Consumer Psychology & Market Intelligence Lead

About The Role:

Build and lead a new Consumer Psychology capability within Strategy — a continuous system that understands what consumers are thinking, feeling, choosing and why, and what may change next.

The objective is to translate consumer and market intelligence into actionable implications for Strategy, Brand, Innovation, RGM and Commercial.

Reacting to consumer change → Understanding consumer change → Anticipating consumer change.

Key Takeaway:

1. Recurring Consumer Research (30%) Past + Present | Measure & Diagnose

Build a recurring consumer measurement programme to track brand, category and consumer changes over time.

Core recurring research programmes:

• Brand Health Tracker — Track awareness, consideration, trial, usage, BUMO, preference, loyalty and brand associations over time.
• Usage & Attitude / U&A Study — Understand who consumes, how, when, where, with whom, for what occasion and why.
• Need-State & Occasion Tracker — Identify changing consumer needs and occasions across categories.
• Brand Funnel Tracker — Track awareness → consideration → trial → repeat → regular usage → BUMO to identify where consumers are leaking.
• Consumer Switching Tracker — Understand where consumers are switching from/to and why.
• Category Penetration & Frequency Study — Track category participation, frequency and changes in consumption behaviour.
• Brand Equity / Image Tracker — Measure brand perceptions and associations versus competitors.
• Price & Value Perception Tracker — Understand willingness to pay, value perception, price sensitivity and promotion dependency.
• Innovation / Unmet-Need Pulse — Identify consumer frustrations, unmet needs and emerging innovation opportunities.
• Consumer Segmentation Refresh — Update consumer groups based on behaviour, needs, loyalty, switching and occasions.

2. AI-Powered Online Listening (50%)Emerging Future | Detect & Anticipate

Always-on AI-enabled consumer radar across platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, Xiaohongshu, Shopee, Lazada, reviews, search and online communities.

• Detect emerging consumer conversations, behaviours, tensions and needs.
• Identify accelerating trends, flavours, formats, ingredients, propositions and occasions.
• Analyse consumer reviews and social conversations at scale using AI.
• Monitor sentiment and competitor/category conversations.
• Identify emerging cultural shifts, product hacks and consumption behaviours.
• Distinguish structural shifts from short-term social-media noise.
• Build dashboards, alerts and early-warning signals.
• Translate emerging signals into hypotheses for further research or market validation.

3. Physical Market Immersion (20%) In-Market Reality | Observe & Validate

Conduct regular trade and market visits to understand how consumer and category changes are playing out in the real world.

• Track competitor launches, pricing, promotions and merchandising.
• Observe emerging products, formats, flavours, packaging and propositions.
• Understand retailer/category evolution and shopper behaviour.
• Identify cross-category competition for the same consumer occasions.
• Review price architecture, pack-price ladders and promotional mechanics.
• Connect physical-market observations with research and digital signals.
• Identify whitespace opportunities and relevant ideas that may be transferable across markets.
  

Key Capabilities:

• Consumer Psychology — Understand the motivations, tensions, needs and behaviours behind consumer choices.
• Research Expertise — Design, manage and interpret quantitative and qualitative consumer research.
• AI & Digital Fluency — Use AI and digital tools to analyse large volumes of unstructured consumer signals.
• Market & Category Intelligence — Connect consumer trends with Nielsen, Kantar, competitive activity and physical market observations.
• Pattern Recognition — Identify meaningful relationships across research, digital signals, commercial data and real-world market observations.
• Commercial Thinking — Translate insights into implications for portfolio, pricing, innovation, brand strategy and execution.
• Strategic Storytelling — Turn complex consumer information into simple, compelling recommendations for senior management.

Key Experience & Qualifications:

• 10 years of experience in Consumer Insights, Market Research, Consumer Strategy, Social Listening, Market Intelligence or related roles.
• FMCG / food / consumer industry experience strongly preferred.
• Pharmaceutical / healthcare consumer insights experience is also relevant, particularly where the role involved consumer behaviour, segmentation, need states, brand tracking, usage studies or market intelligence.
• Strong quantitative and qualitative research capability.
• Familiar with brand health, U&A, BUMO, brand funnel, penetration, frequency, switching and brand-equity analysis.
• Well versed in Nielsen and Kantar data, with the ability to interpret market share, category growth, penetration, shopper and consumer trends and translate them into clear business implications.
• Comfortable with AI, social listening, digital analytics and unstructured consumer data.
• Strong commercial thinking, pattern recognition and strategic storytelling.
• Able to connect consumer insight with implications for Brand, Innovation, RGM, Commercial and Strategy.
• Naturally curious about consumers, culture, brands, retail, health, technology and emerging behaviour.

Working Location:

Subang Jaya, Selangor

Remuneration:

RM 12,000 - RM 15,000

Consultant In-charge:

Jason | jason.wong@hunters-in.com