UK

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

Director, Behavioural Science & Insights

Here is the whole job, in plain words. What it is, what you decide, how you're judged, how people get here and where they go next. Then the part no course gives you: twelve AI tutors who learn your work.

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  • Experience bandDirector/VP (16-20 years)
  • Direct reports25-100+ reports
  • Reports toVP, Customer Intelligence & Strategy
  • UK framework levelUsually a director, accountable for a division and its numbers

Also advertised as VP, Customer & Behavioural Insights · Head of Consumer Strategy · Director of Marketing Science

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

Two short quizzes about you

1From this job to a course

The qualifications matched to this job

OTHM Level 7 Diploma in Data Science OTHM Qualifications · Level 7 · covers 3 of 5 standards
NCC Education Level 5 Extended Diploma in Computing with Data Science NCC Education Limited · Level 5 · covers 3 of 5 standards
Pearson BTEC Level 5 Higher National Diploma in Computing for England Pearson Education Ltd · Level 5 · covers 3 of 5 standards
Pearson BTEC Level 5 Higher National Diploma in Digital Technologies Pearson Education Ltd · Level 5 · covers 2 of 5 standards
Level 6 Award in Data-led Decision Making Institute of Sales Professionals · Level 6 · covers 1 of 5 standards

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

The units you would start with

Data Science Foundations 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 Analytics Pearson BTEC Level 5 Higher National Diploma in Computing for England
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)

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
Systems Fluency seeing the whole picture
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Your Plan Illustration

Built for Director, Behavioural Science & Insights

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

  1. Data Science Foundations OTHM Qualifications · covers 3 of 5 standards Level 7
  2. Introduction to Data Science and Big Data NCC Education Limited · covers 3 of 5 standards Level 5
  3. Data Analytics Pearson Education Ltd · covers 3 of 5 standards Level 5
  4. Data-led Decision Making Institute of Sales Professionals · covers 1 of 5 standards Level 6
  5. Apply the Concepts of Data Science to Computer Engineering NOCN · covers 1 of 5 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, Behavioural Science & Insights?

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

  • Ethical AI & Bias Detection in Insights
  • Predictive Behavioural Modelling & Intervention Design
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, Behavioural Science & Insights plan as you set up, starting with a Future Fluency module on using AI in your job. No card.

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3What this role really is

This job studies why customers do what they do, and uses that knowledge to shape a business unit's strategy. You lead the analysis of customer behaviour, feeding it into marketing campaigns and product decisions. You act as the voice of the customer at a strategic level, turning behaviour into plans that support growth.

4What you'd actually use

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

Qualtrics (or similar enterprise survey platform) Strategic

Evaluating and selecting enterprise research platforms, defining global survey standards, and ensuring data quality and integration across the organisation. You'll set the vision for our voice of customer programmes.

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) / Mixpanel (or similar product analytics) Architect

Defining the enterprise-wide event taxonomy and data layer strategy. Making build-vs-buy decisions on analytics platforms and ensuring they provide the strategic insights needed for the business unit's growth.

Tableau / Looker (or similar BI platform) Strategic

Governing the company's BI strategy for insights. Working with data engineering and IT to define data models that power executive-level dashboards and strategic reports, presenting these to the C-suite.

R (Tidyverse, ggplot2) / Python (pandas, NumPy, scikit-learn) Strategic

Directing the methodological approach for large-scale research and advanced modelling. Championing the use of advanced techniques like marketing mix modelling or predictive behavioural analytics across the team.

Segment / Tealium (or similar Customer Data Platform) Architect

Designing the customer data strategy and architecture for the business unit. Selecting, overseeing the implementation, and measuring the ROI of the CDP to ensure a unified customer view.

Domo / Power BI Premium (or similar Executive Reporting) Expert

Building and maintaining C-suite level dashboards that track strategic KPIs for the business unit. Presenting and defending these metrics in executive leadership and board meetings, driving accountability.

