Director, Market Research (Hybrid)

At Selective, we don't just insure uniquely, we employ uniqueness.

Our Business

Selective is a midsized U.S. domestic property and casualty insurance company with a history of strong, consistent financial performance for nearly 100 years. Selective's unique position as both a leading insurance group and an employer of choice is recognized in a wide variety of awards and honors, including listing in Forbes Best Midsize Employers in 2024 and certification as a Great Place to Work® in 2024 for the fifth consecutive year.

Working at Selective

At Selective, we don't just insure uniquely – we employ uniqueness. Employees are empowered and encouraged to Be Uniquely You by being their true, unique selves and contributing their diverse talents, experiences, and perspectives to our shared success. Together, we are a high-performing team working to serve our customers responsibly by helping to mitigate loss, keep them safe, and restore their lives and businesses after an insured loss occurs.

Selective Insurance offers a total rewards package that includes a competitive base salary, incentive plan eligibility at all levels, and a wide array of benefits designed to help you and your family stay healthy, achieve your financial goals, and balance the demands of your work and personal life. These benefits include comprehensive health care plans, retirement savings plan with company match, discounted Employee Stock Purchase Program, tuition assistance and reimbursement programs, and paid time off plans. Additional details about our total rewards package will be provided during the recruiting process

Job Summary

Create and drive the overarching research strategy that enables the Marketing team to use a data-driven approach to influence business outcomes of increased net premiums written, retention, and brand health. Build and manage a team of internal and external professionals to leverage the most current research methodologies to gain insights specific to our marketplace, customer and agent preferences and values, and trends. Collaborate across the organization to drive a strategic research plan and create clear and concise reports and presentations to share findings. All job duties and responsibilities must be carried out in compliance with applicable legal and regulatory requirements.

Job Responsibilities

• Responsible for leading qualitative and quantitative research projects and generating insights to help inform business strategy and decision-making across the enterprise, identifying opportunities to leverage findings to guide brand, communications, marketing, messaging, product, and sales efforts.
• Advance the custom market research infrastructure, including identifying and utilizing appropriate platforms and programs to design, coordinate, conduct/execute, analyze, and report on a wide variety of business needs.
• Collaborate with other corporate business partners to design research projects from start to finish, ensuring all efforts support clear, actionable results and recommendations that meet business objectives.
• Utilize both first party and third-party data to support complex research efforts and mine relevant data, focusing on a strict governance process to ensure accuracy and success.
• Collaborate with other business partners to utilize measurement processes to gauge success and measure return on investment. Utilize functional metrics and measurement processes as a critical success factor to drive best practices.
• Bring data to life with analytical storytelling and narratives to ensure stakeholders have clear insight into the key takeaways of the research performed.
• Develop, support and lead staff in execution of research, data and insights, including quarterly reporting on behalf of Marketing leadership, and preparation and management of the department's operating and expense budget.
• Continue to look for efficiencies in current processes along with new and innovative research solutions to help drive continuous improvement to be more efficient and effective in the research arena.
• Conduct long term planning of complex, strategic and major marketing communication programs. Forecast marketing communication needs. Work prioritization and decisions are critical to the overall success of the organization.
  
  

Job Qualifications

• College degree in marketing or related field preferred.
• 10+ years of experience in marketing and/or data analytics with strong analytical skills and ability to analyze data sets, diagnose opportunities, and convert results into business value statements.
• Significant proficiency with research methodologies/platforms and data visualization tools to enable accurate test design, data segmentation, and post campaign analysis.
• Requires expert knowledge of qualitative and quantitative research functions, coupled with a strong sense of professional curiosity.
• Ability to integrate critical information from many diverse areas and communicate clearly and concisely.
• Strong knowledge of and experience using statistical software (such as SPSS), survey software (such as Qualtrics) and Microsoft programs (Excel, Access, Word, PowerPoint) required.
• Inspires confidence in others and viewed as a team player to capture the trust and respect of stakeholders at all levels.
• Keeps abreast of industry emerging practice and best-in-class market research initiatives and strategies.
• Thorough understanding of B2B and B2C business models, with understanding of the insurance industry a plus.
• Ability to manage outsourced firms, vendors and other high-value providers in a seamless way that best supports Selective’s business unit success.
• Ability to work with broad latitude for decision-making and priority setting while maximizing the talent of small flexible staff committed to a very high level of responsiveness, quality and service.
• Capable of managing the position’s operational, administrative and supervisory duties.
  
  

The expected starting salary range for this role is $146,000 - $209,000.  The actual base salary is based on geographic location, and the range is representative of salaries for this role throughout Selective's footprint. Additional considerations include relevant education, qualifications, experience, skills, performance, and business needs.

Selective is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer.  That means we respect and value every individual’s unique opinions, beliefs, abilities, and perspectives. We are committed to promoting a welcoming culture that celebrates diverse talent, individual identity, different points of view and experiences – and empowers employees to contribute new ideas that support our continued and growing success. Building a highly engaged team is one of our core strategic imperatives, which we believe is enhanced by diversity, equity, and inclusion. We expect and encourage all employees and all of our business partners to embrace, practice, and monitor the attitudes, values, and goals of acceptance; address biases; and foster diversity of viewpoints and opinions.

Selective maintains a drug-free workplace.