Director Market Intelligence & Strategic Insights

Duties & Responsibilities

• External Data Strategy & “Single Source of Truth”
  • Define the external data strategy for Enterprise Growth: what sources matter (market, competitor, platform signals), how often they refresh, and what “gold standard” outputs the enterprise should trust
  • Establish governance around definitions and comparability (e.g., ensuring leadership debates are anchored on shared definitions instead of conflicting lenses)
• Market & Competitive Intelligence
  • Monitor market trends, customer behavior, and competitor moves relevant to Staples’ growth agenda
  • Translate signals into enterprise growth implications, surfacing what changed, why it matters, and what risks/opportunities it creates
• Competitive Economics & Pricing Implications
  • Translate external market and competitor signals into quantified economic implications (e.g., pricing posture, elasticity assumptions, channel mechanics), including scenarios and clear “so what” impacts on margin, volume, and share
• Strategic Initiative Assessments
  • Partner with SLT members and initiative owners to define hypotheses, success metrics, and post-mortems so insights continually improve execution and decision-making over time
  • Produce unbiased risk & opportunity briefs for priority initiatives, connecting insights to value (revenue, margin, retention, cost-to-serve, and risk), and informing initiative design, sequencing, and success criteria
• Growth Pyramid & Enterprise Strategy Support
  • Support Growth Pyramid reviews with fact-based external context and pressure-test key assumptions using outside-in market/competitive insights
  • Establish monthly/quarterly update cadence
• Cross-Functional Signal Integration
  • Align with functional analytics teams on shared inputs, definitions, and refresh cadence so internal and external views reconcile into one story
  • Embed external demand and competitive insights into test-and-learn and pricing governance with Revenue Management, Merchandising, Digital, and Marketing, ensuring evaluation criteria reflect “go-to-market” realities
• External Vendor & Data Partnership Management
  • Manage external data providers / research partners where needed (e.g., market share providers and competitive datasets), including ensuring the outputs are actionable and properly caveated
• AI-First Reporting & Scalable Architecture
  • Design scalable, automated reporting and synthesis workflows using AI to reduce manual effort and accelerate insight generation
  • Build repeatable “signal-to-insight” pipelines (e.g., ingestion → cleaning → triangulation → executive summary) and establish an operating rhythm for distribution
• People Leadership
  • Stand up and develop a team of 1–2 associates
  • Oversee responsibilities, performance, and development of the team
  • Conduct performance appraisals, coach direct and indirect reports, and foster a culture of continuous improvement and collaboration

Qualifications

• Demonstrated ability to build and defend an external market/competitive point of view using rigorous data, not anecdotes.
• Strong analytical capability; comfortable working with ambiguous, messy external datasets and triangulating sources.
• Excellent executive communication (written + verbal); can translate signal into “so what” implications.
• Strong project management and ability to build repeatable operating rhythms for insight delivery.
• Demonstrated ability to lead teams and develop talent.
• Able to work well in a dynamic environment.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite alongside experience testing and utilizing AI tools to drive productivity and insights.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience designing scalable reporting / intelligence workflows, including automation and AI-assisted synthesis.
• Familiarity with market data sources and limitations (e.g., where market share is available vs not available at SKU level).
• Understanding of competitive dynamics in e-commerce and marketplaces and implications for pricing / value propositions.
• Understanding of the B2B distribution, office products, or business services industry.
• Team-orientation with an affinity for influencing and working across functions in a dynamic, often-changing environment.