United Kingdom · Corporate strategy · Director/VP (16-20 years)

Director, Market & Competitive Intelligence

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  • Experience bandDirector/VP (16-20 years)
  • Direct reports5-8 reports
  • Reports toChief Strategy Officer (CSO)
  • UK framework levelUsually a director, accountable for a division and its numbers

Also advertised as VP of Market Insights · Head of Competitive Strategy · Director of Strategic Intelligence

Built on 43,079 real UK job descriptions we analysed · grounded in qualifications employers recognise

1From this job to a course

The qualifications matched to this job

OTHM Level 7 Diploma in Data Science OTHM Qualifications · Level 7 · covers 2 of 2 standards
NCC Education Level 5 Extended Diploma in Computing with Data Science NCC Education Limited · Level 5 · covers 1 of 2 standards
Level 6 Award in Data-led Decision Making Institute of Sales Professionals · Level 6 · covers 1 of 2 standards
Pearson BTEC Level 5 Higher National Diploma in Computing for England Pearson Education Ltd · Level 5 · covers 1 of 2 standards
Pearson BTEC Level 5 Higher National Diploma in Digital Technologies Pearson Education Ltd · Level 5 · covers 1 of 2 standards

Matched from the standards this job is measured against: a suggestion, not an official ruling.

The units you would start with

Data Analysis and Visualisation OTHM Level 7 Diploma in Data Science
Introduction to Data Science and Big Data NCC Education Level 5 Extended Diploma in Computing with Data Science
Data-led Decision Making Level 6 Award in Data-led Decision Making
Apply the Concepts of Data Science to Computer Engineering NOCN Level 5 Diploma in Computer Engineering (Information Technology and Data Science)
Data Analytics Pearson BTEC Level 5 Higher National Diploma in Computing for England

The future skills this job leans on

AI Fluency working with AI as a thinking partner
Data Fluency turning numbers into a decision
AI Governance Fluency using AI responsibly
Foresight Fluency seeing round the corner
Trust Fluency keeping the digital world safe
Your Plan Illustration

Built for Director, Market & Competitive Intelligence

5 units that map to this job, from the qualifications that cover it.

  1. Data Analysis and Visualisation OTHM Qualifications · covers 2 of 2 standards Level 7
  2. Introduction to Data Science and Big Data NCC Education Limited · covers 1 of 2 standards Level 5
  3. Data-led Decision Making Institute of Sales Professionals · covers 1 of 2 standards Level 6
  4. Apply the Concepts of Data Science to Computer Engineering NOCN · covers 1 of 2 standards Level 5
  5. Data Analytics Pearson Education Ltd · covers 1 of 2 standards Level 5
These are the real units behind this job, in the order they rank for it. Nothing here is marked done, because this plan has not been started by anyone yet. Yours would fill in as you go.

2AI and this work

Will AI change your work as a Director, Market & Competitive Intelligence?

Nobody can say exactly how. Here is what this job is being asked for next, and where to start.

The new skills this role is being asked for

  • Geopolitical & Macroeconomic Impact Analysis
  • Ethical AI in Intelligence & Data Governance
Why each one is rising

The future skills this job leans on

We'll only ever tell you what we can actually back up. No hype, no scare tactics.

What happens when you start

Next, a free account. We build your Director, Market & Competitive Intelligence plan as you set up, starting with a Future Fluency module on using AI in your job. No card.

Your first Future Fluency module is free. After that, your AI tutor is £70 a month.

3What this role really is

This role sets the market and competitive intelligence agenda for an organisation, feeding insight into strategic decisions. It means making sure research on rivals and the market shapes annual planning, and presenting findings to senior leaders. The work involves building foresight and turning findings into direction for the business.

4What you'd actually use

The tools this job runs on, and how well you'd need to know each one.

Intelligence Platforms (e.g., AlphaSense, Tegus, Crayon, Klue, Kompyte) Strategic

You'll own the vendor relationships, manage the budget, and evaluate/select the best competitive intelligence platforms for the entire organisation. You'll ensure your team is using them effectively to pull and synthesise insights, and you'll train others on advanced use cases.

