The Planning Director provides important strategic leadership and guidance.  As the most senior Insight & Planning representative, the planning director is responsible for the overall quality of I&P work on all projects and accounts in the business unit. Planning directors are also expected to perform planning functions on more complicated and challenging projects. The planning director must gain an intimate understanding of the client, their competitors and key industry trends. They must also effectively communicate their findings to creative and technical members of their teams.

Their most important contribution is insights – about the client’s business, their competitors, and their customers. This multi-disciplinary position requires working knowledge of business analysis, qualitative consumer research, web analytics and user experience architecture. Candidates must demonstrate in-depth knowledge and experience in at least two of these disciplines and good working knowledge in the balance.

Responsibilities:

• Ensure overall quality of I&P work on all projects and accounts in all disciplines.
• Collaborate with the program director and the managing director to ensure that:
  • The business unit has a suitable number of planners and analysts with appropriate skills
  • The accounts understand the role of I&P staff and exploit their skills appropriately
  • I&P staff are engaged in the right work at the right time
• Provide support with special projects and initiatives within the I&P group
• Provide guidance and insight about I&P practices to colleagues in departments and business units
• Ensure through collaboration with team members and other Planning Directors that core processes and deliverables are effective in delivering strategic guidance.
• Work with our clients to identify business problems and challenges
• Become an authority on the client’s business sector

·Define and document requirements through business analysis, qualitative consumer research, and web analytics

• Recommend, plan, coordinate and/or execute pertinent research, analysis activities:
  • Sector, industry and competitive analyses
  • Competitive benchmarking studies
  • Qualitative, consumer research (ie. usability testing, focus groups, field study)
  • Requirements gathering sessions and stakeholder interviews
• Synthesize and communicate the results of research to clients and project teams
• Provide insight and perspective on the client’s strategic direction
• Collaborate with the team on overall strategy development
• Define measurement strategies to support ongoing strategy development and site or program optimization
• Demonstrate the value of integrating I&P services and activities into all client engagements
• Provide thought leadership to colleagues and projects in a range of subjects that may include
  • Requirements gathering
  • Consumer research and insight
  • Site measurement
  • Marketing and strategic planning

Required Skills:

• Post-secondary degree in Business, Marketing, Psychology, Computer Science, Human Computer Interaction or related subjects preferred.
• 5+ years of related experience in the following areas:
  • Account or brand planning
  • Business analysis
  • Qualitative research
  • Quantitative research, web analytics and metric analysis
  • User Experience architecture
  • 4 years agency/consulting and Internet-related business experiences desired
  • 3 years experience leading a team in an agency/consulting or Internet-related business desired
  • Experience in developing proposals and presentations for clients
  • Demonstrated ability to communicate complex subject matter, either verbally or in written form
• Demonstrated ability in the marketing research and sciences areas, to establish and analyze complex research studies
• Teamwork and collaboration-oriented
• Detail and results oriented
• Flexible and able to multi-task
• Commitment to learning