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 Research Programme Design Follows established templates and processes; escalates any deviation. Proposes adjustments to standard programmes; consults manager on significant changes. Designs complex, multi-phase research programmes; consults Director on overall strategic fit and budget.
Team Hiring & Structure No hiring authority; participates in interviews for peer roles. Provides feedback on junior candidates; no hiring authority. Interviews junior roles and provides strong recommendations; no final hiring authority.
Budget Allocation (Insights) No budget authority; tracks project expenses. Manages small project budgets (<£5K); escalates overruns. Manages project budgets up to £25K; consults Director on significant deviations.

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.

P&L Impact from Insights
Directly attributable revenue uplift or cost savings from insights-driven initiatives.
Target · £2M-£10M+ annually for the business unit.

Your team's research identified a pricing elasticity opportunity, leading to a £3M increase in annual recurring revenue for a key product line without impacting customer churn.

Strategic Initiative Influence
Number of major corporate strategic initiatives per year directly shaped by your team's research and recommendations.
Target · At least 2-3 major initiatives annually.

Your team's deep dive into customer acquisition behaviours led to a complete overhaul of our onboarding programme, which was then adopted as a company-wide strategic priority.

Team Performance & Retention
Maintaining a high-performing team with low attrition and strong engagement scores.
Target · Team attrition rate <10%; engagement score in top quartile.

Your team's engagement score hit 85% this year, and you've retained all key talent despite a competitive market, showing strong leadership and development.

Research ROI & Efficiency
Optimising the return on investment for research spend and improving the efficiency of insight generation.
Target · Achieve a 5:1 ROI on research spend; reduce average insight cycle time by 15%.

By streamlining research methodologies and adopting new AI tools, your team delivered critical insights 20% faster, leading to a £500K saving in external agency fees while maintaining quality.

Executive Trust & Adoption
Being the go-to expert for C-suite and business unit leaders when they face complex customer problems; your recommendations are consistently adopted.
  • You're proactively invited to strategic planning sessions, your opinion is sought on critical business decisions, and your team's insights are regularly cited in board presentations and investor calls. You're seen as a credible, indispensable voice in the room.
Organisational Integration of Behavioural Science
Successfully embedding behavioural science principles and methodologies across Marketing, Product, and Sales functions.
  • Other departments regularly approach your team for behavioural insights training or consultation. You see behavioural concepts (like 'nudges' or 'cognitive biases') being used in their strategy documents and campaign briefs. You've established formal processes for cross-functional collaboration on behavioural experiments.
Talent Development & Mentorship
Building and nurturing a world-class team, fostering their growth and creating a strong succession pipeline.
  • Your direct reports are consistently promoted internally or headhunted for senior roles externally. You've implemented a robust development programme for your team, and they consistently report high satisfaction with their career growth opportunities under your leadership. You're known for spotting and developing future leaders.

7Would you like it

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

What people enjoy
Shaping Enterprise Strategy

You're excited by the challenge of influencing multi-million-pound decisions and seeing your team's work directly impact the company's market position. You love presenting to the C-suite and getting buy-in on big ideas.

Leading the quarterly strategic review where your team's insights determine the next 12 months of product development priorities.

Building a World-Class Team

You get a real buzz from mentoring senior leaders, fostering a culture of curiosity and excellence, and watching your team members grow into their full potential. You invest heavily in their development.

Designing a new training programme for your managers or seeing a direct report successfully lead a complex, high-stakes project.

Solving Complex, Ambiguous Problems

You thrive on tackling business questions where there's no obvious answer, where the data is messy, and where you need to combine multiple methodologies and behavioural theories to find a breakthrough. You enjoy the intellectual challenge.

Unravelling why a new product launch underperformed despite positive market research, requiring a deep dive into post-purchase behaviour and competitive context.

What frustrates people
  • The 'HiPPO' (Highest Paid Person's Opinion) overriding rigorous data and behavioural evidence.
  • Significant budget constraints on innovative research methodologies, forcing compromises.
  • Slow decision-making cycles at the executive level, causing insights to become stale.
  • The constant battle to secure resources (people, tech) for your team in a competitive internal landscape.
  • Being asked to 'prove' something that's already widely accepted in behavioural science, just because it challenges internal assumptions.
What this role does not give you
  • A purely academic research environment with unlimited time for deep dives.
  • A role where you're solely an individual contributor, isolated from management responsibilities.
  • Complete freedom from internal politics or the need to 'sell' your ideas.
  • A static, predictable environment where strategic priorities never shift.