Web & SEO Analytics (e.g., Similarweb, SEMrush) Strategic

You'll use the data from these platforms to inform our digital strategy and market positioning recommendations, particularly to the CMO. You'll ensure your team builds custom dashboards to track market share of voice and digital trends, integrating this data with other sources for a holistic view.

Data Analysis & Modeling (Expert Excel, Python) Strategic Oversight

While you might not be building models day-to-day, you'll deeply understand model assumptions and limitations. You'll ensure analytical rigour across your team's outputs, challenging their methodologies and validating their conclusions before they reach senior leadership.

Data Visualization (Tableau, Power BI) Architect

You'll govern the use of tools like Tableau Server or Power BI Premium, ensuring we have consistent, high-quality executive-level intelligence dashboards. You'll define the standards for visualising complex competitive data for C-suite consumption.

Internal Data Sources (Salesforce, HubSpot, Snowflake, BigQuery) Expert

You'll have a deep understanding of our CRM data structure and data warehouse to define and track key competitive metrics enterprise-wide. This means knowing what data we have, what we need, and how to get it reliably to inform strategic decisions.

Financial Planning (Anaplan, Workday Adaptive Planning) Contributor

You'll regularly feed competitive assumptions (e.g., pricing pressure, market share shifts, competitor investment levels) into our corporate financial planning tools. Your insights will directly influence our revenue forecasts and budget allocations.

Board Reporting (Diligent Boards, Nasdaq Boardvantage) Preparer

You'll be responsible for packaging key competitive insights, strategic charts, and market updates for inclusion in board decks. This requires a keen eye for what matters to board members and how to present it concisely and impactfully.

5What you get to decide, and how that grows

Power in a job isn't your title. It's what you're allowed to decide. Here's how it grows as you move up.

The choiceComing in Where you are nowThe step above
Strategic Direction of CI Function N/A N/A N/A
Budget Allocation for CI Tools/Research N/A N/A N/A
Hiring & Performance Management for CI Team N/A N/A N/A
M&A Competitive Thesis & Recommendations N/A N/A N/A
External Representation (Analysts, Conferences) N/A N/A N/A

6How you'll be judged

The scoreboard, and what is not on it. The hard targets, how often each is actually looked at, and the quiet signals that never reach a dashboard.

Strategic Impact Attribution
The number of major strategic shifts, roadmap changes, or M&A theses that can be directly linked back to insights provided by your team.
Target · ≥2 major strategic shifts per half-year

Your team's analysis of a competitor's new pricing model leads to us launching a new tier, which then increases our market share by 3% in that segment. Or, your M&A competitive thesis becomes a core part of a successful acquisition.

Competitive Win Rate Improvement
A measurable increase in our sales win rate specifically against key competitors that your competitive intelligence program targets.
Target · A measurable 5-10% increase in win rate against targeted competitors

After implementing new battlecards and sales training based on your team's insights, our win rate against 'Competitor X' goes from 40% to 46% in a quarter.

Reduction in 'Strategic Surprises'
A year-over-year reduction in the number of times the executive team reports being 'surprised' by a competitor's major move (e.g., new product launch, significant partnership, acquisition).
Target · >50% year-over-year reduction

Last year, the CEO mentioned 5 unexpected competitor moves. This year, thanks to your team's proactive monitoring and foresight, there were only 2, and we had a pre-planned response for both.

C-suite Trust & Influence
How much the C-suite trusts your insights and proactively seeks your advice on critical strategic decisions.
  • You're regularly invited to closed-door strategic planning meetings. The CEO or CSO will often ask for your opinion first on market-related issues. Your insights are rarely challenged on their objectivity, even if they're uncomfortable truths. You're seen as a trusted advisor, not just a data provider.
Strategic Planning Integration
How deeply and effectively competitive intelligence is integrated into our company's core strategic planning and decision-making processes.
  • Your team's competitive landscape analysis is a mandatory input for our annual strategic planning cycle. Key competitive insights are consistently featured in board decks and investor relations materials. Product roadmaps clearly reflect competitive positioning. You're not just 'informed' of strategy
  • you're helping to shape it.
Team Capability & Retention
The overall strength, engagement, and stability of your competitive intelligence team.
  • Your team has low voluntary turnover, usually below 10%. Team members consistently receive positive feedback from internal stakeholders. You're actively developing your team, with clear career paths and successful internal promotions. People genuinely want to work on your team because they know they'll learn and grow.

