Director, CMI, International

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Great things are happening in the Europe and Australia (EUAU) region. Each day, our 2,500 plus colleagues bring their passion to our offices, manufacturing sites, R&D center, and commercial/distributor markets across Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. We are energized by over 150 years of bringing people together with the food they love. With beloved brands Old El Paso, Häagen-Dazs, Nature Valley, Betty Crocker, Fibre One, Latina Fresh and more, we are on a mission to become the undisputed growth leader in food for EUAU. In a world that's ever-changing, we look to stay ahead and seek people who share our love of food and are hungry to shape the future.

What your role is

At General Mills, the home of Häagen-Dazs, Old El Paso, Nature Valley, and many more household names, we have an exciting opportunity for you to shape the future of some of the world's most beloved brands by leading a diverse and energized team as our new Head of Consumer and Market Insights (CMI), International -covering the four regions (Europe/Australia, Brazil, China, and Global Emerging Markets) of the segment.

In this role, you will be a critical partner for Brand Leaders, Marketers, Product Developers, and General Managers. You will bring fresh thinking, deep insight expertise, and strategic clarity to key business questions. You will be a global citizen and simplifier, collaborating with local market teams, cross-functional stakeholders, and agencies to build trust, alignment, and confidence. Your influence will extend outward as you distill insights with clarity and purpose, driving impactful change and inspiring all who touch our brands to connect with our consumers and amplify our efforts.

You will have a truly global role, reporting to the Marketing VP and working with senior brand leaders to ensure your team delivers work that matters, with high exposure to the General Mills Leadership team.

Experiences Gained: Brand Equity, Brand Experience (BX), Brand Foundations Strategy, Management/Development, International Business Coordination, Cross-Geography Exposure, Matrix Relationship Management, Foresights, Portfolio Planning, Innovation, Renovation, AI-enabled Research.

Key Accountabilities

Delivering against critical business needs

• Be a master of prioritizing and delivering work for critical brand and market combinations, delivering added value and strategic impact to the biggest must-win battles.
• Align and resource against the most critical consumer questions to unlock category-leading innovation and core growth for the broader brand teams.
• Lead learning priorities through the International CMI team that fuel core strategies, brand communication strategy, innovation and renovation.
• Manage a $10m+ budget and supplier relationships across ad-hoc and continuous agency partners, finding efficiencies and added value services while building trust.

Functional Vision and AI-enabled transformation

• Partner with lead team members to develop a 3-year vision for the CMI function with aligned priorities to transform the function and its impact over time.
• Continually search for partnerships with new suppliers that give General Mills a competitive advantage while nurturing a culture of experimentation, digital adoption, and bringing the outside in.
• Work closely with regional analytics leads to improve the impact of our business reporting and the tools we use to deliver it.

Growth Opportunities

• Step-change how the international segment approaches 'trends/foresights -bring actionable ability to 'see around the corner' on our biggest brands and embed this.
• Partner with global & regional leadership teams to develop new growth opportunities for General Mills within and outside the current product portfolio.
• Play an active role on the Global CMI leadership team, bringing best practices and tools back to the international segment to pilot and scale.•

Team development

• Lead and develop a talented and ambitious team of 20+ insights professionals across four regions (Europe/Australia, Brazil, China, Global Emerging Markets) - actively develop the team's career, including transition plans, performance ratings, lateral moves, training, and external courses/placement.
• Play an active role on the Global CMI leadership team, bringing best practices and tools back to the international segment to pilot and scale.
• Lead productive discourse by always bringing the voice of the consumers to business decisions and team discussions.

What you will bring to the team

Minimum Qualifications

• University degree in Marketing, Market Research, Statistics, Mathematics, Data Analytics, Economics, Anthropology, Sociology, Psychology, or a related field.
• Extensive professional experience in Consumer Insights, Consumer Research, or related field.
• Ability to synthesize data to build and tell a compelling consumer story with credibility.
• 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.
• Experience working in an international environment and with consumers across Europe, Asia, and Latin America.

Preferred Qualifications

• Self-starter who can craft a vision for the team and proactively find ways to add value.
• A proven ability to successfully navigate matrixed organizations and foster effective relationships.
• Expertise in various traditional and modern qualitative and quantitative research techniques, specifically for innovation, communication, branding & packaging.
• Strong command of quantitative primary and syndicated toolkits.
• Familiarity with different analytical approaches and theories.
• Hunger for experimenting with AI and implementing new methods.

What you get from us

• 25 days of holidays plus statutory and bank holidays
• Competitive Package and Salary
• Flexible working with 2 days in the office
• Subsidised canteen
• Headspace account and wellbeing activities
• Enhanced Parental and Carer Policies
• Equal Employment Opportunities

At General Mills, we are committed to recruiting, retaining, developing, and advancing an inclusive workforce that reflects the diversity of the consumers and communities we serve globally. Join us the General Mills team today - Hungry to Shape the Future.