8Who you work with

You'll shape the entire customer strategy for a major business unit, directly influencing its P&L, market positioning, and long-term growth trajectory. Your decisions will guide multi-year investments and define how we interact with our customers, ultimately driving significant revenue uplift or cost efficiencies.

Inside the business
  • C-Suite (CEO, CMO, CPO)
  • Business Unit Leaders (Sales, Product, Operations)
  • Legal & Compliance teams
  • Data Engineering & IT Leadership
Outside the business
  • Key strategic agency partners
  • Market research vendors
  • Industry bodies and thought leaders
  • Major technology platform providers

9What you need before you start

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

  • Demonstrable experience leading and scaling a significant behavioural science or consumer insights function (20+ people) within a complex organisation.
  • Proven track record of influencing C-suite and Board-level stakeholders with data-driven insights, leading to measurable business impact (£ multi-million).
  • Deep expertise in a broad range of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, including advanced statistical modelling and ethnographic research.
  • Significant experience managing large budgets (£2M+) and making strategic investment decisions for insights technologies and vendor partnerships.
  • A strong academic background in behavioural economics, psychology, statistics, or a related quantitative field (Master's or PhD preferred, or equivalent practical experience).

10What to practise next

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

Advanced Data Mesh & Data Fabric Architectures

As data sources multiply and become more decentralised, traditional data warehouses struggle. Understanding and advocating for data mesh or fabric architectures is crucial for ensuring your team has timely, high-quality access to all behavioural data across the enterprise, without being bottlenecked by central IT.

Domain-oriented data ownership · Data as a product · Self-serve data platforms · Federated computational governance · Data virtualisation technologies

  • This quarter: Read up on data mesh principles and attend a few introductory webinars.
  • Next 6 months: Initiate conversations with Data Engineering and IT leadership about our current data architecture challenges and the potential of data mesh/fabric.
  • Next 12 months: Champion a pilot project for a data product owned by your insights team, demonstrating the value of this approach.
  • Ongoing: Ensure your team has the skills to work with distributed data sources and contribute to data product definitions.

Quick win: Identify one critical data set your team struggles to access or use. Work with Data Engineering to define it as a 'data product' with clear ownership and SLAs, even if it's just a conceptual exercise initially.

Web3 & Decentralised Data Understanding

While still nascent, Web3 technologies (blockchain, NFTs, decentralised identity) could fundamentally change how consumers own and share their data, and how brands interact with them. Understanding this shift is critical for future-proofing our customer data strategy and identifying new behavioural insights opportunities.

Blockchain fundamentals (public/private ledgers) · Decentralised Identifiers (DIDs) and Verifiable Cr · NFTs and digital ownership for loyalty/engagement · Data sovereignty and user-controlled data · Privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) in Web3

  • This quarter: Read introductory articles on Web3, blockchain, and decentralised identity; understand the basic concepts.
  • Next 6 months: Identify potential use cases for decentralised data in our industry (e.g., loyalty programmes, customer identity management); discuss with your team.
  • Next 12 months: Explore potential partnerships with Web3 technology providers or research pilot projects for early adoption.
  • Ongoing: Monitor industry trends and competitor activities in the Web3 space; share relevant insights with the C-suite.

Quick win: Start by exploring how NFTs are being used for brand loyalty or community building. It's a tangible entry point into understanding decentralised ownership and its behavioural implications.

11Staying current once you are in

What people here do to keep up
  • Regularly attending and speaking at industry conferences (e.g., ESOMAR, Behavioural Science & Policy Association) to stay abreast of the latest trends and network with peers.
  • Publishing thought leadership articles or whitepapers on behavioural science applications in marketing, positioning yourself and the company as experts.
  • Participating in executive leadership development programmes focused on strategic influence, change management, and organisational design.
  • Mentoring junior talent within the organisation, both within your team and across other departments, to foster a culture of insights-driven decision-making.

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.

