Schofield (pictured) will lead the company’s qualitative work, and will cover for Sara James, who is taking maternity leave in 2021.

Before joining Blue Yonder, Schofield worked with Join the Dots in the UK before leading that agency’s Singapore office for three years to 2019.

She has since worked as UK and Ireland Insight and Planning lead with the Kellogg Company and worked as a keynote speaker and trainer.

Blue Yonder, which is based in Leeds, run an insights agency and in-house tech incubator.

Richard Heath, managing director of Blue Yonder, said: “I’ve always been impressed with her positivity, natural inclination to innovate, and overall focus on impact for clients from insight.

“Karen’s experience as a qualitative leader, team leader and client-side researcher are going to be invaluable as we continue to grow. Qualitative research has to develop fast, and Karen is fantastically placed to keep us at the cutting edge.”