Wells Enterprises
Overview
Job Description
The Senior Director, Insights serves as the enterprise leader for consumer, shopper, and market insights across the Wells brand portfolio, and other ecosystem brands from Ferrero and Ferrara. This role is accountable for shaping the long-term insights strategy that informs brand growth, innovation, product testing, and portfolio decisions, ensuring the voice of the consumer is embedded at the highest levels of business strategy. As a senior strategic partner to Brand, Innovation, R&D, Sales, and executive leadership, the Senior Director translates complex consumer data into clear, actionable insight that drives demand creation, accelerates innovation pipelines, and fuels sustainable, profitable growth. This leader sets the vision for consumer learning, builds world-class insights capabilities, and establishes a culture of consumer-first decision-making across the organization.
Accountabilities
Set and Lead Enterprise Insights Function: Define and evolve the consumer, shopper and market insights vision and strategy across Wells brands, ecosystem brands (from Ferrero and Ferrara), ensuring consumer and shopper understanding is at the core of driving business strategy and brand growth. Oversee and manage the Insights budget, ensuring efficient allocation of resources to priorities and fiscal accountability.
Champion Brand and Innovation Growth: Extract and translate insights into clear opportunities to inform product innovation, brand position and go-to-market strategies. Identify emerging trends (macro, market, consumer), white spaces and cultural shifts to inform future growth platforms.
Drive Integrated, Data-Driven Decision-Making: Leverage analytics, syndicated data (Nielsen, Circana, Numerator and other panel resources) and custom research to generate actionable insights to deliver clear actions and implications across the consumer path to purchase, consumption and repurchase.
Team Leadership & Capability Building: Lead and foster a strong culture of consumer-centric thinking and consumer curiosity and tying it to the business. Lead the vision and development of Insights best practices, setting the gold standard for insights extraction. Develop a team of Insights Managers, fostering a culture of creativity, accountability, and high performance. Drive internal capability building in consumer insight extraction, tools, and agile methodologies.
Executive Partnership & Influence: Act as a trusted advisor to senior and executive leadership, bringing an objective, consumer-led perspective that shapes brand strategy, innovation investment, product design, commercialization, and communications decisions.
Qualifications EDUCATION:
Bachelor’s Degree required; MBA or advanced degree strongly preferred.
EXPERIENCE:
15+ years of progressive leadership in Consumer Insights, Market Research, or Analytics, preferably within CPG or adjacent industries.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Knowledge
Deep expertise in consumer, shopper, and market behavior, including the full path to purchase across channels and categories. Advanced knowledge of insights methodologies, including quantitative, qualitative, syndicated data (e.g., Nielsen, Circana), analytics, and emerging research approaches. Strong understanding of brand strategy, innovation pipelines, go-to-market models, and portfolio management within a CPG or adjacent environment. Awareness of macro consumer, cultural, and category trends shaping future growth opportunities.
Skills
Enterprise-level strategic thinking and synthesis—translating complex, multi-source data into clear business implications and growth opportunities. Executive storytelling and influence, with the ability to shape decisions and investment priorities at senior leadership levels. Organizational leadership and talent development, including building high-performing teams and advancing insights capabilities. Financial and resource management skills, including budget ownership, prioritization, and vendor stewardship.
Abilities
Ability to lead and make decisions in highly ambiguous, fast-moving environments while balancing rigor and speed. Ability to anticipate future consumer needs and market shifts, not just react to current data. Ability to collaborate and influence across functions and levels, aligning diverse stakeholders around a consumer-led vision. Ability to inspire curiosity, innovation, and continuous learning while holding teams accountable for business impact.
Supervisory SUPERVISORY SCOPE: Reports to CMO. Direct Reports – Sr. Managers, Managers.
The base pay for this position is $180,731 to $296,399 annually. Actual compensation will be determined based upon experience, qualifications, and other job-related factors permitted by law. This pay range represents the anticipated salary for this position at this time.
About Us Wells Enterprises, Inc. is the largest privately held ice cream manufacturer in the United States. Founded in 1913 by Fred H. Wells and run by the Wells family for generations, the company is an independent operating company of the Ferrero Group, one of the global leaders in sweet, packaged foods.
Wells produces more than 200 million gallons of ice cream per year and distributes products in all 50 states. Wells manufactures its signature brand Blue Bunny®, lower-calorie Halo Top®, the iconic Bomb Pop®, and Blue Ribbon Classics®.
Wells employs nearly 4,000 ice cream aficionados across the country. The company is headquartered in Le Mars, Iowa, where Wells has made Le Mars the “Ice Cream Capital of the World” as the largest manufacturer of ice cream in one location. Wells operates two manufacturing plants in Le Mars, Iowa, a manufacturing plant in Dunkirk, New York, and a manufacturing facility in Henderson, Nevada. Learn more at www.wellsenterprisesinc.com.
What We Offer At Wells, we’re proud to support our employees with comprehensive benefits that enhance health, financial wellness, and include paid time off (PTO). Eligible employees may also receive an annual incentive bonus based on Company performance. Learn more about our benefits here.