Ethical AI & Bias Detection in Insights

As we use more AI for pattern discovery and qualitative analysis, the risk of embedding and amplifying biases (e.g., in segmentation, targeting) grows. Ensuring fairness and transparency isn't just a compliance issue; it's a brand reputation and customer trust imperative. You'll be the guardian of ethical AI use in insights.

  • Fairness metrics (e.g., demographic parity, equali
  • Explainable AI (XAI) techniques for model transpar
  • Data provenance and bias in training data
  • Ethical frameworks for behavioural nudges via AI
  • Regulatory trends in AI ethics (e.g., EU AI Act)

Predictive Behavioural Modelling & Intervention Design

Moving beyond descriptive analytics, the future is about predicting what customers will do and designing proactive interventions to guide them towards desired behaviours (e.g., churn prevention, upsell, healthy habits). This requires a deeper integration of behavioural science with advanced machine learning.

  • Reinforcement learning for personalised interventi
  • Causal inference techniques for intervention effec
  • Dynamic segmentation based on predicted behaviour
  • Designing 'choice architectures' for digital platf
  • Measuring long-term behavioural change vs. short-t

13What you’ll use

What you’ll use

Skills this role draws on

Technical

  • Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) Framework
  • Advanced Conjoint & MaxDiff Analysis
  • Ethnographic & Observational Research Leadership
  • Enterprise Customer Journey Mapping
  • Strategic Behavioural Segmentation
  • Advanced A/B & Multivariate Test Programme Design

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 Lead Behavioural Strategist (L4)

    Roughly 4-6 years at L4, plus prior experience, to step into a Director role.

    Skills to master

    • You'd need to significantly broaden your strategic scope from owning specific programmes to defining the entire insights strategy for a business unit. This means developing strong P&L management skills, executive presence, and the ability to lead other managers.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Consistently delivering proactive, unsolicited insights that lead to major business initiatives.
    • Successfully mentoring multiple junior team members into more senior roles.
    • Demonstrating strong influence over senior stakeholders (VP level and above) without direct authority.
    • Taking on informal leadership roles in cross-functional strategic projects.
  2. 2

    From Manager, Consumer & Market Insights (L5)

    Typically 3-5 years at L5 to progress to Director.

    Skills to master

    • This transition is about moving from managing a team and a research agenda to defining the strategic vision for an entire function. You'll need to master board-level communication, enterprise-wide thinking, and cross-business unit influence, often with a larger P&L responsibility.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Successfully managing a team of 10+ people, including other managers, with strong retention and development outcomes.
    • Consistently translating business goals into a clear, impactful research agenda that delivers measurable ROI.
    • Building strong, trusted relationships with executive peers across multiple departments.
    • Taking accountability for significant P&L impact through insights.
  3. 3

    External Hire (from similar Director/Head of Insights role)

    Direct entry, assuming a strong track record.

    Skills to master

    • Adaptability to our specific industry, company culture, and existing tech stack. Quickly building credibility with our C-suite and key business unit leaders.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Proven experience leading a similar-sized insights function in a comparable industry.
    • Demonstrable success in driving strategic change and P&L impact in previous roles.
    • Strong network within the behavioural science/insights community.

15Where this role leads

The long view: This role can lead to Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Customer Officer, or a board or non-executive director position.

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, Behavioural Science & Insights is actually changing.

Where it leads

Roles this leads to

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 Science Foundations, worked against Director, Behavioural Science & Insights.

Data Science Foundations Level 7

Applied to your work in Director, Behavioural Science & Insights

1. To enable the learner to define the scope and landscape of Data Science and differentiate the roles of Data Scientists from other IT professionals. 2. To enable the learner to evaluate key topics within Data Science, including data administration, governance, and big data sources. 3. To enable the learner to describe the architecture and core elements of Apache Hadoop. 4. To enable the learner to analyse the advantages and disadvantages of utilising Artificial Intelligence techniques in a business context. 5. To enable the learner to critically analyse the impact of Big Data on digital transformation within organisations and its effects on users. 6. To enable the learner to review strategies for ensuring data compliance and explain the responsibilities and challenges faced by data specialists.

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.

