Associate Director, Data & Insights
You own the discipline agency-wide through expertise and standards rather than line management. You carry a commercial number for the discipline without owning the team that delivers it. You continue to work directly on the agency's most strategic client projects. You set the direction of the agency's expertise in data and insights and represent it externally.
How this role differs
You move from shaping the agency through expertise to owning a discipline agency-wide, including a commercial number, without owning the headcount that delivers it.
Both roles own the discipline agency-wide. The Associate Director holds it through expertise, standards and external standing. The Head of Data & Insights holds it through the team and the stack, including resourcing, performance and succession.
Roles and responsibilities
- Lead the specialist development of the Data & Insights offer, defining the client problems it solves and the value it provides.
- Work with the Head of Data & Insights to shape service scope, pricing and positioning, making sure proposed approaches are credible, differentiated and deliverable.
- Own agreed commercial targets for specialist consultancy, new business or service growth, with delivery capacity agreed with the relevant managers.
- Lead the development and validation of agency-wide research and measurement methods, recommending which approaches should be adopted, improved or retired.
- Provide senior counsel on high-stakes client decisions, evaluating the strength of the evidence and explaining uncertainty, trade-offs and further research needs.
- Lead the specialist contribution to major pitches, translating complex analytical approaches into clear value, realistic commitments and defensible recommendations.
- Work with senior PR, SEO and AI visibility specialists to develop integrated services and meaningful approaches to evaluating their impact.
- Anticipate how client needs, data availability and measurement practices will change, recommending capability and investment priorities for the next twelve months and beyond.
- Develop senior specialists through expert coaching and methodological review, making sure knowledge can be applied beyond individual practitioners.
- Build the agency's external authority through original research, publishing, speaking and professional relationships that generate relevant opportunities.
- Continue to work directly on the agency's most strategic client projects, where the strength of the evidence decides the outcome.
Entry requirements
Gateway skills needed at 8+ in the previous role to step into this one (proposed).
How this role is weighted
Immediate growth path
Paths converge. Accountable for agency direction and results.
Owns a function agency-wide, including its commercial performance. Same level, no drop in title or reward.