Senior Insights Manager

About the role

Kinisla is hiring a Senior Insights Manager to shape and deliver the insights direction for some of the UK and Europe’s best-known brands, including Strings & Things. This is a newly established position within a growing team, designed to help the business find new growth opportunities through a stronger understanding of consumers and markets.

The role reports to the Insights Lead and is expected to build and own a consumer-focused insights programme that supports portfolio growth. The company sees insights as a major lever for commercial success, so this position will have a central role in strengthening consumer centricity across the business.

This is a hybrid position based in Staines, with two office days each week on Tuesday and Wednesday. The role also involves occasional travel to partner locations in London and to company sites across Ireland and the UK. Candidates based in Naas, Ireland may also be considered, but they would need to travel frequently to the UK.

About Kinisla

Kinisla is a vertically integrated farm-to-fork food business with a major consumer foods operation and a strong dairy ingredients division. The company focuses on sustainability, innovation, and high-quality dairy solutions across its portfolio.

With more than 50 years of experience in milk processing, dairy technology, nutritional development, and product innovation, Kinisla owns and supports a range of leading dairy brands, including Cheestrings, Charleville and Coleraine Cheese, Dairygold, Golden Cow, and SMUG. The business works closely with 2,800 milk suppliers and is known for its strong connection to Irish family farms and low-carbon dairy production.

Headquartered in Tralee, County Kerry, Kinisla operates manufacturing sites in Listowel, Charleville, Newmarket, and Farranfore, along with 29 Farm & Home stores. Its footprint also includes operations in Portadown, Coleraine, and Ossett. The company employs more than 1,600 people across Ireland, Northern Ireland, the UK, the USA, the Netherlands, Spain, Germany, and China, and recorded a turnover of around €1.3 billion in 2024.

What you will do

• Lead the insights agenda for international markets, with a strong focus on Europe and other growth territories.
• Identify and assess innovation-led opportunities across dairy categories.
• Take ownership of the insights strategy for current international markets while exploring future expansion potential.
• Ensure innovation plans are grounded in a strong consumer-first perspective.
• Use market and consumer trends to uncover new opportunities across markets, categories, products, and consumer segments.
• Turn insights into practical recommendations that support commercial growth across multiple markets and innovation programmes.
• Act as a champion for the consumer perspective across the organisation and influence stakeholders at every level.
• Show confidence, resilience, and conviction when balancing consumer needs with other business priorities.
• Communicate the value of consumer centricity through regular engagement and formal presentations.
• Convert business and commercial challenges into focused insight briefs.
• Create insight programmes that deliver actionable answers to commercial questions.
• Work collaboratively while protecting a strong consumer-first approach in a commercially driven environment.
• Support innovation success through insight-led, practical, and responsive solutions.
• Structure complex or unclear business problems into clear briefs with KPIs and stakeholder alignment.
• Stay ahead of emerging trends, research methods, and new ways of working to strengthen the insights function.
• Embed consumer centric thinking across teams and work closely with commercial and R&D partners.
• Continuously review and improve processes to raise the visibility, capability, and impact of insights.
• Use systems and technologies, including AI, to improve insight delivery and sharing.

What success looks like

• Insight programmes that directly influence strategy and execution.
• Lower commercial risk in investment and launch decisions.
• Insights that reveal new growth areas and market entry opportunities.
• High confidence and alignment among stakeholders around the insights agenda.
• Greater visibility and impact for the insights team.

What you bring

The ideal candidate will have substantial experience in consumer insights and a record of turning research into decisions that support business growth. Experience across multiple regions, ideally Europe, the US, and Asia, would be beneficial.

You should have worked on innovation projects from early idea stages through to launch, and have strong analytical capability across both quantitative and qualitative methods. Experience managing external agencies and using self-serve research tools is also important.

A background in branded FMCG is preferred, ideally within dairy or chilled categories. The role suits someone who can simplify complex problems, influence senior stakeholders, work independently, and move quickly in a fast-paced setting.

You should be comfortable with ambiguity, open to challenging existing approaches, and able to adapt quickly. Curiosity, resilience, initiative, and a strong appetite for learning are also key.

What is on offer

• 25 days of annual leave, excluding bank holidays.
• Health care coverage.
• Matched pension scheme.
• Access to a benefits platform with discounts and cashback at major retailers.

Additional information

Kinisla values individuality, inclusion, and diverse perspectives. The company aims to create a positive environment where people can contribute fully and grow both personally and professionally.

Selection is based on skills and competencies, and hiring is conducted on merit. The company does not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, class, economic status, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, political beliefs, veteran status, marital status, or any other protected characteristic.

Kinisla does not accept CVs or candidate profiles from recruitment agencies unless the company’s terms of business have been signed. It will not pay recruiter fees in cases where those terms are not in place, including if CVs or profiles are sent directly to hiring managers.

Working arrangement

This is a hybrid full-time role with two days per week in the Staines office, specifically Tuesday and Wednesday. The job includes occasional travel to London-based partners and to sites across Ireland and the UK.