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See Your Progress Grow Illustration
Director, Behavioural Science & Insights
  • Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) Framework
  • Advanced Conjoint & MaxDiff Analysis
  • Ethnographic & Observational Research Leadership
  • Enterprise Customer Journey Mapping
  • Strategic Behavioural Segmentation
  • Advanced A/B & Multivariate Test Programme Design
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, Behavioural Science & Insights is a start, not a ceiling. Each step below asks for new skills and hands back more autonomy.

  1. VP, Customer Intelligence & Strategy (L7)

    Roughly 4-7 years as Director before moving to VP.

    This is a significant step, moving from leading a business unit's insights to owning the holistic view of the customer across the entire company. You'll be accountable for enterprise-wide data strategy, intelligence platforms, and long-term customer-centric growth.

    • Designing enterprise data architectures for customer intelligence
    • Leading global customer data privacy and ethics initiatives
    • Developing multi-year investment roadmaps for customer intelligence platforms
    • Representing the company's customer strategy to investors and external media
Working with AI on the job

Working with AI

Where AI is starting to help

Let's be real, you're already thinking about how AI changes the game for insights. This isn't just about buzzwords; it's about giving your team the tools to be more efficient, uncover deeper truths, and deliver strategic value faster. We're investing heavily in AI to free up your experts from the grunt work, letting them focus on the 'why' and the strategic 'what next'.

For a Director, AI isn't just a personal productivity hack; it's a strategic imperative. You'll be defining how your entire behavioural science and insights function uses AI to scale its impact, reduce costs, and accelerate the delivery of critical business intelligence. We're talking about transforming how we conduct research, analyse data, and communicate findings across the business unit.

Qualitative Coding Automation at Scale

Imagine your team feeding thousands of open-ended survey responses, call transcripts, or product reviews into an AI model and getting initial thematic analysis and sentiment scoring back in minutes. This dramatically reduces the manual coding time, letting your specialists focus on the nuanced interpretations and strategic implications, rather than just categorising data. It's about getting to the 'so what?' much faster.

Accelerated Behavioural Pattern Discovery

Use advanced machine learning tools to run sophisticated cluster analyses on massive, complex behavioural datasets—think clickstream data, purchase histories, and app usage logs. AI can uncover non-obvious customer segments and intricate behavioural patterns that human analysts might miss, or take weeks to find. This means your team can identify breakthrough opportunities for personalisation and targeting with unprecedented speed.

Instant Strategic Research Synthesis

Leverage AI research assistants to quickly summarise the latest academic papers in behavioural economics, market research reports, and competitor analyses on specific strategic topics. Your team can generate comprehensive literature reviews and competitive intelligence briefings in hours, not days or weeks, giving you a significant head start on new initiatives and strategic pivots. This is about staying truly 'cutting-edge' without the manual grind.

Multi-Audience Executive Communication Drafts

Once your team has the core insights, use generative AI to create first drafts of findings tailored for different executive audiences. Need a concise, high-level summary for the CEO? A detailed methods section for the data governance committee? A business impact summary for the Marketing Leadership Team? AI can draft these, ensuring consistent messaging while saving your senior team countless hours on initial content creation, allowing them to refine and add their strategic polish.

Common questions

Common questions

How do you become a Director, Behavioural Science & Insights?

Common routes in include From Lead Behavioural Strategist (Roughly 4-6 years at L4, plus prior experience, to step into a Director role.), From Manager, Consumer & Market Insights (Typically 3-5 years at L5 to progress to Director.) and External Hire (from similar Director/Head of Insights role) (Direct entry, assuming a strong track record.). Times vary with prior experience.

Where can a Director, Behavioural Science & Insights progress to?

This role can lead on to VP, Customer Intelligence & Strategy (Roughly 4-7 years as Director before moving to VP.), depending on the skills you build.

What new skills matter most for a Director, Behavioural Science & Insights?

Increasingly, Ethical AI & Bias Detection in Insights and Predictive Behavioural Modelling & Intervention Design. These are the skills our record of this role lists as growing.

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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 marketing

Stay in the field you know and move sideways rather than up.
If you leave this industry

Understanding and influencing human behaviour applies across many fields. This experience can lead to product management, strategy consulting, user experience design, or independent consultancy work. These skills apply across most industries that deal with customers.

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.