Associate Director, Insights & Analytics

Company description

About Us:

With a history that dates back over 80 years, Starcom is a global communications planning and media leader. We are an agency still grounded in our founding principle that people are at center of all we do. Each day, we apply this belief to harness the transformative power of data and technology to inspire and move people and business forward. With more than 7,000 employees in over 100 offices around the world, Starcom partners with the world's leading marketers and brands.

Within Canada, Starcom is a part of Publicis Media within Publicis Groupe, one of the world’s leading communications groups. Our team spans across our Windsor, Toronto and Montreal offices. We truly love the world of Media and Advertising. We see the planning and buying process as art. However, it is an art that is always best when backed by the science of empirical data.

You will be joining a well recognised agency with credentials:

• Great Places to Work certified three years in a row 

• Only communications company to be ranked in LinkedIn’s Top 25 Great Places to Work 

• 2022 Media Agency of the Year

• 2023 Media Agency of the Year finalist

What we Offer:

• Work Your World program enabling you to experience working from anywhere in Canada or overseas for up to 6 weeks a year 

• Extended long weekends throughout the year with an additional day off each long weekend

• Wellness & Tech benefits to support what’s most important to you 

• Birthday leave

• Extensive Learning & Development opportunities, including more than 15,000 learning programs via our online learning platform as well as a Professional Development Allowance

• Local and Global Mobility within the Publicis Groupe network

Overview

We are seeking a strategic, commercially minded Associate Director, Insights & Analytics to lead and scale our MMM capability across clients and internal teams. This role will shape the agency’s approach to marketing effectiveness measurement, guide clients through data requirements and model design, translate complex model outputs into clear business recommendations, and ensure MMM insights are embedded into planning, optimization, and investment decisions. The successful candidate will bring media strategy knowledge, measurement experience, client consulting skills, and the ability to lead cross-functional teams and external partners through complex analytics engagements.

Responsibilities

• Lead MMM Capability: Own the development and evolution of the agency’s MMM offering, including model approach, data collection process, governance, delivery standards, and client-facing best practices.
• Guide Model Design & Measurement Strategy: Partner with clients and internal teams to define business objectives, KPI hierarchy, brand/category structure, base versus incremental measurement needs, and testable hypotheses.
• Oversee Data Collection & Readiness: Lead data requirement planning across media, sales, revenue, pricing, promotions, seasonality, macro factors, and other business drivers; ensure data inputs are complete, consistent, and model-ready.
• Manage MMM Execution: Work closely with internal analytics teams, data science partners, and external vendors to support model development, validation, output review, scenario planning, and optimization recommendations.
• Translate Outputs into Action: Turn model results into clear, practical implications for media investment, channel mix, budget allocation, flighting, diminishing returns, and future planning decisions.
• Serve as Senior Client Consultant: Lead client conversations on marketing effectiveness, explain model methodology and limitations, present findings with confidence, and build trust with senior stakeholders.
• Integrate Insights into Planning: Collaborate with strategy, planning, investment, performance, and client teams to ensure MMM learnings are connected to broader audience, media, and business strategy.
• Build Tools, Templates & Standards: Create scalable MMM briefing documents, data collection templates, QA checklists, output interpretation frameworks, and executive-ready reporting formats.
• Advance Measurement Thought Leadership: Stay current on MMM, incrementality testing, attribution, media effectiveness, privacy-safe measurement, and AI-enabled analytics to continuously improve the agency’s measurement practice.
• Drive AI Capability Adoption & Development: Identify, test, and scale AI-enabled tools, workflows, and best practices that improve research, analytics, reporting, and knowledge-sharing across the agency.
• Support Broader Research & Insights Needs: Contribute to research and insights work as needed, including new business pitches, category and consumer POVs, thought leadership, client requests, and cross-agency strategic initiatives.
• Lead & Mentor Team Members: Support the growth of managers, specialists, and analysts by providing coaching, quality control, project guidance, and capability-building across MMM and analytics workstreams.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in marketing analytics, media measurement, research, consulting, or agency/client-side analytics roles.
• Strong understanding of Marketing Mix Modeling, including model objectives, business use cases, data requirements, interpretation of outputs, and application to media planning and budget optimization.
• Experience managing MMM projects end to end, including scoping, client alignment, data collection, vendor coordination, model review, delivery, and post-model planning recommendations.
• Ability to translate technical analytics into concise executive narratives, clear planning implications, and actionable recommendations for senior stakeholders.
• Familiarity with paid media channels, including TV, digital video, social, search, display, audio, OOH, retail media, and CTV, and how these channels are measured and optimized.
• Strong analytical fluency, with comfort reviewing data inputs, model outputs, response curves, ROI/ROAS, contribution, saturation, and scenario planning outputs.
• Proficiency with Excel and PowerPoint expected; familiarity with Power BI, SQL, R, Python, MMM platforms, or other analytics/statistical tools is an asset.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple stakeholders, timelines, and workstreams while maintaining strong attention to detail and quality control.
• Ability to lead through influence across strategy, planning, investment, analytics, and client teams.
• Strong leadership and mentoring capabilities, with experience guiding team members and building repeatable processes or capability standards.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience preferred; advanced degree in Marketing, Statistics, Economics, Business Analytics, Data Science, or a related field is an asset.
• We welcome candidates with diverse career paths and encourage applicants who meet most of the qualifications to apply.

Additional information

AI Use

We use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of our hiring process, such as reviewing applications or analyzing resumes. These tools assist our recruitment team but never replace human decision-making. We believe in a human-first approach, where your experience and potential are recognized by people.

Starcom  is an equal opportunity employer with a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion. We create and nurture a vibrant work environment that celebrates, values and leverages all aspects of diversity and inclusiveness, attracts world-class talent and serves as the industry benchmark for best practices. We encourage applications from all qualified individuals and will provide appropriate accommodation for candidates with disabilities or accessibility needs throughout the recruitment process, upon request. Please contact our recruiter for any questions, accommodations or specific requests. We thank all candidates for their interest in Starcom  however, only those candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.