Head of Market Insight

Head of Market Insight
6-Month Contract Inside IR35
950 per day via Umbrella
Welwyn Garden City (Hybrid role - 3 days per week on site)

An opportunity has arisen for an experienced insight and commercial performance leader to join one of the UK's largest and most recognisable consumer organisations on an interim basis.

This is a high-profile leadership role where you'll help senior business leaders understand market performance, identify growth opportunities, and shape strategic decisions through insight-led recommendations.

You'll operate at board-facing level, leading a team responsible for translating complex market, customer and competitor data into clear commercial actions that drive performance.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the analysis and interpretation of market share, customer spend and competitor performance
• Present recommendations and insights to senior leadership and board stakeholders
• Identify commercial growth opportunities and performance risks
• Translate complex data into clear, actionable business strategies
• Lead and develop a high-performing insight team
• Manage relationships with external insight and market data partners
• Coordinate internal and external analytical resources to maximise business impact
• Improve reporting efficiency through automation and modern analytical approaches
• Support commercial teams in responding to market and competitive developments
• Drive a culture of evidence-based decision making across the organisation

Key Skills & Experience

• Experience leading insight, analytics, market intelligence or commercial performance functions
• Strong track record of influencing senior stakeholders and executive teams
• Ability to turn complex data into compelling business stories and recommendations
• Experience operating within large, complex organisations
• Proven people leadership experience, including matrix and cross-functional teams
• Strong commercial understanding of customer behaviour, market performance and growth drivers
• Experience presenting findings and recommendations to director, executive or board-level audiences
• Ability to prioritise multiple workstreams and deliver through others

Desirable Experience

• Retail, grocery or FMCG sector experience
• Market performance, category insight or customer insight leadership
• Experience working with market data providers such as Kantar, NielsenIQ, Circana or similar
• Exposure to insight transformation, automation or AI-enabled reporting initiatives
• Commercial finance, trade analysis or business performance backgrounds combined with insight leadership experience

Please note: Due to the high volume of applications, only successful candidates will be contacted. If you do not hear from us within 48 hours, unfortunately, your application has not been successful on this occasion. However, we may retain your details for any future suitable vacancies and contact you accordingly.

Pontoon is an employment consultancy. We put expertise, energy, and enthusiasm into improving everyone's chance of being part of the workplace. We respect and appreciate people of all ethnicities, generations, religious beliefs, sexual orientations, gender identities, and more. We do this by showcasing their talents, skills, and unique experience in an inclusive environment that helps them thrive. If you require reasonable adjustments at any stage, please let us know and we will be happy to support you.

We use generative AI tools to support our candidate screening process. This helps us ensure a fair, consistent, and efficient experience for all applicants. Rest assured, all final decisions are made by our hiring team, and your application will be reviewed with care and attention.