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The Senior Director, Insights serves as the enterprise leader for consumer, shopper, and market insights across the Wells brand portfolio, and other ecosystem brands from Ferrero and Ferrara. This role is accountable for shaping the long-term insights strategy that informs brand growth, innovation, product testing, and portfolio decisions, ensuring the voice of the consumer is embedded at the highest levels of business strategy. As a senior strategic partner to Brand, Innovation, R&D, Sales, and executive leadership, the Senior Director translates complex consumer data into clear, actionable insight that drives demand creation, accelerates innovation pipelines, and fuels sustainable, profitable growth. This leader sets the vision for consumer learning, builds world-class insights capabilities, and establishes a culture of consumer-first decision-making across the organization.
Accountabilities
Set and Lead Enterprise Insights Function: Define and evolve the consumer, shopper and market insights vision and strategy across Wells brands, ecosystem brands (from Ferrero and Ferrara), ensuring consumer and shopper understanding is at the core of driving business strategy and brand growth. Oversee and manage the Insights budget, ensuring efficient allocation of resources to priorities and fiscal accountability.
Champion Brand and Innovation Growth: Extract and translate insights into clear opportunities to inform product innovation, brand position and go-to-market strategies. Identify emerging trends (macro, market, consumer), white spaces and cultural shifts to inform future growth platforms.
Drive Integrated, Data-Driven Decision-Making: Leverage analytics, syndicated data (Nielsen, Circana, Numerator and other panel resources) and custom research to generate actionable insights to deliver clear actions and implications across the consumer path to purchase, consumption and repurchase.
Team Leadership & Capability Building: Lead and foster a strong culture of consumer-centric thinking and consumer curiosity and tying it to the business. Lead the vision and development of Insights best practices, setting the gold standard for insights extraction. Develop a team of Insights Managers, fostering a culture of creativity, accountability, and high performance. Drive internal capability building in consumer insight extraction, tools, and agile methodologies.
Executive Partnership & Influence: Act as a trusted advisor to senior and executive leadership, bringing an objective, consumer-led perspective that shapes brand strategy, innovation investment, product design, commercialization, and communications decisions.
Qualifications EDUCATION:
Bachelor’s Degree required; MBA or advanced degree strongly preferred.
EXPERIENCE:
15+ years of progressive leadership in Consumer Insights, Market Research, or Analytics, preferably within CPG or adjacent industries.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Knowledge
Deep expertise in consumer, shopper, and market behavior, including the full path to purchase across channels and categories. Advanced knowledge of insights methodologies, including quantitative, qualitative, syndicated data (e.g., Nielsen, Circana), analytics, and emerging research approaches. Strong understanding of brand strategy, innovation pipelines, go-to-market models, and portfolio management within a CPG or adjacent environment. Awareness of macro consumer, cultural, and category trends shaping future growth opportunities.
Skills
Enterprise-level strategic thinking and synthesis—translating complex, multi-source data into clear business implications and growth opportunities. Executive storytelling and influence, with the ability to shape decisions and investment priorities at senior leadership levels. Organizational leadership and talent development, including building high-performing teams and advancing insights capabilities. Financial and resource management skills, including budget ownership, prioritization, and vendor stewardship.
Abilities
Ability to lead and make decisions in highly ambiguous, fast-moving environments while balancing rigor and speed. Ability to anticipate future consumer needs and market shifts, not just react to current data. Ability to collaborate and influence across functions and levels, aligning diverse stakeholders around a consumer-led vision. Ability to inspire curiosity, innovation, and continuous learning while holding teams accountable for business impact.
Supervisory SUPERVISORY SCOPE: Reports to CMO. Direct Reports – Sr. Managers, Managers.
The base pay for this position is $180,731 to $296,399 annually. Actual compensation will be determined based upon experience, qualifications, and other job-related factors permitted by law. This pay range represents the anticipated salary for this position at this time.
About Us Wells Enterprises, Inc. is the largest privately held ice cream manufacturer in the United States. Founded in 1913 by Fred H. Wells and run by the Wells family for generations, the company is an independent operating company of the Ferrero Group, one of the global leaders in sweet, packaged foods.
Wells produces more than 200 million gallons of ice cream per year and distributes products in all 50 states. Wells manufactures its signature brand Blue Bunny®, lower-calorie Halo Top®, the iconic Bomb Pop®, and Blue Ribbon Classics®.
Wells employs nearly 4,000 ice cream aficionados across the country. The company is headquartered in Le Mars, Iowa, where Wells has made Le Mars the “Ice Cream Capital of the World” as the largest manufacturer of ice cream in one location. Wells operates two manufacturing plants in Le Mars, Iowa, a manufacturing plant in Dunkirk, New York, and a manufacturing facility in Henderson, Nevada. Learn more at www.wellsenterprisesinc.com.
What We Offer At Wells, we’re proud to support our employees with comprehensive benefits that enhance health, financial wellness, and include paid time off (PTO). Eligible employees may also receive an annual incentive bonus based on Company performance. Learn more about our benefits here.
#J-18808-Ljbffr