Director, Auto Benchmarking Quality Analytics

Title: Director, Auto Benchmarking Quality Analytics - P5

Location:  Remote, USA  (posting internal and external)

Reports To:  Vice President, Auto Benchmarking and Mobility Development

About the Role

As a director in J.D. Power’s Automotive Benchmarking practice, you will be responsible for leading the growth and success of a new product for the company focused on combining multiple Vehicle Quality  data sets and maximizing analytical prowess for automotive clients to improve the quality of their vehicles – Quality Analytics. You will perform this role by working directly with automaker clients.

You will leverage your knowledge of automotive quality processes and data, including J.D. Power syndicated research, along with your knowledge of how OEM organizations solve problems, to generate powerful analytical solutions to help automakers and their suppliers improve vehicle quality and engineering efficiency.  This includes understanding quality performance, identifying defects, predicting issues, and creating solutions to drive continuous improvement for our clients.

You will be responsible for generating product strategy, including developing specific market plans and tactics that will create a robust pipeline of value for our clients and long-term growth for J.D. Power with this solution.

This role is a senior leadership individual contributor position within J.D. Power, where you will have the opportunity to work with many of the leading OEMs and suppliers in a rapidly transforming landscape to effect change. You will have the ability to shape the future of the automotive business and its focus on quality at J.D. Power and the industry more broadly. The job is fast-paced and provides the benefits of entrepreneurship with the support of an industry leader. This is a customer-facing role with end-to-end involvement in analytic project definition, execution, visualization, and communication with internal teams and clients.

J.D. Power’s Automotive Benchmarking practice is a mission-critical component of the company, responsible for industry-leading studies such as the Initial Quality Study^SM (IQS), Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout Study^SM (APEAL), Vehicle Dependability Study^SM (VDS), and many more.

The ideal candidate for this role is … 

…one who knows how to connect the dots across multiple data sets to maximize problem-solving for our clients, as well as knows where data analytical solutions are heading and how we can strategically incorporate them into our product.

…one who works well with clients while also interacting across a group of internal J.D. Power stakeholders who build technology, develop research solutions, and serve J.D. Power automotive clients.

What You’ll Be Doing in the Role 

• Champion for quality: Understand automotive quality bumper to bumper, both manufacturing defects as well as difficult to use issues. Also, understand automotive quality needs in the short term and long term from a vehicle owner's point of view.
• Provide the vision for the business: Define the current and future vision for the business using your knowledge of the industry, suppliers, technology, and consumers. Identify market needs and develop new solutions to meet customer demands.
• Product development: Lead/manage data analytical product development, leveraging existing J.D. Power data and consideration of external data sources. Includes internal collaboration and client communication. Develop product go-to-market plans and tactics that will drive sales and long-term growth.
• Analytical visionary: Be up to date on the latest analytical tools and how those can be applied to optimize our product roadmap.
• Interpreter: Understand OEM and supplier organizational structure and operations for problem solving and use this knowledge to determine how J.D. Power can create an analytical solution. Understand the client’s data needs, pain points, and critical data elements. Know how to create compelling dashboards and reports to provide actionable insights into quality performance. Be able to communicate complex findings to all stakeholders, technical and non-technical.
• Collaborate with stakeholders: Interface with AI solutions team, research team, sales account team, and other internal/external partners to develop deliverables and product content.
• Deliver expert perspective: Be the expert in the room, providing a value-add perspective that delivers insights that go beyond data and establishes J.D. Power as a trusted advisor to industry leaders.
• Attention to detail: Practice what we preach by delivering products to the highest degree of quality to our clients.
• Grow the business: Design/deliver a Quality Analytics product that facilitates relationship and product expansion with existing clients. Develop content that raises awareness and engagement in the market. Work with sales to identify key executive targets and a strategy to enable expansion of the relationship. Conduct personal outreach to key targets to establish and grow relationships and drive new/additional business.
• Revenue responsible: P&L responsible for the Quality Analytics product.
• Travel: Approximately 20%.

Qualifications

Experience & Education

• 12+ years of OEM (including assignments in engineering, product quality, customer experience, consulting, or related fields) or relevant supplier/vendor work experience.
• 5+ years working in a collaborative environment – from research design through communicating results to executives.
• Bachelor's degree required, advanced degree in engineering, data science, information systems, or a business-related field preferred.
• Quality and/or data analytics subject matter expert (SME).
• Strong business acumen with proven ability to acquire and retain clients, perform internal product development, and collaborate across teams.
• Product visionary, both optimizing existing products and creating new product development.

Knowledge & Skills

• Proven data expertise, preferably in automotive quality. Ability to dissect complex data sets.
• Proven expertise in implementing comprehensive data quality programs.
• User of J.D. Power syndicated quality research studies, preferred but not required.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Data analysis proficiency using cross-tabulation tools (MS Excel, mTab, and SPSS), large complex data sets, and fluency with MS PowerPoint are required.
• Strategic thinking, business acumen.
• Expert-level communication (written and oral) skills.
• Strong listening and interpersonal skills. Ability to create formal and informal networks involving coordination among groups.
• Excellent organization and follow-up skills.
• Strong client relationship management skills.
• Exercise independent judgment in methods, techniques, and evaluation criteria for obtaining results.
• Commitment to excellence in deliverable quality and passion for client satisfaction.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment with active collaboration among team members and external business partners across time zones.

The Hiring Manager says: 

"I'm looking for someone who is driven to improve the automotive industry through an end-user quality-centric analytical lens and who has the unique blend of industry expertise, strong analytics, intellectual curiosity, married with a highly skilled communicator. The successful candidate will have a desire to drive a leading-edge new product development and will be entrepreneurial in ensuring the business's success. You will be expected to strive every day to grow your business."

The Way We Work: 

• Leader Led
• Remote First
• Foster Flexibility
• Reward Performance
• Time Off Matters

J.D. Power is committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We value diverse perspectives and backgrounds and provide equal employment opportunities to all qualified candidates.

 J.D. Power is a global leader in consumer insights, advisory services, and data and analytics, delivering customer satisfaction insights, market intelligence, and performance improvement solutions to clients worldwide. Our AI Solutions unit represents our latest innovation in delivering transformative capabilities to the automotive industry.

Company Mission  

J.D. Power is clear about what we do to ensure our success into the future. We unite industry leading data and insights with world-class technology to solve our clients’ toughest challenges.   

Our Values  

At J.D. Power, we strive to be Truth Finders, Change Makers and Team Driven - the distinct behaviors that, together, define our unique culture.    

J.D. Power is committed to employing a diverse workforce. Qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, veteran status, or disability. 

Should you require accommodations during the recruitment and selection process, please reach out to tarecruitment@jdpa.com. 

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