Associate Director, Consumer Insights - Innovation

Job Description

The Associate Director Consumer Insights will advocate for our consumer, and orchestrate the innovation agenda for the Taste, Meals and Snacks(TMS) business unit brands in North America Including Kraft Mac and Cheese, Heinz Ketchup, Philadelphia Cream Cheese, Ore-Ida, Oscar Mayer Lunchables, Classico and many more! You will identify, develop, and integrate consumer insights throughout these businesses to drive a growth mindset and agility while championing our consumer-obsessed culture. This leader will partner with the Global innovation CIS team leads and the NA CIS business unit team leads, driving alignments and findings across to optimize and increase 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 transformational leader. Demonstrating understanding of the consumer, research methodologies/techniques, standard processes and experience to drive the business forward
• Influential Influence at all levels of organization (above & below) and work seamlessly with cross-functional teams
• Impactful Influence "so-what’s" by making actionable recommendations routed in deep understanding of marketing, business and consumer
• An Owner Be versatile with agility ! 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. Manage ambiguity, while showing strong drive for results and project leadership skills; Highly adaptable, works well in an environment of change
• Strong Communicator Showcase strong interpersonal skills through distilled clean/concise insights that drive empathy and storytelling behaviors though the organization
• Self-motivated Ability to handle many workstreams, challenging priorities and distill a plan that can be implemented for the team
• Analytical Ability to see through data and recognize patterns to advise brand actions
• Collaborator Team player, thrives in a fast-paced entrepreneurial environment
• Coach & People Leader 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
• Influence Ability to influence at senior levels of an organization and drive focus and impact
  
  
  

Key Responsibilities

• Key strategic insights' partner to the North American Taste, Meals and Snacks BU
• Leads and implements the Consumer Insights Innovation road map development (whitespace identification, ideation, validation)
• 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 larger/scalable platform ideas vs. one-off innovation launches.
• Influence and build internal consensus for the innovation pipeline with consumer understanding.
• Shape the long term (3, 5, and 10 year) category story and innovation go to market strategy for the Taste Meals and Snacks categories through right-sized consumer learning and influential storytelling.
• Lead, mentor and develop a team of two to deliver on the NA TMS BU Innovation Agenda
• Requires working in high levels of ambiguity; creating strategic direction for growth opportunities.
  
  

Qualifications

• Advanced experience 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 understand and 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 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
• Proficient in syndicated research tools (e.g. Nielsen, Circana, Mintel, etc).
• Ability to distill insights and drive impact into an organization – bringing the consumer to forefront.
• High level of tolerance for working in ambiguity, leading change and inspiring change management.
• Excel at storytelling in creative and impactful ways - excellent communication, organization and presentation skills (written, oral, and across Microsoft Office Suite).
  
  
  

Location(s)

Chicago/Aon Center

Kraft Heinz is an Equal Opportunity Employer that prohibits discrimination or harassment of any type. All qualified applicants are considered for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Applicants who require an accommodation to participate in the job application or hiring process should contact NATAI@kraftheinz.com .