Senior Manager, Research & Insights

About the role

This is an opportunity to lead the Research and Insights function for one of Canada's leading insurers. Reporting to the Vice President, Customer, you will oversee all customer research and insights activities, helping shape how we understand our customers and broker partners. As part of the Customer leadership team-alongside Customer Analytics, Customer Strategy, and Customer Experience-you will play a key role in ensuring insights are embedded in business decisions across the organization. This role combines strategic leadership with hands-on research expertise, strong stakeholder management, and the ability to translate insights into clear, actionable recommendations that drive meaningful business impact. Come join our team!

Responsibilities

• Research Leadership: Lead all B2C and B2B research efforts across the organization, including:
• Leads complex, cross-functional NPS and customer research initiatives with enterprise-level impact across multiple locations and business functions.
• Providing expert guidance on research methodologies and approaches-qualitative, quantitative, emerging techniques, and the evolving use of AI in research.
• Overseeing and advising on major research initiatives, including:
• Using text analytics to complement survey findings and identify key drivers of customer recommendation and customer journey opportunities.
• Acting as a liaison between external research partners and internal collaborators to shape lines of questioning and ensure robust qualitative and quantitative testing.
• Managing the full research lifecycle: questionnaire design, methodological planning, data analysis, synthesis, and reporting.
• Delivering ongoing internal tracking studies, ensuring tools and questionnaires evolve to reflect business needs and measure performance against targets.
• Engaging deeply with each area of the business to understand research needs, uncover opportunities, and recommend the right approaches with curiosity and enthusiasm.
• Prioritizing research initiatives within finite budgets and resources. Accountable for research budget management, including prioritization of projects.
• Managing and evaluating research vendors to ensure quality and value.
• Insights Storytelling: Transform research into actionable insights that influence decisions at every level.
• Champion the role of customer and broker insights in shaping key business strategies. Leverages creative and strategic thinking to create new research solutions for complex, unprecedented business questions.
• Integrate and synthesize findings from multiple data sources to identify strategic opportunities and make recommendations.
• Deliver clear, concise, and compelling insights-primarily through PowerPoint presentations-tailored to a variety of partner audiences.
• Guide the team in elevating the quality of insights, enhancing clarity, and building strong narratives that resonate with business leaders.
• Stakeholder Management: Operate effectively within a matrix organization and build strong cross-functional relationships.
• Acts as a trusted advisor to senior leaders, regularly shaping key decisions through data‑driven customer and NPS insights.
• Deliver regular reporting and presentations to senior partners.
• Engage and align multiple partners with varying priorities, including teams in claims, product, digital, broker management, and global partners.
• Adapt to diverse personalities and situations with professionalism and emotional intelligence.
• Work closely with senior leaders (VP+) to understand their business challenges and provide meaningful, valuable insights.
• Serve as the primary Canadian insights liaison to Aviva UK for performance reporting.
• Demonstrate excellent listening skills to uncover business needs and translate them into research opportunities.
• Team Leadership: Lead and develop a high-performing team of 4-5 research and insights professionals.
• Coach and mentor team members to build capability, engagement, and career growth.
• Provide hands-on guidance on research design, insights development, presentations, and partner engagement.
• Ensure high-quality outputs and timely delivery across all team activities.
• Lead all aspects of resource planning and budget management.

Requirements

• 8-10 years of B2C research and insights experience, with deep knowledge of qualitative and quantitative methodologies and when to apply them.
• Proven experience with NPS measurement and r

Additional Information

Experience Aviva Together, we are Aviva. Our values - Care, Commitment, Community, and Confidence - guide how we show up for each other and for our customers. Individually, they're words. Together, they define who we are. At Aviva Canada, we put people first, our employees, our customers, and our communities. We're proud of a culture built on care, inclusion, and collaboration, where your voice matters and your growth is supported. We're not just about insurance; we're about making a real difference by protecting what matters most.

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