To get the best candidate experience, please consider applying for a maximum of 3 roles within 12 months to ensure you are not duplicating efforts.

Job Category

Development & Strategy

Job Details

About Salesforce

Salesforce is the #1 AI CRM, where humans with agents drive customer success together. Here, ambition meets action. Tech meets trust. And innovation isn’t a buzzword — it’s a way of life. The world of work as we know it is changing and we're looking for Trailblazers who are passionate about bettering business and the world through AI, driving innovation, and keeping Salesforce's core values at the heart of it all.

Ready to level-up your career at the company leading workforce transformation in the agentic era? You’re in the right place! Agentforce is the future of AI, and you are the future of Salesforce.

Director, Customer Insights (Thought Leadership)

Overview

Join Salesforce's Customer Insights team, a core function within the marketing organization responsible for delivering objective, actionable insights that shape our marketing strategy and external narrative.

As the Director, Customer Insights for Thought Leadership, you will lead the newly formed, high-visibility Thought Leadership Insights pod. This is a critical player-coach role responsible for setting the strategy, managing a team of researchers and data analysts, and overseeing the execution of several impactful internal and public-facing research programs.

This position requires a dynamic leader with deep research expertise, strong business acumen, and the ability to operate effectively within a large, matrixed organization — translating complex data into clear, compelling stories and championing research across teams to build advocacy, alignment, and enthusiasm for initiatives. This role is hybrid and works out of the Salesforce office three days a week.

Key Responsibilities

1. Strategic Leadership & Program Oversight

• Lead the Thought Leadership Insights pod, managing and mentoring a team of four researchers / data analysts.

• Provide strategic oversight for three flagship research programs, ensuring all initiatives are aligned with key marketing goals and top company priorities:

  • "State of" Research Portfolio: Direct the development and publication of major annual reports (e.g., State of Service, State of IT), ensuring they provide cutting-edge insights and actionable, marketable data points.

  • Buyer Insights Portfolio: Guide the research strategy encompassing Buyer Personas, Buyer Committees, and Buyer Pains (e.g., CIO, CDO studies), to deeply inform internal decision-making and strategic marketing for key products like Agentforce.

  • Customer Success Metrics (CSM): Oversee the strategy for the Customer Success Metrics program, validating Salesforce's value and ROI across various customer segments and personas.

2. Research & Insight Generation

• Serve as a player and coach—comfortable with hands-on research and also leading others to be hands-on—actively engaging in the design and execution of complex, high-impact quantitative and qualitative studies.

• Translate data into insights and insights into meaningful recommendations for senior leadership. This requires synthesizing findings across multiple studies/programs (e.g., connecting a Buyer Pain Point report with the latest Customer Success Metrics data) to form integrated, holistic strategic guidance.

• Successfully develop compelling, public-facing research initiatives and navigate their unique development lifecycle, from initial concept to external thought leadership dissemination, in close partnership with PR, Legal, and Marketing teams.

3. Operational & Business Acumen

• Manage the full lifecycle of research execution, including effective management of supplier relationships and spend. Must be comfortable running both in-house and agency-led research, ensuring quality control and maximizing ROI across all projects.

• Partner with senior marketing leaders and key cross-functional partners to establish the strategic direction and research roadmap priorities.

• Work in a highly-matrixed organization and still drive results, effectively managing dependencies, influencing stakeholders without direct authority, and driving complex projects to completion.

• Navigate ambiguity to drive success, demonstrating flexibility and clear decision-making when initial research paths or organizational structures become complex or unclear.

Skills & Experience

• 8+ years of increasing responsibility in market research, customer insights, or a related strategic analytics field, with deep specialization in quantitative methodology (e.g., advanced survey design and statistical analysis).

• 3-5+ years of experience managing and mentoring a team of researchers, data analysts, and/or data scientists. Must be a proven player-coach comfortable with both hands-on research execution and strategic oversight.

• Proven expertise in successfully developing, launching, and socializing large-scale, public-facing research programs. Must demonstrate the ability to translate complex technology concepts (e.g., Agentic AI) into compelling business narratives for executive audiences, internally and externally.

• Demonstrated ability to synthesize insights from disparate data sources (primary research, secondary data, competitive intelligence) to form integrated, strategic recommendations for C-suite and executive audiences.

• Exceptional written communication skills, with the ability to craft — and coach others to craft — clear, compelling narratives in our unique brand voice and tone.

• Experience with managing the unique data quality, security, and legal/compliance considerations when fielding research and publishing public data, ensuring all materials meet Salesforce's high standards for external communication.

• Past experience in managing research budgets and overseeing relationships with external research agencies and suppliers, ensuring high-quality, efficient execution of global studies.

• A blend of supplier-side (agency) and client-side experience.

We have a public-facing website https://salesforcebenefits.com/ that explains our various benefits, including medical, dental, 401k, ESPP, generous parental leave, adoption assistance, fertility benefits, and more. Visit for the full breakdown!

Unleash Your Potential

When you join Salesforce, you’ll be limitless in all areas of your life. Our benefits and resources support you to find balance and be your best, and our AI agents accelerate your impact so you can do your best. Together, we’ll bring the power of Agentforce to organizations of all sizes and deliver amazing experiences that customers love. Apply today to not only shape the future — but to redefine what’s possible — for yourself, for AI, and the world.

Accommodations

If you require assistance due to a disability applying for open positions please submit a request via this Accommodations Request Form.

Posting Statement

Salesforce is an equal opportunity employer and maintains a policy of non-discrimination with all employees and applicants for employment. What does that mean exactly? It means that at Salesforce, we believe in equality for all. And we believe we can lead the path to equality in part by creating a workplace that’s inclusive, and free from discrimination. Know your rights: workplace discrimination is illegal. Any employee or potential employee will be assessed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications – without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, transgender status, age, disability, veteran or marital status, political viewpoint, or other classifications protected by law. This policy applies to current and prospective employees, no matter where they are in their Salesforce employment journey. It also applies to recruiting, hiring, job assignment, compensation, promotion, benefits, training, assessment of job performance, discipline, termination, and everything in between. Recruiting, hiring, and promotion decisions at Salesforce are fair and based on merit. The same goes for compensation, benefits, promotions, transfers, reduction in workforce, recall, training, and education.

In the United States, compensation offered will be determined by factors such as location, job level, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Certain roles may be eligible for incentive compensation, equity, and benefits. Salesforce offers a variety of benefits to help you live well including: time off programs, medical, dental, vision, mental health support, paid parental leave, life and disability insurance, 401(k), and an employee stock purchasing program. More details about company benefits can be found at the following link: https://www.salesforcebenefits.com.Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance and the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring, Salesforce will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

For New York-based roles, the base salary hiring range for this position is $193,800 to $281,100.

For Washington-based roles, the base salary hiring range for this position is $177,600 to $257,600.

For California-based roles, the base salary hiring range for this position is $193,800 to $281,100.

For Illinois based roles, the base salary hiring range for this position is $177,600 to $257,600.