Qualitative Research Lead India

Mumbai/ Delhi/ Bangalore, India

Full-time

Company Description

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Job Description

Role Purpose:

This is a strategic leadership position. Primary responsibility is to lead and grow the NIQ Qualitative business Nationally. The candidate will be responsible for driving profitable growth, including the full P&L of the business , Representing VOC and creating awareness of  all your portfolio internally and externally .

You will lead the India Qualitative business and team of Qualitative researchers, work closely with the various Business Vertical leaders and set a strategy that focuses on account acquisition retention and growth  This role is also accountable for accurately managing an active sales pipeline and coaching the specialty seller team to better results by leveraging multiple sales drivers such as prospecting, campaigns, and other account engagement tools.  Working closely with business partners across verticals to understand client challenges and ensuring strong awareness and presence of Qual with these clients

Core Responsibilities 

• Own Qualitative Research revenue and cost OP, driving long term profitable growth. 
• Develop and execute the Qualitative Strategy to grow share. Developing a clear blueprint on where to play and how to play and how to win
• Introduce new solutions and thought leadership pieces to the team – Develop and drive continuous though leadership agenda and participate in external forums
• Craft India client engagement plans alongside the Vertical leaders and Business partners for target client activation at local India level .
• Develop sales plans and strategies accordingly to achieve sales goals in collaboration with each Vertical leader. 
• Articulating it clearly with the Vertical business partners on opportunities for new client penetration , cross sales and upgrades leveraging the practices - Bring to Life the Go to Market plan – review , adjust with vertical leaders as well partnering with Regional Qualitative Practice
• Ensuring that your team of Qual researchers have a clear blue print of which accounts to focus and alignment with business partners
• Serve as senior leader on Local RFP engagements working across SA&I and NielsenIQ for a unified response and representing the Qualitative research requirements       
• Develop KPI for the teams that focuses not just on NBD but also on client retention, win back, and larger share of continuous business
• Manage sales team pipeline and assist in closing deals through strategic intervention. 
• Set quarterly and annual sales quotas.  
• Provide detailed sales forecasting on a monthly basis 
• Own client-level annual operational (OP) planning inputs with the team at the account/geo level
• Create sales reports and provide feedback to SA&I India leader
• Drive sales maintaining a long-term perspective to maximize overall revenue generation while being able to generate short term results. 
• Ensure the team is scoping projects responsibly that meet SAI profitability guidelines 
• Partner closely with Customer Success Teams and vertical leaders to align on goals and strategy and drive shared accountability for revenue targets. 
• Implement annual pricing increases and influence price-setting for new services. 
• Lead and Advise on RFPs as necessary.
• Ensure NIQ GDF / SDF fund usage where applicable
• Be a NIQ relationship driver.  Liaise with local NIQ sales leaders on joint business planning, regional commercial efforts, and SAI product pushes.

Voice of client 

• Maintain & develop the commercial relationship to clients
• Monitor the market and competitor products and activities and feed the same to India lead as well as regional Qual leader
• Review customer activity and anticipate prospecting needs. 
• Establish and maintain senior level key prospect/client relationships 
• Provide input for product development and prioritizations based on client feedback, RFPs requirements, competition analysis and market trends. Collaborate Practice leaders as well as Regional Vertical leader to capture needs and get early feedback on our mid / long term product roadmaps. 

Product positioning and awareness 

• Clearly and convincingly articulate Qualitative offerings and unique value proposition, matching them with relevant client business challenges/KPIs. Where necessary adapt Regional Qual sales framework to India, linked to use cases relevant to specific target buyer personas and Verticals
• Adopt and adjust Regionally built buyer personas profile and objection handling playbook to India market needs. Generate buyer personas database by verticals and help activate the same with GTM plan along with the Vertical Leaders
• Facilitate the creation of client case studies to support product positioning. 
• Lead or support T2T client meetings concerning Qual  
• Maintain broader Qualitative product/technical knowledge across all SAI tools. Participate in regional boot camps. Plan and Initiate local Bootcamps to train the Business partners

People management 

• Recruit and hire Qual Research staff as the case may be
• Motivate the teams to achieve their goals. Mentoring and guiding on winning techniques using your experience .
• Setting their targets and goals and guiding them on how to meet and exceed their KPI
• Work with training team and peers to develop sales training content and protocols. 
• Ensure internal processes are followed, including adherence to tracking customer and transactional information in CRM system and other sales and operational processes. 
• Regular performance reviews with the team

Qualifications

• Expert in Qualitative Research techniques
• University degree in Marketing / Economics / Psychology / Sociology or related field a must. Preferred Postgraduate or MBA
• 15+ years working experience in Market Research - Strong understanding and appreciation of the various MR protocols such as concept testing, product testing, U&A, Segmentation, Profiling studies, BHT and so on.
• Proven Leader of high performing teams 
• Expertise in (application of) one of NielsenIQ solutions is a plus  
• Strong analytical skills  
• Proven sales acumen 

Skillsets  

• Strong sense of urgency and accountability to drive client outcomes  
• Proven experience in leading a team, managing people, and developing talent  
• Experience in driving organizational transformation 
• Able to work collaboratively with internal & external teams  
• Capable to maintain positive client relationships in complex situations & resolve client issues  
• Strong logic, deductive reasoning, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills  
• Competent Negotiator with good influencing skills
•  
• Skilled & polished communicator, including client presentations / events 
• Strategic thinking and vison 
• Understanding of dependencies across areas 
• Strong project management skills and ability to manage multiple priorities  
• High say-do ratio  

Our Benefits

• Flexible working environment
• Volunteer time off
• LinkedIn Learning
• Employee-Assistance-Program (EAP)

About NIQ

NIQ is the world’s leading consumer intelligence company, delivering the most complete understanding of consumer buying behavior and revealing new pathways to growth. In 2023, NIQ combined with GfK, bringing together the two industry leaders with unparalleled global reach. With a holistic retail read and the most comprehensive consumer insights—delivered with advanced analytics through state-of-the-art platforms—NIQ delivers the Full View™. NIQ is an Advent International portfolio company with operations in 100+ markets, covering more than 90% of the world’s population.

For more information, visit NIQ.com

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Our commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

NIQ is committed to reflecting the diversity of the clients, communities, and markets we measure within our own workforce. We exist to count everyone and are on a mission to systematically embed inclusion and diversity into all aspects of our workforce, measurement, and products. We enthusiastically invite candidates who share that mission to join us. We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action-Employer, making decisions without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability status, age, marital status, protected veteran status or any other protected class. Our global non-discrimination policy covers these protected classes in every market in which we do business worldwide. Learn more about how we are driving diversity and inclusion in everything we do by visiting the NIQ News Center: https://nielseniq.com/global/en/news-center/diversity-inclusion