Associate Director Consumer Insights and Strategy, TKHNC

Job Description

The Consumer Insights Associate Director will be responsible for championing the consumer, and own all insights for the Kraft Heinz NotCo joint venture in the USA. This position is responsible for identifying, developing and integrating consumer insights throughout these businesses to drive a growth mindset and agility while driving to a consumer-obsessed culture.   Although the Associate Director will have overall responsibility, this leader will be a key partner to innovation CIS team leads and Business Units, driving synergies and learnings across the businesses to optimize and improve brand and category success.  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 KHC. 

This role requires a person who can be:

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

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 into the details, 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 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 inform brand actions 

Collaborator: Teammate, 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 

Influence: Ability to influence at senior levels of an organization and drive focus and impact 

Essential Functions & Responsibilities

• Key strategic insights partner to the NotCo Joint Venture Team 
• Directly oversees Consumer Insights against all categories across the Kraft Heinz NotCo joint venture
• Leads and implements consumer learning plans across innovation (whitespace identification, ideation, validation) and base business (communication, packaging, and in-market measurement) for the Joint Venture
• Identify breakthrough solutions delivering speed and rigor in all aspects of consumer learning; challenging status quo and strategic oversight in building out strategy
• Influence and build external and internal agreement for business opportunities with rigorous consumer understanding
• Shape the category story and go to market strategy for plant-based alternatives at Kraft Heinz through right-sized consumer learning and influential storytelling
• Ensure consumer is at forefront, living principles, inspiring change and iterative attitude to move quickly and pivot as new learning and consumer understanding is gleaned
• Requires working in high levels of ambiguity; creating strategic direction for growth opportunities 1-5 years out

Expected Experience & Required Skills

• 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.  
• Significant experience in the insights space to enable the ability to break historical ways of working and experiment to a more agile mentality. 
• 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, 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, leading change and motivating