Insights Manager
Wells Enterprises · Chicago
Company: Wells Enterprises (a Ferrero Company)
Functional Area: Insights
The Role
The Manager, Portfolio Insights is a flexible consumer insights partner who supports projects across brands, categories and business needs. The role is expected to provide primary support for Blue Bunny and Blue Ribbon Classics while flexing to other brands and categories as work requires, including brands such as Nutella Ice Cream, Kinder Ice Cream, Bomb Pop and Halo Top. This role plans, manages and translates consumer learning into clear recommendations that help teams make better decisions across innovation, product, packaging, communication and brand growth work.
What You’ll Do
- Provide flexible consumer insights support across brands, categories and projects, with expected heavier support for Blue Bunny Ice Cream while also flexing to brands such as Nutella Ice Cream, Kinder Ice Cream, Bomb Pop, Halo Top, Trolli Gummi Pop as needed.
- Operate as a practical insights generalist who can quickly understand the business question, recommend the right research approach and move work forward without needing extensive direction.
- Independently manage end-to-end research projects, including learning plan development, vendor briefing, methodology selection, timeline management, analysis, synthesis and stakeholder readouts.
- Apply a broad range of qualitative and quantitative research techniques across innovation, product, packaging, brand and communications work.
- Qualitative experience should include methods such as focus groups, in-depth interviews, online communities, ethnographies, consumer immersions, shop-alongs, innovation workshops and concept co-creation.
- Quantitative experience should include methods such as concept testing, product testing, claims testing, pack testing, advertising and creative testing, segmentation, attitude and usage studies, surveys, TURF, conjoint or discrete choice where appropriate.
- Partner closely with Sensory, Brand and Innovation teams to connect consumer understanding with product experience, concept fit, claims, pack communication and go-to-market decisions.
- Translate research findings into concise implications, recommendations and next steps that help teams make decisions, not simply understand results.
- Bring strong manufacturer-side business judgment, ideally from CPG, food, beverage, frozen, snacking, dessert or other consumer-led categories.
- Prioritize and manage multiple projects at once across brands and workstreams, balancing urgency, business impact, available budget and stakeholder needs.
- Proactively surface tradeoffs, risks and resourcing constraints with insights projects when demand exceeds capacity and recommend practical sequencing or scope adjustments.
- Take initiative to identify where consumer learning is needed, where existing learning can be leveraged and where a faster or lighter approach is sufficient.
Wells Enterprises, a Ferrero company, is one of the largest ice cream manufacturers in the United States and the maker of well-loved brands including Blue Bunny, Halo Top, Bomb Pop, and Blue Ribbon Classics and today Trolli, Butterfinger 100grand, Baby Ruth, Nutella and Kinder Bueno.
Wells Enterprises is a 2 billion company employing 4,000 employees, across 4 production plants and 2 main hub locations, Chicago and Le Mars. Guided by innovation, quality, and a people-first mindset, Wells is committed to delighting consumers and developing exceptional teams.
As part of the Ferrero Group, Wells combines its strong U.S. heritage with Ferrero’s global standards of excellence, offering a unique opportunity to grow within a dynamic, values-driven, and international environment.
At Wells, our people—and their experience—sit at the heart of our ambition. 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.
Are you ready to join a growing Insights team while working on some iconic ice cream brands? Are you a naturally curious individual who enjoys knowing the ‘why’ behind the ‘what’? Are you seeking an opportunity that will expand your skill set beyond traditional market research approaches? Apply today to Insights Manager! This role will conduct relevant consumer research that guides and supports innovation, brand strategy, and corporate initiatives. This role will report directly to the Head of Insights.