Insights & Research Manager

A newly established UAE holding company is building national-scale platforms across a diversified portfolio of strategic, high-growth sectors. It is now creating a world-class group marketing function, and needs someone to build its research and insights capability from the ground up. Your job: own the insights agenda, turning market, customer, brand and stakeholder data into clear insight that shapes strategy and investment across the group and its portfolio companies. WHY THIS ROLE Multi-sector exposure research across a portfolio of businesses, sectors and audiences, not a single brand. Build, don t inherit set up the research plan, trackers, agency roster and insights library yourself. Senior visibility your insight goes straight to executive leadership, portfolio heads and government stakeholders. Real impact inform decisions that build long-term economic capability for the UAE. WHAT YOU LL DO Set the agenda. Build and run an annual research plan, turning questions from Brand, Digital, Communications, BD and portfolio teams into sharp research briefs. Read the market. Track sectors, competitors, government priorities and macro trends, and deliver regular intelligence packs to leadership. Measure the brand. Design and run brand health, awareness and reputation tracking across government, institutional, partner and public audiences, for the group and its portfolio brands. Know the audience. Lead quant and qual research, from surveys and focus groups to interviews, and build the segmentation, personas and journey insights that drive marketing, product and CX decisions. Get the best from agencies. Brief, manage and evaluate research agencies, panels and data providers on quality, timelines and value for money. Tell the story. Combine primary research, secondary sources, campaign and business data into crisp recommendations for senior leaders, and track what gets actioned. Build the engine. Create a central insights repository, and use AI and analytics tools for desk research, social listening and reporting, validated against credible sources. HOW SUCCESS IS MEASURED Research plan delivered on time and on budget Insight quality and adoption Strategic decisions informed by research Stakeholder satisfaction Agency performance Repository usage

Desired Candidate Profile

WHAT YOU LL BRING 7-10 years in market research, consumer or customer insights, brand research, strategy or analytics, whether client-side, agency-side or in consulting. Hands-on experience designing quantitative and qualitative research and managing research agencies. Strong in survey design, brand tracking, segmentation and data storytelling; confident with Excel, PowerPoint and Power BI or Tableau. SPSS, R or Python and social listening tools are a plus. Bachelor s degree in marketing, economics, statistics, psychology, social sciences or a related field; postgraduate qualification a plus. Fluent English; Arabic is desirable. UAE/GCC market and multi-sector experience is a strong advantage.