7Would you like it

Both sides. What people enjoy, and what grinds them down.

What people enjoy
Shaping Enterprise Strategy

You'll spend your days working on the big questions: 'Where should we invest next?', 'What's our defensible long-term position?', 'Who should we acquire to strengthen our hand?' Your insights will directly inform these discussions, often at the board level.

Leading a deep-dive into a new market segment, presenting your findings to the CEO, and seeing that market become a core part of our 3-year plan.

Preventing Major Strategic Errors

The thrill comes from spotting a competitive threat or market shift early enough to allow the company to pivot, saving us from a costly mistake or missed opportunity. It's about being the strategic early warning system.

Identifying a competitor's stealth R&D project months before launch, allowing our product team to accelerate their own feature development or prepare a counter-marketing campaign.

Building a High-Performing Intelligence Function

You'll get immense satisfaction from recruiting, mentoring, and developing a team of sharp, curious analysts. Seeing them grow, take ownership, and deliver impactful insights is a big part of the reward.

Coaching a manager through a tricky stakeholder situation, then watching them successfully present a complex analysis to a VP, knowing you helped them get there.

What frustrates people
  • The 'CEO Read an Article' Fire Drill: Your perfectly planned week will get completely obliterated because a senior executive saw a competitor mentioned in a news article and now demands a full analysis by end of day. It happens more often than you'd think.
  • The Private Company Black Hole: Trying to build a credible, data-backed analysis of a well-funded, private competitor with no public filings is like trying to solve a puzzle with half the pieces missing. You'll rely on web traffic estimates, anecdotal sales intel, and a lot of journalistic tea-leaf reading, which can be frustratingly imprecise.
  • The 'So What?' Problem (at a higher level): You'll present a meticulously researched, 30-page board-level deck, and the first question from a non-strategy executive might still be, 'This is fascinating, but what do you want us to do with this information?' You need to be ready to translate insights into clear, actionable recommendations, every single time.
  • Salesforce Archaeology for Strategic Trends: Sifting through biased and incomplete CRM notes to conduct win/loss analysis. Often, the reason for every loss is simply logged as 'competitor had a lower price,' even when you know it's far more complex. Extracting strategic signals from this noise is tough.
  • Intangible ROI for a Whole Function: It's incredibly difficult to draw a straight line from a competitive insight to a specific revenue number or cost saving. This makes justifying headcount, new tool budgets, and even your function's existence a constant battle. You'll need to be good at telling the story of value, not just showing numbers.
  • Being the Bearer of Bad News (to the Board): Sometimes, your analysis will show that a competitor's new product is genuinely superior, or that their strategy poses a significant threat to our core business. You'll be the one who has to deliver that uncomfortable truth to proud product teams, sales leaders, or even the board. It's not always popular, but it's essential.
What this role does not give you
  • A predictable, routine work schedule. Expect urgent requests and shifting priorities.
  • Instant gratification. Strategic insights often take months or years to show their full impact.
  • A role where you can avoid tough conversations. You'll need to challenge assumptions and deliver difficult truths.
  • A siloed function. You'll be constantly interacting with nearly every department, from Product to Sales to Finance.

8Who you work with

Your work here directly shapes our company's entire strategic direction, market positioning, and significant investment decisions. You're essentially responsible for reducing our strategic blind spots, making sure we understand where the market is going and what our rivals are up to. Get this right, and we make smarter bets; get it wrong, and we could be playing catch-up for years.

Inside the business
  • C-suite (CEO, CSO, CMO, CPO)
  • Product Leadership
  • Sales Leadership
  • M&A Team
  • Investor Relations
  • Regional General Managers
Outside the business
  • Industry Analysts (like Gartner or Forrester)
  • Expert Networks (e.g., GLG, AlphaSights)
  • Key Strategic Partners
  • Potential M&A Targets (during due diligence)

9What you need before you start

Not a wish list. The things you would be expected to already have.

