Senior Director Financial Services Analytics

The purpose of this role is to lead customer analytics for assigned accounts and the team that delivers them, owning client outcomes and keeping analytics integrated with strategy, activation, and measurement across Marketing and Customer Intelligence (MCI).

Job Description:

Merkle’s Marketing and Customer Intelligence (MCI) practice is hiring a Senior Director to lead analytics and data science across insurance clients.

Role summary  
You’ll own the analytics relationship and strategy for senior executives, hands-on in data science and advanced analytics, building and validating the models that turn first-party behavioral, call center, and omnichannel data into a decision-ready view of the customer: who to engage, what they’re worth, and whether the investment is working. Acquisition and retention analytics, including direct mail and digital response, is central to the role, and the approach transfers across clients. You’ll set the roadmap and modeling standards for your accounts, connect insight to activation and measurement with client, engineering, operations, and strategy teams, and lead the team that delivers the work. This is an agency role judged on client outcomes, with business development and expansion support. Travel as account needs require. Reports to VP, Analytics, Financial Services. 

We’re looking for a leader with a clear point of view on where customer analytics is going in regulated insurance.

Responsibilities

• Serve as primary analytics partner to senior executives, influencing C-level decisions where the account requires it

• Create clarity and direction in ambiguous and transitioning client environments, aligning account, strategy, analytics, and client stakeholders toward business outcomes

• Own data quality and governance standards for assigned accounts in regulated environments, ensuring trusted, secure, and compliant data use

• Build the multi-year analytics roadmap for assigned accounts, aligned to the FS direction set by the VP and to client business priorities and long-term objectives, moving clients from point solutions to operating-model answers

• Build and validate segmentation, propensity, response, and CLV models, and set the standards they’re held to, including champion/challenger design

• Design and read incrementality tests for acquisition and retention campaigns, including holdouts and decile-level response, and turn each result into the next test or targeting change

• Own contact strategy, including timing, frequency, channel mix, and efficiency thresholds such as incremental cost per acquisition

• Turn customer, call center, and omnichannel data into executive-ready recommendations that drive investment and prioritization

• Where accounts run business reviews, lead the insight narrative with a clear point of view on what the findings mean and what to do next

• Shape next best action and decisioning strategy, including eligibility rules and business constraints

• Set measurement and test-and-learn standards so investment decisions rest on evidence

• Establish and maintain frameworks, best practices, and documentation standards across accounts

• Partner with client marketing, data, engineering, and operations teams on ETL/ELT, data modeling, and scalable data design for future expansion, and drive modernization of legacy processes, including AI, unstructured data, and BI tools (e.g., Tableau, Power BI, Looker)

• Lead, mentor, and develop directors, managers, and modelers across onshore and offshore delivery, ensuring quality, consistency, and scalability

• Shape proposals, pitches, and expansion opportunities, with commercial discipline on scope

Requirements

• 15+ years in analytics, data science, or related fields, including leading modeling delivery across multiple clients or complex portfolios and managing senior leaders

• Hands-on Python or R modeling, including code review

• Direct response analytics: campaign measurement, holdout and incrementality design, response modeling, and cost-per-acquisition economics

• Working depth in propensity, response, and CLV models, including expected-value ranking (value × likelihood to respond), with the ability to challenge features, validation, and implementation

• Proven ownership of data science and advanced analytics initiatives, from model design through deployment and measurement

• Executive presence and storytelling: composed and credible with C-level audiences, able to frame a recommendation, hold a position under challenge, and manage stakeholders

• Track record advising senior marketing and customer executives at insurers, with influence on C-level decisions

• Deep understanding of insurance customer lifecycle economics (persistency, lapse, value of new business, acquisition and retention) and the state regulation behind it

• Experience with regulated, PII-heavy customer data (e.g., GLBA, FCRA, state insurance regulation, TCPA, privacy and consent)

• Customer and service analytics across call center and omnichannel interaction data

• Experience driving scalable solutions and frameworks across clients, not only account-level delivery

• Strong SQL and data modeling (facts and dimensions), with working familiarity with ETL/ELT tools (e.g., SSIS)

• Clear, current point of view on customer analytics in regulated insurance, including incrementality, next best action, and AI, that they can defend with clients

• Agency or consulting experience in complex, multi-workstream, fast-changing environments

• Bachelor’s degree in statistics, mathematics, computer science, economics, or a quantitative field, or equivalent experience; advanced degree (MBA, MS, or PhD) strongly preferred

Strongly preferred

• Direct mail or member acquisition analytics at a large insurer or bank

• Client-side analytics leadership at an insurer (P&C, life, or annuity), owning customer or marketing analytics

• Banking, payments, fintech, or wealth analytics leadership, also considered

• Experience integrating or modeling Salesforce data (service, case, and customer interaction patterns), or other CRM and contact center platforms such as Adobe or Microsoft Dynamics

• Experience with large member-based or multi-product customer organizations

• Strong knowledge of emerging capabilities: predictive analytics, unstructured data, text and speech analytics, and AI readiness

• Experience orchestrating analytics, data science, and engineering at scale

• Next best action or decisioning platform experience

• Cloud data platforms, including GCP/BigQuery

• Military or veteran customer data (SCRA, MLA)

• Relevant credentials, such as IAPP CIPP/US, LOMA FLMI, or executive education in analytics or leadership, a plus but not required

• Exceptional executive communication and insights translation

• Relevant credentials, such as IAPP CIPP/US, LOMA FLMI, or executive education in analytics or leadership (e.g., Wharton), a plus but not required

The annual salary range for this position is $143000-$224,000. Placement within the salary range is based on a variety of factors, including relevant experience, knowledge, skills, and other factors permitted by law.  

Benefits available with this position include:  

• Medical, vision, and dental insurance, 

• Life insurance,  

• Short-term and long-term disability insurance, 

• 401k, 

• Flexible paid time off, 

• At least 15 paid holidays per year, 

• Paid sick and safe leave, and 

• Paid parental leave. 

Dentsu also complies with applicable state and local laws regarding employee leave benefits, including, but not limited to providing time off pursuant to the Colorado Healthy Families and Workplaces Act, in accordance with its plans and policies.  For further details regarding Dentsu benefits, please visit www.dentsubenefitsplus.com. 

At dentsu, we believe great work happens when we’re connected. Our hybrid way of working combines remote flexibility with regular in-person collaboration to spark ideas and strengthen our teams. Many of our employees who live within commuting distance (90 minutes) from one of our Headquarter or Hub Offices (New York, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles) are required to work in the office 2-3 days per week including one Team Day. The minimum number of days may vary by office and role. Dentsu may designate other HQ or Hub offices at any time. Those who do not live near an office may be designated as a remote employee, depending on the role and business needs. Regardless of your work location, we expect you to be flexible to meet the needs of our Company and clients, which may include attendance in an office from time to time.

To begin the application process, please click on the “Apply” button at the top of this job posting. Applications will be reviewed on an ongoing basis, and qualified candidates will be contacted for next steps. 

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Location:

USA-Remote-Maryland

Brand:

Merkle

Time Type:

Full time

Contract Type:

Permanent