Position Overview
CCA seeks to make high-impact clean cooking solutions desirable, affordable, and accessible for consumers, and viable for businesses to provide sustainably at scale. It supports companies that design, manufacture, distribute, and retail biomass, ethanol, biogas, and LPG-based clean cooking solutions in addition to more efficient wood and charcoal cookstoves. It also supports technology innovation with the aim to commercialize new technologies such as highly energy-efficient electric cookers for off-grid/mini-grid communities.

User Insights Lab Background:

The User Insights Lab’s (UIL) vision is to massively increase demand and sustained use of clean cooking by deepening and accelerating the pace of user-centered innovation across the ecosystem. To achieve this, the UIL will partner with stakeholders, namely clean cooking enterprises, policymakers, and program implementers, to design and develop clean cooking solutions, policies, and programs that are informed by deep insights into the preferences, constraints, and behaviors of end users. The UIL will combine consumer research, behavioral science, data analytics, user-centered design, action-based research, and rapid prototyping to develop new evidence, tools, and capabilities to support a transformational shift to user-centered innovation in the clean cooking sector.

The Director, Consumer Insights will join the Market Strengthening team to contribute to the implementation of the UIL. Consumer insights are discoveries about existing and potential users’ behaviors, needs, preferences, and opinions that can be applied to inform innovative products, services, and experiences. The role of this position will be to lead the UIL’s process of uncovering and transferring insights on existing and potential consumers to clean cooking stakeholders to catalyze changes in product/service development, marketing strategies, customer service, and experience design. This position will be expected to work closely with CCA’s Evidence and Impact team.

This is a global full-time position with working hours that are between GMT-4 and GMT+3. There is a preference for candidates who are in sub-Saharan Africa, although this is not a requirement.

Essential Functions

Build The Consumer Story

• Work with the UIL team to define a consumer insights agenda that can inform stakeholder strategies (e.g., for new product development, innovation, marketing, brand repositioning, operational improvements, and on predictive modelling of consumer and population behaviors).
• Develop and direct consumer insights projects to collect and analyze data reflecting consumer behaviors, sentiments, trends, and preferences to support the development of new clean cooking solutions in the market, shape marketing actions and influence the design of public sector programs.
• Build the consumer story by connecting the dots across various pieces of research, primary and secondary, as well as behavioral data and interpret and package research findings into insights and guidance for stakeholders.
• Gain a deep understanding of customer experience, identify, and fill product gaps, and generate new ideas that can grow the clean cooking market, improve customer experience, and drive growth.
• Design and implement customer segmentation strategies.
• Develop frameworks, methodologies, and tools for the UIL, in collaboration with other members of the UIL team.

Catalyze Innovation Across the Industry 

• Translate research findings into actionable business and program strategies and present them to internal and external stakeholders in a clear and concise manner.
• Develop communications (e.g., knowledge products and knowledge transfer channels) and generate buy-in around consumer insights that makes them meaningful to the business strategy, program strategy or policy strategy of external stakeholders, to influence bold innovation around product, service, and experience development. Work with the UIL team and external stakeholders
  integrate evidence from UIL experiments into their pilot programs (e.g., marketing strategies, carbon purchasing programs and subsidy programs).
• Work with the UIL team and external stakeholders to define product visions and experience visions based on consumer insights generated by the UIL.
• Work with the UIL and Ventures teams in partnership with external stakeholders to create development, demonstration and commercialization strategies and roadmaps for new product, service, and experience visions, including key metrics and customer feedback points to test those visions.

Contribute to the User Insights Lab’s Strategy 

• Actively pursue opportunities for impact by discovering and sharing opportunities to showcase research/learning on high-value topics unseen or ignored by stakeholders.
• Work with the UIL team to build partnerships around consumer insights with clean cooking ecosystem actors.
• Contribute to the evolution of the UIL’s strategy.

Build the Consumer Story 

• Work with the UIL team to define a consumer insights agenda that can inform stakeholder strategies (e.g., for new product development, innovation, marketing, brand repositioning, operational improvements, and on predictive modeling of consumer and population behaviors).
• Develop and direct consumer insights projects to collect and analyze data reflecting consumer behaviors, sentiments, trends, and preferences to support the development of new clean cooking solutions in the market, shape marketing actions, and influence the design of public sector programs.
• Build the consumer story by connecting the dots across various pieces of research, primary and secondary, as well as behavioral data and interpret and package research findings into insights and guidance for stakeholders.
• Gain a deep understanding of customer experience, identify, and fill product gaps, and generate new ideas that can grow the clean cooking market, improve customer experience, and drive growth.
• Design and implement customer segmentation strategies.
• Develop frameworks, methodologies, and tools for the UIL, in collaboration with other members of the UIL team.

Catalyze Innovation Across the Industry 

• Translate research findings into actionable business and program strategies and present them to internal and external stakeholders in a clear and concise manner.
• Develop communications (e.g., knowledge products and knowledge transfer channels) and generate buy-in around consumer insights that makes them meaningful to the business strategy, program strategy or policy strategy of external stakeholders, to influence bold innovation around product, service, and experience development.
• Work with the UIL team and external stakeholders to integrate evidence from UIL experiments into their pilot programs (e.g., marketing strategies, carbon purchasing programs and subsidy programs).
• Work with the UIL team and external stakeholders to define product visions and experience visions based on consumer insights generated by the UIL.
• Work with the UIL and Ventures teams in partnership with external stakeholders to create development, demonstration, and commercialization strategies and roadmaps for new product, service, and experience visions, including key metrics and customer feedback points to test those visions.

• Graduate degree in marketing, psychology, sociology, behavioral economics, design research, product management or a related field.
• At least 12 years (or 8 with a Ph.D.) of industry and/or consulting experience, with a focus on consumer research, product or brand management, or insight generation.
• Experience generating insights to inform business strategy.
• Demonstrated experience across a wide range of research topics (e.g., pricing, branding, new product development).
• Demonstrated proficiency across a wide range of quantitative and qualitative methodologies (e.g., conjoint analysis, segmentation techniques, drivers analyses, ethnography, customer journey mapping).
• Knowledge about “tried and true” research methodologies and desire to self-educate on emerging methodologies and techniques.
• Ability to synthesize across multiple data sources to formulate insights.
• Experience with the commercialization of products or services, including both physical and digital products.
• Curiosity and ability to dig below the surface, spot opportunities, understand what will really address consumer pain points, and help bring those ideas to life through a variety of sources.
• Experience with the commercialization of products or services, including both physical and digital products.
• Ability to translate insights into actionable business ideas in product/service development, customer experience, marketing, and branding.
• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written, including the ability to simplify and present complex topics, influence decision-making, storytelling, and to craft clear, compelling messages.
• Experience leading projects with ownership of budgets, vendors, and schedules.
• Experience working within an entrepreneurial setting.
• Experience in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Demonstrated expertise across a wide range of research topics (e.g., pricing, branding, new product development), survey data analysis, and quantitative methodologies (e.g., conjoint analysis, segmentation techniques, drivers analyses).
• Experience with customer journey mapping and other user experience methods.
• Ability to work under pressure and handle stress.
• Ability to meet regular attendance/ tardiness policy.
• Note, that a case study assessment is part of the interview process.
• More information about the UIL’s workstreams will be shared during the final interviews.