing, as well as AI and advanced digital solutions – and proven track record for leveraging and applying AI tools/solutions to predict trends, spot growth opportunities, course correct business path and deepen insights.  
• Thorough understanding of digital marketing (ecosystem, best practice execution, tracking & optimization).

·      Demonstrated ability to influence and collaborate with cross-functional teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• MBA or Master’s Degree in related field preferred
• Consumer insight experience in Hongkong & Taiwan as well
• Experience with CI transformation initiatives, including in-housing of research and building consumer empathy.
• Self-starter with the ability to craft a vision for the team and proactively find ways to add value
• Proven ability navigating matrixed organizations and building effective relationships
• Can effectively navigate ambiguity and work in an agile environment
• Familiarity with different analytical approaches and theories
• Confident and clear communicator with executive level leaders