Job Description

Shape Skincare Category Strategy: Partner with Global Category leadership, Brand Presidents and Executive Leadership to shape long-term category strategies by identifying future growth opportunities, strategic priorities, portfolio gaps, and evolving consumer needs.

• Lead in Skincare Performance, Insights and Data Analytics
• Establish one coherent view of skincare demand, category growth, market dynamics, brand performance and competitive activity across priority markets.
• Deliver analytics insights for monthly/ quarterly business reviews, performance deep-dives, category and brand strategy cycles.

Key data sources include:

• Syndicated market and panel data (e.g., Circana, Beaute, Numerator, Yipit, etc.)
• CRM data
• Digital & search data
• Brand health
• Social & cultural intelligence
• Retailer and customer performance data
• Internal finance and business performance metrics
• Competitive intelligence and ecommerce data

Conduct in-depth performance and competitor reviews to identify where consumer demand and commercial opportunity overlap. Translate these growth intersections into clear strategic choices for ELC’s skincare category, brands, regions and markets. Lead issue-based analytics through integrating market share, panels, brand health, Demand Spaces, trends, and social listening.

Partner with the Corporate Trends team to identify and develop forward-looking consumer, cultural and beauty trends, then translate them into relevant skincare foresights and strategic implications for Global Brands, Regions and Markets.

• Enhance Analytics Tools and Insights
• Spearhead development and adoption of centralized and self-service reporting, and repeatable analytical frameworks that improve access to information, speed of decision-making, and consistency across the organization
• Identify opportunities to streamline reporting, reduce duplication, improve process, and introduce scalable ways of working that allow the team to focus more time on strategic analysis and guidance
• Stay current on evolving analytics, research, reporting and technology capabilities, recommending approaches that can strengthen decision-making and organizational effectiveness
• Collaborate with stakeholders to align analytics solutions and future needs and objectives
• Ensure data accuracy, consistency, and integrity for category analysis and reporting
• Become the Skincare Thought Leader: Act as a strategic thought partner to Global Category, Marketing and Product Development leadership, elevating the organization's capability to make consumer-centric strategic decisions.
• Challenge Thinking: Constructively challenge assumptions and conventional thinking by bringing objective consumer evidence and strategic perspective into key business discussions.
• Strategic Storytelling: Distill multiple data sources into clear, compelling narratives that inspire action and influence executive decision-making.
• Strong analytical skills: Integrate primary research with syndicated data, social intelligence, search behavior, ecommerce analytics, retail performance, and competitive intelligence to create a holistic understanding of category dynamics and future growth opportunities.
• Vendor Management: Own and manage relationships with third-party market research vendors.
• Team Management: Lead, mentor, and build high-performing consumer intelligence junior personnel

Qualifications

Key Qualifications

• Category & Brand Strategy: Demonstrated ability to translate consumer understanding into category strategy, brand positioning, innovation priorities, and long-term business growth. Comfortable identifying strategic choices regarding where to compete, how to differentiate, and where future opportunities exist.
• Commercial & Business Acumen: Strong understanding of the commercial drivers of prestige skincare, including innovation, pricing architecture, distribution, claims, portfolio management, retailer dynamics, and global market evolution.
• Scientific Curiosity: Demonstrates strong curiosity for skincare science, dermatology, ingredient technologies, longevity, biotechnology, and emerging scientific advances, with the ability to translate technical developments into meaningful consumer opportunities.
• Executive Influence: Exceptional ability to influence senior executives through strategic thinking, evidence-based recommendations, and thoughtful challenge. Comfortable engaging in high-level discussions regarding business strategy beyond consumer research.
• Strategic Thinking: Recognized for framing ambiguous business challenges, connecting diverse information into coherent strategic choices, and helping organizations make better long-term decisions.
• Consumer Insights Experience: Typically requires 15+ years of experience in market research, consumer insights, marketing strategy, or data analytics.
• Analytical Prowess: Deep expertise in interpreting both quantitative data (new product launch related learning and testing) and qualitative feedback (focus groups, interviews).
• Data & Analytics Expertise: Demonstrated ability to leverage diverse data sources—including social listening platforms, consumer panels, and POS data—to uncover meaningful consumer insights, identify emerging trends, and drive strategic business decisions.
• Storytelling & Communication: The ability to crystalize the business needs, and use it as the guiding light when distilling highly complex data into compelling, accessible narratives that influence business decisions at all levels.
• Beauty Culture & Social Intelligence: Deep understanding of beauty culture across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Reddit, Xiaohongshu and emerging platforms, with the ability to distinguish short-term viral moments from enduring consumer shifts.
• Consumer Curiosity: Naturally curious with an insatiable desire to understand consumers, creators, cultural movements, and the forces shaping the future of prestige beauty.
• Humility: Confident yet humble leader who values diverse perspectives, actively listens, and uses consumer evidence to build alignment rather than "win" debates.
• Strong interpersonal skills: In ELC’s highly matrixed organization, exceptional interpersonal and influencing skills are critical to success. The Executive Director must build trusted relationships across brands, regions, functions, and leadership levels to ensure consumer insights are embedded in key business decisions. This role requires the ability to navigate complexity, align diverse stakeholders around a common understanding of the consumer, and drive action without direct authority. Through strong communication, collaboration, and executive presence, the leader effectively translates insights into influence, fostering alignment and accelerating business impact across the organization.