Brand Manager, Marketing - Innovation

Job Description
About Us
The Kraft Heinz Company is one of the largest food and beverage companies in the world, with eight $1 billion+ brands and global sales of approximately $25 billion. We're a globally trusted producer of high-quality, great-tasting, and nutritious foods for over 150 years. While Kraft Heinz is co-headquartered in Chicago and Pittsburgh, our brands are truly global, with products produced and marketed in over 40 countries. These beloved products include condiments and sauces, cheese and dairy, meals, meats, refreshment beverages, coffee, infant and nutrition products, and numerous other grocery products in a portfolio of more than 200 legacy and emerging brands.
We spark joy around mealtime with our iconic brands, including Kraft, Oscar Mayer, Heinz, Philadelphia, Lunchables, Velveeta, Planters, Maxwell House, Capri Sun, Ore-Ida, Kool-Aid, Jell-O, Primal Kitchen, and Classico, among others.
No matter the brand, we're united under one vision: To sustainably grow by delighting more consumers globally . Bringing this vision to life is our team of 39,000+ food lovers, creative thinkers, and high performers worldwide. Together, we help provide meals to those in need through our global partnership with Rise Against Hunger. We also stand committed to responsible, sustainable practices that extend to every facet of our business, our consumers, and our communities. Every day, we're transforming the food industry with bold thinking and unprecedented results. If you share our passion - and are ready to create the future, build a legacy, and lead as a global citizen - there's only one thing to do: join our table and let's make life delicious!
Our Culture of Ownership, Meritocracy & Collaboration
We're not afraid to think differently. Embrace new ideas. Dream big. We empower our people at every level - from entry-level intern to senior leader - to own their work. We share a responsibility to think like Owners - to be mindful of the collective and sustained success of Kraft Heinz - which we apply to every situation, every day. As part of Kraft Heinz, you're supported to grow and achieve. You're expected to bring your authentic self to work every day, to lead with humility, and drive outstanding performance at every level - and you'll be rewarded. You're given opportunities to leave a mark and build a legacy. But you won't do it alone. You're supported by passionate teammates along the way, and our collective, collaborative spirit fuels our incredible progress.
Position Summary
Innovation on the Snacking Platform is a significant driver of Kraft Heinz's future growth, paving future of Lunchables, P3 & Adult Snacking spaces. Brand Managers are leaders in our business, defining and executing the long-term innovation agenda for our iconic brands. As a Brand Manager, Innovation, your responsibilities will span from consumer insight generation and concept ideation to product development, packaging design, and business case development. You'll manage cross-functional teams to bring the brands innovation plan to life for consumers and drive overall category growth for retailers by focusing on bigger and bolder bets.

• An Owner: thrive in a "hands on" environment and "wear many hats"
• Strategic: collaborate strategically with business partners. Demonstrate creativity in approaching and solving problems, new and different ways to bring vision and structure to whitespace, with a deep understanding of how the consumer thinks and behaves to generate insights
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: build and maintain effective partnerships across various functions both inside and outside the organization
• Adaptability: thrives in ambiguity and working in the 'gray', while showing strong drive for results and project leadership skills. Flexible in changing priorities and continuous learning loops in KHC's bespoke agile methodology
• Influential: influence at all levels of organization and work seamlessly with cross-functional teams. Engagement and influence with the platform leadership team and cross functional leaders
• Impactful: effect "so-what's" by making concrete recommendations routed in deep understanding of marketing, business, and consumer. Showcase strong interpersonal and communication skills, pull disparate pieces of data together into a cohesive and compelling story
• Self-starter: ability to demonstrate a high degree of independence, resiliency, motivation and leadership/ownership, with limited oversight

Key Components of the Role

• Manage the creation and validation of a multi-year innovation strategy that is rooted in meaningful consumer pain points and white space in the kid & adult snacking categories
• Execute the innovation strategy by collaborating with cross functional team (R&D, consumer insights, quality, legal, engineering, operations, sales and finance) to take ideas from concepts to reality by validating or invalidating critical desirability, feasibility & viability assumptions.
• Manage agency relationships for design of new products, and lead validation with consumers in partnership with the consumer insights team
• Own innovation through the stage gate process, providing visibility to senior leaders on risks & opportunities, and aligning them to next steps/tradeoffs
• Leverage syndicated data sources to understand own and competitor innovation performance, bringing forth insights and recommendations that drive business impact
• Bring forth a consumer-first mindset to day-to-day decisions, ensuring the integrity of the brand remains protected while balancing financial and operational considerations.
• Be a champion of an innovation culture across the Snacking team, bringing outside in, challenging the status quo and driving continuous improvement in how we innovate

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree required; MBA preferred (Marketing emphasis is ideal)
• 5+ years experience in marketing related role, preferably demonstrated successful innovation launches
• Innovative mindset - is inherently innovative & collaborative and prioritizes resourcefulness over resources
• Consumer first, iterative approach - a natural ability to put the consumer first, understand their pain & pleasure points and iterate quickly based on consumer learning
• Strong storyteller and collaborator with the ability to blend art and science
• Marketing passion - enthusiasm for consumer marketing, culture, new product ideas and trends
• Demonstrated leadership skills - ability to inspire teams by forging strong relationships and commanding the respect/trust of others
• Strong communication & simplification skills - ability to synthesize data/insights in order to tell and sell a strong story
• Excellent Execution- propensity to move with speed/agility, fueled by an ownership mindset and strong time management skills
• Experience in design thinking and agile innovation methodologies a plus

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:
$118,400.00 - $148,000.00
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 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 [email protected] .