Sr. Strategic Insights Manager

Background

The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a non-profit organization founded in 1876 and chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS is committed to improving all lives through the transforming power of chemistry. Our mission is to advance scientific knowledge, empower a global community, and champion scientific integrity. Our vision is a world built on science.

There are two major operating locations with approximately 1,850 employees. In addition, the ACS has a representative foreign office in China and several field representatives throughout Europe and Asia who promote the use of ACS programs, products, and services. A dozen field offices in the United States and abroad also serve as news gathering centers for Chemical & Engineering News, the monthly ACS magazine. Global operations are managed through ACSI, Ltd. The Society's annual operating revenue is approximately $800M.

The Society's membership is composed of individuals of widely diversified interests and objectives, ranging from undergraduate students in the chemical sciences to the highly experienced chemical professionals in industry, academia, government and elsewhere. The Society has over 180 local sections and over thirty technical divisions as well as student chapters and international chapters.

Position Summary

Under the Society's Business Strategy and Operations (BSO) unit, the Research and Innovation (R&I) department serves as stewards of the Society's research and innovation efforts across functional areas such as Membership, Education and Career Development, Science, Research & Sustainability, and Meetings & Expositions, among others. The R&I department advises on defining what we want to learn or solve; gathers relevant data from internal systems, new research, or external sources; and uses qualitative and quantitative data analysis to generate insights that drive and validate decisions and identify trends. The department also leads the Society Units' innovation governance, strategy, and implementation.

Reporting to the R&I Director, the Senior Strategic Insights Manager leads research projects and cross-functional workstreams; manages external vendors and participant recruitment; influences senior stakeholders through evidence-based recommendations; may mentor colleagues and coordinate matrixed teams. This role drives member- and market-centered learning, partners closely with quantitative teammates, and translates insights into decisions and measurable impact across ACS programs and services.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end qualitative research programs: scope, design, recruit, moderate, synthesize, and tell the story using methods such as in-depth interviews, focus groups, journey mapping, and jobs-to-be-done (JTBD) to uncover member needs across segments (students, academia, industry, government, international).
• Create rigorous research plans and protocols: develop research briefs, discussion guides, screeners, sampling frames, and consent materials that meet ethical standards, protect participant privacy, and ensure representation across ACS governance structure.
• Synthesize qualitative data into actionable insights: conduct coding and thematic analysis (e.g., grounded theory, affinity mapping, insight frameworks), triangulate with quantitative findings, and deliver clear narratives, personas, journey maps, and opportunity areas that inform membership, education, meetings, publishing, and sustainability strategies.
• Partner closely with quantitative researchers/analysts: collaborate on mixed-methods designs; align qualitative learning objectives with survey constructs, segmentation, and conjoint/discrete choice modeling; interpret statistical outputs; and jointly craft cohesive insight stories that drive data-informed decisions.
• Lead market and constituency's experience research: assess program awareness, value proposition, pricing sensitivities, channel preferences, and content needs; benchmark against peer professional societies and publishers; and identify growth opportunities across the membership lifecycle (acquisition, engagement, renewal, reactivation).
• Translate insights into decisions and measurable impact: frame insights as trade-offs and scenarios; recommend pilots/experiments; define success metrics (e.g., engagement, NPS, conversion, retention, and revenue for mission-aligned initiatives); and partner with business owners to track outcomes via dashboards (e.g., Power BI, Tableau).
• Elevate research quality, consistency, and speed: establish research operations standards-toolkits, templates, IRB/ethics checks where applicable, vendor management, participant recruitment best practices, incentive policies-and build a searchable insight repository that supports institutional memory.
• Facilitate stakeholder engagement and alignment: run workshops and readouts with executives and cross-functional teams; use facilitation techniques (e.g., design sprints, assumption mapping, opportunity solution trees) to align learning objectives, decisions to be made, and actions owners will take.
• Support innovation governance and strategy: contribute qualitative evidence to ACS's innovation portfolio; help prioritize concepts, de-risk new offerings, and validate desirability/feasibility/viability; integrate member voice into stage-gate decisions and business cases.
• Ensure global relevance and inclusion: design and conduct research that accounts for cultural, linguistic, and regional differences (e.g., China office, Europe/Asia field representatives); apply inclusive research practices to reach underrepresented groups and diverse career stages across ACS's global community.
• Communicate insights through compelling deliverables: produce concise executive briefs, narrative memos, visual storyboards, and decision-ready presentations tailored to stakeholders in Membership, Education & Career Development, Science, Research & Sustainability, and Meetings & Expositions.

This role is based in our Washington, D.C. office. A reasonable rate of compensation for this position is between $112,000-$130,000 per year.

ACS currently provides the following benefits for this position: paid vacation leave, paid sick leave, paid holidays, health insurance, flexible spending account or health care savings account, dental insurance, life insurance, vision insurance, retirement benefits, short- and long-term disability, and 4-week work from anywhere; each benefit is subject to the terms of the applicable program. Additional benefits may apply based on skills, experience, and location.

Any actual offer of employment, reflecting the total compensation package and benefits, will be made in the sole discretion of ACS. ACS reserves the right to amend or modify its employment benefits and compensation structure at any time.

Bachelors of Social Science (required)

Senior moderation and synthesis skills; mastery of coding and thematic analysis; ability to triangulate qualitative and quantitative data to drive decisions. (required)
Proficiency with qualitative tools (e.g., NVivo, Atlas.ti, Dedoose) and collaborative whiteboarding tools (e.g., Miro/Mural). (required)
Familiarity with survey and analytics tools (e.g., AI enabled applications, Qualtrics, R, SQL) and business intelligence/visualization (e.g., Power BI, Tableau); basic statistical literacy to interpret segmentation, conjoint, and experimental results. (required)
Strong stakeholder management, executive storytelling, and facilitation skills; proven ability to operate in a matrixed, multi-location environment and coordinate across time zones. (required)
Project management excellence: scope, timelines, vendor contracts, and quality control for deliverables. (required)
Experience in associations, academic publishing, STEM, or mission-driven organizations. (preferred)
Hands-on experience with segmentation, conjoint/discrete choice modeling, and experimental design in collaboration with quantitative teams. (preferred)
Experience establishing research operations (templates, incentive policies, IRB/ethics review) and building insight repositories. (preferred)
7 years: Cross-cultural research experience and inclusive research practice expertise; familiarity with ACS program areas and member community structure (local sections, technical divisions). (preferred)