Associate Director, Consumer Insights Innovation – Meat, Cheese, Coffee, Snacking

Job Description

The Consumer Insights Associate Director will be responsible for championing the consumer, and own the innovation agenda for the Meat, Cheese, Coffee, and Snacking business unit which includes brands like Oscar Mayer, Kraft Singles, Lunchables, Maxwell House and many more! The Associate Director is responsible for identifying, developing and integrating innovation consumer insights throughout these businesses to drive an innovation growth mindset. They’ll move with speed and agility while driving to a consumer-obsessed culture.   Although the Associate Director will have overall responsibility of the US MCCS BU innovation agenda, this leader will be a key partner to the Global Innovation CIS team leads and the NA CIS business unit team leads, driving synergies and learnings across to optimize and maximize brand and category success.  The Associate Director will have accountability for custom strategic market research and must also draw from a variety of information sources and internal/external resources to develop insights that provide a competitive advantage to the Kraft Heinz innovation agenda.

The Role – Key Skills:

• Strategic: Be a key strategic business partner to Marketing team and a thought leader. Leverage their understanding of the consumer, research methodologies/techniques, best practices and experience to drive the business forward

• Innovative: Keen at leveraging foresights and trends to set a future vision and remain curious to test the envelope

• Influential: Influence at all levels of organization (above & below) and work seamlessly with cross-functional teams

• Impactful: Drive to "so-what’s" by making actionable recommendations routed in deep understanding of marketing, business and consumer

• An Owner: Possess a willingness to get your hands dirty, think and act like a start-up, and build out a function against a blank slate without buying pre-packaged solutions or methodologies. 

• Flexible: Be flexible and creative to adjust to changing priorities and business challenges.  Deal with ambiguity, while showing strong drive for results and project leadership skills; Highly adaptable, works well in an environment of change

• Strong Communicator: Showcase strong communication skills through distilled clean/concise insights that drive empathy and storytelling behaviors through the organization

• Self-motivated: Ability to handle many workstreams, competing priorities and distilling a plan that can be implemented for the team

• Analytical: Ability to see through data and recognize patterns to inform brand actions

• Collaborator: Team player, works well in a fast-paced entrepreneurial environment

• Coach & People Leader: Drive to share knowledge and develop a high-performing team

• Curiosity & Action: High degree of intellectual curiosity and creative insight, coupled with a drive for actionable, tangible results

• Manage Up: Ability to influence at senior levels of an organization and drive focus and impact

Key responsibilities

• Key strategic insights partner to MCCS BU

  • Leads the Consumer Insights Innovation road map development (whitespace identification, ideation, validation) across MCCS and specifically drives and leads the consumer innovation strategy and executes the learning agenda Total Snacking and Future of Meats

  • Identify breakthrough solutions delivering speed and rigor in all aspects of consumer learning; challenging status quo and strategic oversight in building out strategy and supporting consumer learning plans.

  • Drive to larger/scalable platform ideas vs. one-off innovation launches.

• Influence and build internal buy-in for the innovation pipeline with rigorous consumer understanding.

• Shape the long term (3, 5 and 10 year) category story and innovation go to market strategy for the MCCS categories through right-sized consumer learning and influential storytelling.

• Lead, coach and develop a team of two to deliver on the MCCS BU Innovation Agenda

• Requires working in high levels of ambiguity, creating strategic direction for growth opportunities.

Qualifications

• Minimum Bachelor's Degree. Advanced Degree Highly Preferred

• A minimum ten (10+) years in a strategic insights/consumer research role, preferably at a CPG manufacturer, or 10+ years with a combination of supplier & manufacturer-side insights experience showcasing increasing responsibilities and scope.

• Has prior experience being a people leader with a passion for leading teams.

• Significant experience in innovation insights, with a strong understanding and ability to lead the path from whitespace identification work through ideation and validation. 

• Thrives in agile ways of working, the iterative innovation process, and a track record of strong collaboration with cross-functional partners like Marketing, R&D, Supply Chain, Sensory and more.

• Proficient in various market research techniques, including both qualitative and quantitative methods; Experience using these tools for innovation development strongly preferred.

• Experience working with both primary and secondary data sources

• Working knowledge of syndicated research tools (e.g. Nielsen, Circana, Mintel, etc).

• Proven ability to distill insights and drive impact into an organization – bringing the consumer to forefront.

• High level of tolerance for working in ambiguity, managing change and driving change management.

• Excels at storytelling in creative and impactful ways - excellent communication, organization and presentation skills (written, oral, and across Microsoft Office Suite).

Our Total Rewards philosophy is to provide a meaningful and flexible spectrum of programs that equitably support our diverse workforce and their families and complement Kraft Heinz’ strategy and values.

New Hire Base Salary Range:

$164,200.00 - $205,200.00

Bonus: This position is eligible for a performance-based bonus as provided by the plan terms and governing documents.

The compensation offered will take into account internal equity and may vary depending on the candidate's geographic region, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience among other factors

Benefits: Coverage for employees (and their eligible dependents) through affordable access to healthcare, protection, and saving for the future, we offer plans tailored to meet you and your family’s needs. Coverage for benefits will be in accordance with the terms and conditions of the applicable plans and associated governing plan documents.

Wellbeing: We offer events, resources, and learning opportunities that inspire a physical, social, emotional, and financial well-being lifestyle for our employees and their families.

You’ll be able to participate in a variety of benefits and wellbeing programs that may vary by role, country, region, union status, and other employment status factors, for example:

• Physical - Medical, Prescription Drug, Dental, Vision, Screenings/Assessments

• Social - Paid Time Off, Company Holidays, Leave of Absence, Flexible Work Arrangements, Recognition, Training

• Emotional – Employee Assistance Program , Wellbeing Programs, Family Support Programs

• Financial – 401k, Life, Accidental Death & Dismemberment, Disability

Location(s)

Chicago/Aon Center

Kraft Heinz is an Equal Opportunity Employer – Underrepresented Ethnic Minority Groups/Women/Veterans/Individuals