Principal Consultant (Market Intelligence, CPG)

Mintel’s Consulting team is responsible for the development and delivery of high-value bespoke solutions for some of the world’s biggest consumer-facing brands.  

The team brings together data experts, experienced researchers, marketing expertise, trends gurus, facilitators and innovators to create insights that help our clients make better strategic marketing decisions.  

We’re creative thinkers, grounded in commercial reality, and united by our passion for understanding consumers, market dynamics and product innovation. 

As a Principal Consultant, you will play a pivotal role in designing, selling and delivering custom research projects, spending around 75% of your time on either business development or billable project work. You’ll be working closely with our lead client partners and our most senior account directors to proactively identify new high-value opportunities among our strategic client accounts, and then turning these opportunities into compelling, innovative proposals. You’ll also be playing a role in delivering these projects, managing stakeholders and ensuring that projects are delivered on time and to budget. 

Whilst this role doesn’t have direct line management responsibilities, you’ll be regarded as a leader across Mintel. You will be leading individual project teams to ensure work is delivered to a high quality, and you’ll acting as a coach and mentor to other members of the team.  

You’ll also play a major role in raising awareness of Mintel’s Consulting offering in the broader marketplace, creating insightful, strategic and engaging proactive content that showcases the best of Mintel’s thinking.  

What you will be doing 

Revenue generation and client management 

• Taking a lead role in growing the team’s revenue and margins by identifying, designing and converting high-value research proposals. 
• Building and maintaining strong client relationships through effective communication and understanding of client objectives. 
• Working with our account directors and lead client partners to identify, develop and convert commercial opportunities among our key clients. 

 Project Leadership 

• Leading end-to-end research projects, from design and methodology selection to analysis and presentation of findings. 
• Collaborating with internal teams to ensure project timelines, deliverables, and objectives are met. 
• Carefully managing project resources and client expectations to protect project margins. 

 Strategic Insight generation 

• Translating research findings into strategic recommendations that contribute to clients' business goals. 
• Providing thought leadership on industry trends, consumer behaviour, and market dynamics. 

 Team Collaboration 

• Collaborating with cross-functional teams, including data analysts, project teams and business development to ensure seamless project execution. 
• Mentoring junior team members, fostering a collaborative and growth-oriented work environment. 
• Delegating effectively in order to protect project margins and to create development opportunities for other team members. 

 

What We Are Looking For: 

We have a wish list, but we are always open to looking at different profiles for our roles, so please don’t hesitate in applying even if your experience does not check all of the boxes. 

 Commercially-Minded:

• You must have a proven track record of identifying and converting high value research projects, growing average order values and managing those projects in order to protect margins. 

Project management skills:  

• You must be able to manage multiple projects, delivering high-quality research while still meeting deadlines. 

A Storyteller:  

• You are a lateral thinker, an intuitive dot-connector, and have experience weaving compelling narratives through data across a wide range of categories. 

Data-Driven:  

• You have solid familiarity with different research methodologies, and working knowledge of when and how to apply them to a given client challenge. You should have expertise working with complex data sets, and strong data analysis skills are a must. 

Naturally Curious:  

• You are always drawn to knowing the “why?” and the “what’s next?” behind consumer, market and innovation trends. 

A Great Communicator:  

• You are able to build engaging presentations, delivered with confidence and authority, and can adapt your communication style to suit different audiences. 

A Collaborator:  

• You take pride in the team you are a part of and the work you produce. Cultivating professional relationships with your colleagues is important and you are constantly finding innovative and unique ways to create an exceptional work environment. 

Experience of the CPG sector, and of the innovation process 

• Many of our projects involve supporting our clients throughout the innovation process, from identifying early consumer signals all the way through to concept generation. Direct experience of the CPG innovation process, either client- or agency-side, would be a major advantage.  

 What you’ll get in return 

• A culture that supports true collaboration whilst embracing remote working with a company wide hybrid working week.
• Flexi-Time working hours (start working between 7:00am and 11:00am).
• Blended (home/office) approach to work. 
• Approach to personal development where we encourage individuals to grow and share what they’ve learned.
• Social events, both within the department and across the company
• Home Office allowance, as the working model will be a blend of home and office working
• Generous holiday allowance with the opportunity to buy back additional holiday.
• A day off to celebrate your birthday
• Giving back is part of our culture with this in mind Mintel gives each employee 2 days per year to give to a worthwhile cause.
• Open plan office with breakout areas, coffee machines, pool table and table tennis

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