Director of Cultural Intelligence

About Verve

At Verve, we're rethinking how brands understand people and culture.

We bring together Human, Cultural and Artificial intelligence to uncover what drives behaviour, challenge conventional thinking and help clients make smarter commercial decisions.

We're an insight consultancy that values curiosity, fresh perspectives and people who want to push their craft forward. We're not here to do things the way they've always been done – we're here to push insight forward.

About the role

Culture is constantly changing. Understanding those shifts matters, but knowing what brands should do about them is where the real value lies.

We're looking for a Director of Cultural Intelligence who brings deep, multidisciplinary cultural experience to collaborate with and energise our established team. You'll bring fresh perspectives, constructive challenge and mentorship, combining your expertise with Verve's AI-first strategy to pioneer new approaches to cultural research, consultancy and innovation.

You'll be a champion for Verve's Cultural Intelligence offering, translating complex, emerging thinking into compelling perspectives that engage senior business leaders, inspire industry audiences and create new commercial opportunities. You'll amplify the reach and influence of our collective expertise, helping businesses understand the value of culturally informed strategy.

This is an opportunity to help shape the future of Cultural Intelligence at Verve, bringing together established expertise and emerging technologies to develop new possibilities for our clients and influence the direction of the wider industry

What you'll be doing

• Elevate our collective expertise: Collaborate with and mentor our Culture & Futures team, bringing fresh cultural perspectives, constructive challenge and strategic guidance to strengthen our thinking and capabilities.
• Pioneer new approaches: Blending artificial, cultural & human intelligences to combine established cultural & insight methodologies alongside emerging technologies, to develop innovative approaches to research, strategy and simulation.
• Shape cultural strategy: Translate emerging shifts, cultural tensions and human behaviours into actionable recommendations across brand positioning, innovation and business growth.
• Champion industry thought leadership: Represent Verve on the global stage through conferences, keynote presentations and published perspectives, shaping conversations around Cultural Intelligence and the future of AI-empowered insight.
• Influence senior clients: Engage business leaders and experienced insight buyers, translating complex thinking into compelling narratives that build confidence, challenge assumptions and inspire new opportunities.
• Drive commercial growth: Identify emerging client needs, develop distinctive propositions and lead strategic business development across new and existing relationships.
• Champion research excellence: Draw on your experience and understanding of what clients value to set best-in-class standards, elevating the quality, relevance and commercial impact of our work.

These are the sort of traits we're looking for

• You're a strategic cultural thinker. You connect cultural understanding with commercial challenges and know how to turn insight into direction.
• You're an expert in your craft. You bring deep cultural expertise developed across diverse methodologies and sectors, combining the rigour of established disciplines with progressive approaches to digital research, innovation and emerging technologies 

• You're an influential communicator. You engage the attention of senior business leaders and global industry audiences, translating complex cultural thinking into compelling, commercially relevant narratives that inspire confidence, challenge perspectives and influence decisions.
• You're commercially astute. You understand client needs, recognise opportunities and can develop propositions that win work.
• You're a natural leader. You inspire others, develop talent and bring people together around a shared ambition.
• You're entrepreneurial and adaptable. You take ownership, navigate ambiguity and enjoy building something new.
• You're forward-thinking. You embrace experimentation and see the potential of AI and emerging tools to advance the discipline.

What we offer

The opportunity to make your mark in an ambitious, forward-thinking insight consultancy, with genuine scope to shape and grow Cultural Intelligence at Verve.

You'll have the freedom to challenge established thinking, work with talented colleagues across disciplines and build something with lasting impact.

By applying to Verve, you acknowledge our use of AI-assisted tools to help screen applications against job-related criteria. All outcomes are reviewed by humans and are not determinative. You can request human review, express your views, or contest any assessment at any time via privacymanagement@addverve.com. Full details of the Privacy Notice can be found here: https://www.addverve.com/recruitment-privacy-notice/