  • A proven track record of building and leading high-performing competitive intelligence or market strategy functions for at least 5-7 years.
  • Demonstrable experience influencing and advising C-suite executives on critical strategic decisions, with examples of insights leading to tangible business outcomes.
  • Extensive experience managing significant budgets (e.g., £250K+) for competitive intelligence tools, research, and external expert networks.
  • A deep understanding of our specific industry sector, its key players, and market dynamics, ideally from working in a similar company or a top-tier consulting firm.
  • Strong capabilities in team leadership, including hiring, mentoring, and developing competitive intelligence professionals.

10What to practise next

Where the job is going, and what to do about it starting this week.

Advanced Data Architecture & Integration for CI

As competitive data sources proliferate, the ability to integrate disparate datasets (internal CRM, external web analytics, expert networks, financial filings) into a unified, accessible intelligence platform becomes crucial. You'll need to architect these systems, not just use them.

Data lake/data warehouse design for intelligence d · API integration strategies for intelligence platfo · Data quality and master data management for compet · Scalable data pipelines for real-time intelligence · Security and access control for sensitive competit

  • This quarter: Partner with our Data Engineering team to map out our current competitive data flows and identify bottlenecks.
  • Next quarter: Research and evaluate new data integration technologies that could streamline our intelligence aggregation.
  • Month 6: Develop a 2-year roadmap for our competitive intelligence data architecture, focusing on scalability and accessibility.
  • Month 9: Lead a project to integrate a new, critical external data source into our central intelligence hub.

Quick win: Start by getting deeply familiar with our internal data infrastructure and who owns what. You can't architect a solution if you don't understand the current plumbing.

11Staying current once you are in

What people here do to keep up
  • Regularly attending industry conferences (e.g., SCIP International Conference, Gartner Symposium) to stay abreast of market trends and network with peers.
  • Engaging with expert networks and industry analysts to deepen your understanding of specific market segments and competitive dynamics.
  • Participating in executive leadership programmes focused on strategy, influence, and organisational change.
  • Mentoring junior talent within the company, not just your direct team, to foster a culture of strategic thinking.
  • Publishing thought leadership pieces or speaking at industry events to establish yourself as a recognised expert.

12The rising capability

The rising capability

Zavmo analysis

What's rising in its place

This is where the work is heading, and the higher pay with it. Get fluent here and the shift stops being a threat and starts being your edge.

Geopolitical & Macroeconomic Impact Analysis

Global events—from supply chain disruptions to new trade policies and regional conflicts—are increasingly impacting competitive landscapes and market dynamics. A competitor's vulnerability might stem from their exposure to a specific region or resource. We need to understand these broader forces.

  • Geopolitical risk assessment frameworks
  • Macroeconomic forecasting principles (e.g., inflat
  • Supply chain resilience and vulnerability analysis
  • Impact of regulatory shifts on market access
  • Scenario modelling for global disruption

Ethical AI in Intelligence & Data Governance

As we use more AI tools for data aggregation, synthesis, and even prediction, understanding the ethical implications, potential biases, and data governance requirements becomes paramount. Misinformation generated by AI or mishandling of data could have severe reputational and legal consequences. You'll need to set the standards.

  • AI hallucination detection and mitigation strategi
  • Bias identification in AI-generated insights
  • Data provenance and chain of custody for competiti
  • Ethical guidelines for using AI in intelligence ga
  • Compliance with evolving AI regulations (e.g., EU

13What you’ll use

What you’ll use

Skills this role draws on

Technical

  • Win/Loss Analysis (Strategic Design)
  • Porter's Five Forces Analysis (Executive Application)
  • Market Sizing (Board-Level Defence)
  • Scenario Planning & War Gaming (Leadership & Facilitation)

14The pathway

The pathway

How you actually get there, here

How you become one varies far more by country than what one does. This is the UK route. Most people take one of these ways in; the right one depends on where you're starting from.

