Head of Insights Practice - Consumer Health

Head of Insights Practice - Consumer Health
Location: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Practice: Consumer Health
Reporting to: CEO
Working model: Semi-hybrid
Eligibility: This is a local position on local terms, open to both Vietnamese nationals and expats already based in Vietnam.
ABOUT DECISION LAB
Decision Lab is an insights-driven consulting firm helping organisations in Southeast Asia turn opportunity into intentional, innovation-led growth by making better commercial decisions in fast-changing markets.
We attract some of the most ambitious people in our industry, and we have built the firm around them: a place for ambitious, curious minds to do work that changes what clients decide, and to go further here than they would elsewhere.
ABOUT THE ROLE
You will lead Decision Lab's Consumer Health practice and own its P&L.
Consumer Health is the demand side of health: how Vietnamese consumers decide, trust and pay for it. The practice works across three areas.
Demand creation for consumer-pulled medicine: category creation, disease awareness, patient and caregiver identification, adherence.
Consumer health brands and shopper: OTC, supplements, nutrition and functional foods, from claim testing through to e-commerce.
Pharmacy channel and health services: category and format strategy for the pharmacy chains, patient journey and experience for hospital and diagnostic groups.
We have published consumer research on obesity in Vietnam, and our consumer sentiment instrument now tracks pharmaceuticals. Published work is how this practice will create demand for itself, and building that engine is part of the role.
This is a new practice. The thesis, the early client work and the evidence base exist. The team and the revenue base do not, and building both is the job. Your first six months are measured on a start-up basis rather than against a mature P&L.
WHAT YOU WILL OWN
The Consumer Health practice P&L: revenue, margin, growth
Sector strategy and the commercial direction of a practice being defined for the first time
Senior client relationships across consumer health and nutrition, pharmaceutical affiliates doing consumer-facing work, pharmacy retail and health services
New business: pipeline, proposals and pricing
Building the practice team, and developing the project leaders who will run its delivery
Quality and commercial oversight of the practice's engagements, from proposal through to delivery
The tracker and publication layer that generates inbound demand for the practice
Method and innovation in the sector: testing new approaches and AI-enabled research deliberately, and keeping what reaches a better answer faster
Decision Lab's authority in the sector through thought leadership and industry visibility
WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR
Time inside a consumer health, pharma or nutrition business on the commercial or marketing side is the ideal starting point. You understand how these companies make decisions because you have made them
8+ years of relevant experience, including 2 to 3 years at a leading market research agency. This is essential. You need to know how to run a research project from proposal to final invoice, because you will be accountable for both ends of it
A strong consulting background will be considered alongside that agency grounding, but end-to-end research delivery is the basis for success in this role, not an optional extra
We are not looking for someone shaped only by agency convention. This sector will not be built by running the research the way it has always been run
Fluency in the commercial questions these clients actually face: category creation, launch, claims, shopper and channel, patient journey
Rigour you can defend. Research design and analysis that stands up to a global client's own standards, and honesty about what the evidence does and does not support
The judgement to give clients a direct answer, including when it is not the one they were hoping for
Evidence you can convert credibility into commercial results: proposals won, relationships grown, revenue built
Comfort owning a P&L and being measured on it
Appetite for building. This practice has a thesis and early evidence. It does not yet have a team or a revenue base, and both are yours to create
WHAT YOU WILL GET
The chance to define a practice rather than inherit one, in a category nobody in Vietnam has built yet
Direct access to senior decision-makers across consumer health, pharmaceuticals, pharmacy retail and private healthcare
Autonomy to shape the practice's commercial direction
A total target salary built from monthly salary, bonus at target, and a monthly employer contribution to a long-term savings account in your name, run with Dragon Capital
A performance bonus weighted towards the commercial results you own, paid quarterly
17 days' annual leave, rising with tenure, plus recharge days and a protected recovery day after any project that took your weekend
Private health insurance
A personal learning budget, AI tooling and leadership training
One day a week working from home, and pre-approved days working from your hometown
A collaborative workspace at The Sentry, Ho Chi Minh City