Research & Insight, Specialist at Publicis Groupe · Toronto

Company Description

About Us:

With a history that dates back over 80 years, Starcom is a global communications planning and media leader. We are an agency still grounded in our founding principle that people are at center of all we do. Each day, we apply this belief to harness the transformative power of data and technology to inspire and move people and business forward. With more than 7,000 employees in over 100 offices around the world, Starcom partners with the world's leading marketers and brands.

Within Canada, Starcom is a part of Publicis Media within Publicis Groupe, one of the world’s leading communications groups. Our team spans across our Windsor, Toronto and Montreal offices. We truly love the world of Media and Advertising. We see the planning and buying process as art. However, it is an art that is always best when backed by the science of empirical data.

You will be joining a well recognised agency with credentials:

• Great Places to Work certified three years in a row

• Only communications company to be ranked in LinkedIn’s Top 25 Great Places to Work

• 2022 Media Agency of the Year

• 2023 Media Agency of the Year finalist

What we Offer:

• Work Your World program enabling you to experience working from anywhere in Canada or overseas for up to 6 weeks a year

• Extended long weekends throughout the year with an additional day off each long weekend

• Wellness & Tech benefits to support what’s most important to you

• Birthday leave

• Extensive Learning & Development opportunities, including more than 15,000 learning programs via our online learning platform as well as a Professional Development Allowance

• Local and Global Mobility within the Publicis Groupe network

Overview

The Specialist will support the Manager in delivering research and insights across key client accounts. This is a hands-on role for someone early in their career who loves finding the “so what” in data, spotting patterns, and turning information into clear stories that help teams make smarter decisions.

You’ll work with market, consumer, competitive, and performance data to build reports, support analysis, and uncover insights that help shape stronger media and marketing work.

Because the role supports recurring reporting, working on dashboards, data quality checks, Excel-based analysis, and ETL processes will be important.

This role is built for someone who is curious, analytical, detail-oriented, and excited to keep learning. As you grow, you’ll get exposure to more tools, methods, client challenges, and strategic work, with the opportunity to build from strong data skills into sharper insight and storytelling capabilities.

Responsibilities

Research & Data Analysis

• Conduct thoughtful desktop research using credible industry, category, consumer, cultural, competitive, and media sources to inform client work and sharpen strategic context.
• Explore different data sources, including audience, consumer, category, and performance data, to identify patterns and useful insights.
• Apply strong Excel skills to clean, organize, and quality-check data, with a willingness to learn tools such as Power BI and data transformation workflows that help make analysis more reliable and efficient.
• Support recurring reports, dashboards, and client-ready outputs with accuracy, consistency, and attention to detail.

Tool & Methodology Excellence

• Learn new tools and stay curious about new tools, AI-enabled workflows, and smarter ways to make insight work faster, clearer, and more useful.

Cross‑Functional Collaboration

• Work with teams across research, strategy, media planning, product, and client groups to support shared projects and reporting needs.
• Ask smart questions, bring a thoughtful point of view, and grow your confidence in connecting data to real business and media decisions.

Qualifications

• 2–4 years of experience in research, insights, analytics, media, or a related field.
• Advanced Excel skills, with the ability to clean, structure, analyze, and QA data confidently.
• Experience with ETL processes or comfort working with data flows, transformations, and structured reporting inputs.
• Comfort working with dashboards, reporting tools, and Microsoft Office; Power BI experience is an asset.
• Exposure to syndicated research tools such as GWI, Vividata, Numeris, or ComScore is helpful but not required.
• Interest in media, consumer behaviour, culture, brands, and how data can be used to make better marketing decisions.
• Interest in learning more about measurement approaches, including Market Mix Modeling, strategic recommendations, and performance analysis.
• Thrive in dynamic environments - adaptable, solutions-oriented, and committed to delivering high-quality work, even under shifting timelines.

Additional Information

We’re committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace. Accommodations are available throughout the hiring process upon request.

Salary Transparency matters to us. The salary range for this position is $55k- 60k per year. Actual compensation within this range will be based on a variety of factors, including relevant experience, knowledge, skills, and applicable certifications. This range reflects what we reasonably expect to offer based on current market data.

AI Use

We use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of our hiring process, such as reviewing applications or analyzing resumes. These tools assist our recruitment team but never replace human decision-making. We believe in a human-first approach, where your experience and potential are recognized by people.

Starcom is an equal opportunity employer with a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion. We create and nurture a vibrant work environment that celebrates, values and leverages all aspects of diversity and inclusiveness, attracts world-class talent and serves as the industry benchmark for best practices. We encourage applications from all qualified individuals and will provide appropriate accommodation for candidates with disabilities or accessibility needs throughout the recruitment process, upon request. Please contact our recruiter for any questions, accommodations or specific requests. We thank all candidates for their interest in Starcom however, only those candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.