  1. 1

    From Manager, Competitive Intelligence (L5)

    3-5 years as an L5 Manager

    Skills to master

    • Moving from managing a team to leading a function
    • developing a company-wide intelligence agenda
    • consistently influencing VP-level stakeholders
    • managing larger budgets and vendor relationships.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Successfully built and scaled a CI team, demonstrating strong people leadership.
    • Consistently delivered proactive, actionable insights that led to significant business decisions.
    • Proven ability to manage complex CI programmes (e.g., a full win/loss programme end-to-end).
    • Demonstrated strong executive presence and communication skills in high-stakes settings.
  2. 2

    From Head of Strategy (Smaller Company)

    4-6 years in a Head of Strategy role at a smaller, high-growth company

    Skills to master

    • Adapting to a larger, more complex organisational structure
    • scaling competitive intelligence processes for a bigger enterprise
    • influencing a broader range of C-suite stakeholders
    • managing a larger, more diverse team.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Successfully defined and executed strategic initiatives that drove significant growth or market share.
    • Experience building and leading a small strategy team, including competitive intelligence components.
    • Proven ability to operate with a high degree of autonomy and strategic ownership.
    • Strong understanding of our industry and the nuances of competitive dynamics within it.
  3. 3

    From Senior Management Consultant (Strategy Focus)

    8-10 years in management consulting, with a focus on corporate strategy or market entry engagements

    Skills to master

    • Transitioning from advisory to execution and ownership
    • building and managing an internal team
    • navigating internal corporate politics vs. client-side relationships
    • developing long-term strategic programmes.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Led multiple complex strategy engagements for clients in our industry or a related sector.
    • Demonstrated ability to distil complex market data into clear, actionable strategic recommendations.
    • Proven experience presenting to and influencing C-suite level clients.
    • Strong analytical rigour and a deep understanding of strategic frameworks.

15Where this role leads

The long view: This role can lead to senior strategy positions such as Chief Strategy Officer or Chief Commercial Officer, or a move into corporate development leading M&A activity.

The ten Future Fluencies

Zavmo analysis

The credential is what you can do today. These are what keep you valuable.

A qualification proves you can do the job as it's defined today. These ten are what decide whether you're still the obvious person for it in five years. They're the capabilities employers are now writing into senior roles faster than people are learning them. Zavmo weaves them through whatever you study, so you come out with both: the credential and the fluency.

The highlighted ones are the Fluencies your role leans on hardest, from how Director, Market & Competitive Intelligence is actually changing.

How you would learn this

One to one, on the work you already do

A tutor sets the task against your own job and marks the reasoning, at your pace. There is no cohort to fall behind.

A lesson from Data Analysis and Visualisation, worked against Director, Market & Competitive Intelligence.

Data Analysis and Visualisation Level 7

Applied to your work in Director, Market & Competitive Intelligence

1. To enable the learner to critically analyse the theoretical underpinnings of data analytics and their impact on decision-making in business management contexts. 2. To enable the learner to assess diverse data analysis activities, techniques, and tools applicable to business management scenarios. 3. To enable the learner to compare and contrast various predictive analytic techniques, evaluating their strengths and weaknesses in forecasting future business events. 4. To enable the learner to evaluate how predictive analytic techniques can be practically implemented for forecasting purposes within the business sector. 5. To enable the learner to evaluate prescriptive analytic techniques, illustrating their application with relevant examples from the business management domain. 6. To enable the learner to apply a suitable programming language or data analysis tool to conduct data analysis and visualisation tasks related to business management problems.

How the thinking builds
  1. 1 Remember
  2. 2 Understand
  3. 3 Apply
  4. 4 Analyse
  5. 5 Evaluate
  6. 6 Create
An illustration of a Zavmo lesson, built from this role’s own route. The unit, its objective and every criterion above are the awarding body’s own words, not an example.

It is £70 a month, billed monthly. Your free first module is Future Fluency, and you can cancel any time.

See Your Progress Grow Illustration
Director, Market & Competitive Intelligence
  • Win/Loss Analysis (Strategic Design)
  • Porter's Five Forces Analysis (Executive Application)
  • Market Sizing (Board-Level Defence)
  • Scenario Planning & War Gaming (Leadership & Facilitation)
This is your Mind Palace on learn.zavmo.ai. Every skill above comes from this role's own record, not an example borrowed from another job. A node lights up when you evidence it, and what you build stays yours between jobs. That is the part a course cannot do.

16The detail, folded away

Everything else the record holds

The career branches in full, how AI is already showing up in the day-to-day, and the questions people ask about this job. Here when you want them, out of the way while you decide.

