Director, Marketing Research (HYBRID - Richmond, VA)

Position Description

This position is responsible for conceptualizing, developing, and implementing internal and/or external marketing research initiatives to support measurement and reporting of the following:  

• AUB/ competitor brand perception across the bank’s entire footprint
• AUB/competitor customer satisfaction at all points in the customer life cycle
• Development and evaluation of advertising and communications assets
• Teammate satisfaction at all points during the employment life cycle
• Product trends across the financial services industry and strategic conclusions and recommendations to support the ongoing development of new products and the enhancement of existing products and strategies
• Evaluation, assessment and recommendations as related to secondary information sources (e.g. Greenwich, JD Power)
• Identification, procurement, and management of external vendors needed to accomplish the above
• Special projects as needed to support key management, operational and marketing strategies.

Position Accountabilities

• Development, implementation, analysis, and communication of all quantitative and qualitative research studies related to measurement of AUB/competitor Brand Perception among key constituencies
• Development/implementation of effective research strategies to measure customer satisfaction and identify “pain points” at all phases of the customer life cycle
• Working with Human Resources to implement/manage effective ongoing Teammate Listening strategies
• Management of external vendors, platforms, dashboards, and budgets necessary to support internal (teammate) and external (customer) research objectives and strategies
• Identification/socialization of external publications, organizations, blogs, webinars, and other sources in order to communicate product, pricing, promotion or other strategic information
• Serving as an internal consultant on primary and secondary research-related initiatives initiated within the company.

Organizational Relationship

This position reports to the Chief Marketing Officer.

Position Qualifications

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree required; preferably in Marketing or a business related field.  Master’s degree preferred.
• 10+ years’ experience as a quantitative or qualitative research analyst or manager, involving responsibility for designing/ administering research studies among consumers, business professionals, and other target audiences, either as a principal in a full-service marketing research firm, or as a corporate research professional. Experience maximizing the production of relevant insights within budgetary guidelines.
• Experience with integration of traditional research methods with emerging technologies such as predictive analytics, conversational AI, or real-time feedback tools.

Knowledge & Skills

• Experience Developing and Managing Primary Marketing Research – to include conceptualizing, developing, and managing primary quantitative and qualitative research studies, moderating focus groups, analyzing acquired data, and summarizing the research results, conclusions and recommendations in a concise, understandable format
• Experience procuring and managing complex vendor relationships to facilitate execution of internal and external research studies
• Experience with AI-driven analytics, including natural language processing (NLP), machine learning, and predictive modeling
• Experience with data visualization and analytics platforms (e.g. Tableau, Power BI, SPSS, Python)
• Public speaking skills expertise/experience with presenting findings to a wide variety of audiences
• Project Management Experience needed to define, implement and manage the detailed tasks required to complete complex projects from project inception through successful completion.
• Ability to Multi-Task and Adapt to Change in a fast-moving environment and simultaneously develop, implement and manage (from concept inception through implementation) the multiple tasks and projects
• Excellent Communication and Writing Skills required to assure all project direction is clear, concise, complete and understandable.
• Proficient using SPSS, Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint to analyze data and to prepare research summaries and for other presentation/communication purposes.
• Experience programming online surveys using Alchemer, Qualtrics, Survey Monkey, or other online platform
• Proven Ability to Work Independently and in a Team Envi