Market Research Account Director - Media, Entertainment and Culture

About Us 
CMB is a full-service custom market research and strategy firm based in Boston. As a Top 25 Insights & Analytics company, we’re known for our relentless business-decision focus and cutting-edge creativity. Our passion is helping the world’s leading brands engage, innovate, and grow. We leverage the best of advanced analytics, consumer psychology, and market strategy to tackle game-changing initiatives and business challenges for our clients. 
 
What about our culture?  Simply put, our people are our power. We have a diverse, inclusive and collaborative team of bright perspectives and curious minds.  At CMB you’ll have plenty of opportunities to achieve your full potential. From learning new skills, expanding your expertise, and continuing to advance your professional development, you will feel supported and valued.  
 
Our benefits say a lot about how much we value our employees: we offer a fully paid sabbatical, a $250 wellness stipend, paid time off to volunteer, generous medical plans, a 401k match, and more. Every employee also gets to enjoy an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). 
 
ESOP?  Yes, we are 100% employee owned!  An ESOP is like a qualified retirement plan, similar to a 401k, but you don’t have to make any contributions to participate in the rewards.  When we each work hard to provide exceptional service and deliverables to our clients, the positive performance of the company increases the value of our stock and enables the accumulation of wealth for all our employee-owners. 
 
About the Position 
Are you ready to advance your insights career and lead research engagements with the world’s leading brands? The Account Director - Media, Entertainment and Culture closely with a Practice Leader as well as business development, client services, and marketing colleagues to: 

• Engage with existing and potential clients,  

• Understand their primary research needs,  

• Craft quantitative and qualitative research solutions to address those needs,  

• Deliver superior client experiences, and  

• Ensure profitable business engagements.   

This role requires flexibility and resourcefulness: the Account Director - Media, Entertainment and Culture role is responsible for revenue retention, along with modest revenue growth, development of proposals, serving as a Sr. Consultant on related project work, and overseeing account-specific project operations and thought leadership. This person is a:  

• Structured & innovative thinker 

• Creative problem-solver with a depth of experience in custom quantitative, qualitative and measurement work with a passion for data storytelling, and  

• proven thought leadership and presentation skills.  

This person will already have existing success within the Media & Entertainment and Culture industry spaces. This position reports directly to an assigned VP, Media, Entertainment & Culture. 

This role may be hybrid in Boston or work remotely in the US. 
 
About You 
You are a seasoned, self-sufficient synthesis storyteller. People say you are able to tackle dynamic and challenging business problems with hands-on quantitative and qualitative project execution, both domestic and international. You have a clear knowledge of complex market research methodologies and how to apply them. Elevating insights and storytelling, as well as integrating findings across projects are just some of your many talents. These are just a few of the reasons you’re excited to work for a market research company that is established and has a record of success – just like CMB! 

About Your Background 
You’ve worked hard to get to where you are and are ready to build expertise in our accounts and contribute to allow CMB to expand account/industry expertise, up-level insights/reporting, and reduce or replace Senior Consultant project time. Here’s what you’ll be doing and the qualifications we are looking for: 

Responsibilities and Expectations 

Sales and Account Management Team Expectations 

• Partner with clients to ensure project success 

• Ensure end-to-end client/project delivery in alignment with project team leading to high client satisfaction with project deliverables 

• Clearly communicate needs and expectations to project teams 

• Follow CMB and client-specific Information Security Policies 

• Adhere to CMB’s defined approaches, processes, and best practices 

• Follow CMB and client-specific Information Security Policies 

Essential Duties 

• Effectively communicate with Insights Associates, Senior Insights Associates, Insights Consultants, Senior Insights Consultants, Insights Directors, peers, and other senior staff 

• Partner with assigned Practice Leader/Account Director to meet established goals (e.g., sales, client satisfaction, client/product/project profitability, team efficiency, talent mentorship) 

• Partner with Practice Lead, Client Services, and Qualitative team members to grow, nurture, and develop key client accounts through relationship building and thought leadership/oversight on research project execution 

• Partner with Practice Lead and the Growth Strategy team to meet sales goals for both new and existing clients, as assigned  

• Partner with Insights & Strategy Operations to ensure the research deliverables meet client needs and CMB profitability targets  

• Act as an expert for assigned key client accounts and integrate competitive, client, and industry information throughout project execution 

• Serve primarily as Senior Consultant on projects (or Project Consultant where project and/or account complexity requires) Focus on elevating insights and offering a comprehensive perspective within and across projects  

• Identify new research opportunities for assigned key client accounts 

• Support account-related conference content, webinars, blogs, articles, etc.  

• Offer operations-level support where needed – client compliance, documentation, resource management, etc.  

• Ensure a high degree of employee engagement and positive / professionally constructive feedback 

• Successfully completes peer reviews on time as requested 

Qualifications 

• Bachelor’s degree in Statistics, Marketing, Market Research, Business Management, Psychology, Sociology, Applied Economics, Political Science, or related field 

• 7+ years professional experience 

• 5+ years independently managing multiple custom market research projects 

• Understanding of market research methods with applied knowledge of primary research techniques (e.g., trade-off designs, factor analysis, driver modeling) 

• Experience successfully integrating qualitative and quantitative methodologies  

• Demonstrated management or successful mentoring experience 

• Experience delegating, managing, and influencing teams and individuals 

• Understanding of complex market research methods 

• Excellent at partnering on project resources and timelines 

• Excellent at managing multiple relationships and priorities 

• Excellent at establishing and managing relationships with clients, vendors, and co-workers 

• Fluent in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook 

• Sense of humor 

• Self-aware 

• A leader 

Utilization Goals 

• The typical utilization goal for this role is 50-70%, but will vary based on assigned accounts 

Travel 

• Up to 25% 

*No agency assistance needed* 

*No visa/work authorization available* 

CMB strongly encourages candidates from diverse backgrounds and experiences to apply. We recognize that people from structurally marginalized groups often only apply to jobs if they meet 100% of the qualifications, despite the reality that applicants rarely ever meet 100% of the qualifications. If you have demonstrated experience in the custom market research and insights industry and this position aligns with your experience and interests, please apply! 
 
CMB is an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer and encourages applications from all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, or protected veteran status, or to other non-work-related factors. As part of our commitment to inclusivity, CMB will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations. If a reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please contact Kate Milligan at [email protected].  
 
The annual base salary range for this position is $110,000-$135,000 plus bonus, benefits, and an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). The base salary is dependent on a variety of factors, including (but not limited to) experience, expertise, skills, and employee's location.