Where it leads next, rung by rung

Where it leads

The career path, and where it branches

Director, Market & Competitive Intelligence is a start, not a ceiling. Each step below asks for new skills and hands back more autonomy.

  1. VP, Corporate Strategy & Intelligence (L7)

    3-5 years in the Director role

    This is a significant step up to the executive leadership team, owning the intersection of market intelligence, long-range planning, and M&A strategy. You'll be a key advisor to the CSO/CEO.

    • M&A deal origination and integration strategy
    • Global market expansion strategy
    • Advanced risk management for enterprise strategy
    • Strategic portfolio management
Working with AI on the job

Working with AI

Where AI is starting to help

Let's be honest, competitive intelligence can be a grind. Sifting through filings, earnings calls, and news feeds takes ages. But what if you could offload the grunt work and focus on the real strategic thinking? That's where AI comes in.

At Zavmo, we're not just talking about AI; we're building it into our daily workflows. For a Director of Market & Competitive Intelligence, this means moving beyond manual aggregation to leveraging AI to surface insights faster, synthesise complex information, and even draft your executive summaries. It's about amplifying your strategic impact, not replacing your brain.

Automated Intel Aggregation & Prioritisation

Imagine AI-powered monitoring tools scraping, translating, and categorising competitor website updates, patent filings, and key job postings. You'll get a prioritised daily intelligence briefing, cutting out hours of manual scanning and letting you focus on the 'so what?'

Strategic Thematic Analysis of Earnings Calls

Feed a competitor's 50-page earnings call transcript into an LLM and ask it to 'Summarise the top 5 strategic priorities, identify 3 key risks mentioned, and extract all commentary about R&D investment.' What used to take hours of listening and note-taking now takes minutes, allowing you to focus on the implications.

First-Draft Strategic Brief Generation

Use generative AI, connected to your internal knowledge base and external data, to create a V1 draft of a strategic competitive brief. This could include sections on 'Market Positioning,' 'Key Differentiators,' and 'Potential Counter-Moves,' giving your team a huge head start.

Executive Summary & Board Deck Synthesizer

After your team completes a deep-dive report, paste the full text into an LLM with the prompt: 'You are a CSO. Rewrite this as a 300-word executive summary for the CEO and Board, focusing on the three most critical takeaways and our recommended actions.' This saves valuable time in crafting high-stakes communications.

Common questions

Common questions

How do you become a Director, Market & Competitive Intelligence?

Common routes in include From Manager, Competitive Intelligence (3-5 years as an L5 Manager), From Head of Strategy (Smaller Company) (4-6 years in a Head of Strategy role at a smaller, high-growth company) and From Senior Management Consultant (Strategy Focus) (8-10 years in management consulting, with a focus on corporate strategy or market entry engagements). Times vary with prior experience.

Where can a Director, Market & Competitive Intelligence progress to?

This role can lead on to VP, Corporate Strategy & Intelligence (3-5 years in the Director role), depending on the skills you build.

What new skills matter most for a Director, Market & Competitive Intelligence?

Increasingly, Geopolitical & Macroeconomic Impact Analysis and Ethical AI in Intelligence & Data Governance. These are the skills our record of this role lists as growing.

Free tools

Want a read on where you stand?

Three free tools, no account needed. Each one ends with a role, a level and a way in.

17Where to go from here

Other roles at Level 7

Same depth of qualification, different job. Useful if the work appeals but this particular role does not.

More jobs in corporate strategy

Stay in the field you know and move sideways rather than up.

If you leave this industry

The strategic and analytical skills built in this role transfer well. It can lead to senior strategy roles in other technology companies, venture capital, private equity, or management consulting. Understanding markets and competitors is useful across sectors.

This role profile is © 2026 Growth Engineering Technologies Ltd. Built from UK occupational standards and regulated qualification data, and written for Zavmo.

You're not behind. You're right on time. The shift is only just beginning. Your role won't look the same in two years. Be the one who leads the change, not the one it happens to. Start my plan, free What happens next: a free account, then we build your plan as you set up. No card. Build your plan, see your roadmap and meet the twelve tutors matched to you. All free. When you're ready to start learning, it's £70 a month, billed monthly. Cancel any time and billing stops.