Director, Global Consumer Foresight & Marketplace Strategy

Job Description

Director, Global Consumer Foresight & Marketplace Strategy

The Director, Global Consumer Foresight & Marketplace Strategy will be responsible for championing the consumer and owning all trends and foresight work for Global Enterprise – from research to strategy development. This position is responsible for developing our organizational consumer trend north star to inform strategic planning at the enterprise level with relevant click-ins and pivots to meaningfully localize for consumers across the globe. This leader will be a crucial partner to the corporate strategy function, innovation teams, region consumer insights teams and R&D teams. This is an enterprise senior leadership-facing role in which relationships and leadership presence will be key to influence. This individual must operate with an enterprise business performance mindset, with the ability to translate learning to local insights and implications. This role will ensure consistent consumer-informed decisions that future-proof our brands, and in turn Kraft Heinz overall.

This is not a solely market research role. The Director, Global Consumer Foresight & Marketplace Strategy is a strategist with strong research expertise – this person must have a holistic understanding of how businesses grow, alongside a keen understanding of data and tools available to build a strong consumer foundation to build future strategy.  

This position reports into the VP, Global Head of Consumer Insights and Analytics, is a key leader on the Global Insights and Analytics Leadership Team, and sits within the Global Growth Organization.

This role requires a person who is: 

Strategic: Be a strategic business partner, flexible to work with various teams and functions. Discover new ways of thinking. Propel Kraft Heinz ahead of competition in how we think about the future.

Inspiring: Use their understanding of the consumer, culture, and culinary trends to guide strategic planning in a natural way with deep partnerships.

Influential: Influence at all levels of the organization (up, down, and sideways) and work seamlessly with cross-functional teams. Build internal and external credibility for Kraft Heinz in the consumer trends and foresight space. Move past interesting information to truly drive action.

Impactful: Aim to "so-what's" by making actionable recommendations routed in a deep understanding of consumers and Kraft Heinz's business.  

Creative & Accountable: Possess a willingness to get into the details, think and act like a start-up, and build a function against a blank slate without buying pre-packaged solutions or methodologies.    

Flexible: Flexibly and creatively adjust to changing priorities and business challenges. Deal with ambiguity while showing a 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 deliverables that drive empathy and storytelling behaviors throughout the organization.  

Self-motivated: Ability to handle many workstreams, challenging priorities and make the hard calls about where to focus efforts to 1) have the greatest organizational impact, and 2) elevate the work in the right ways.  

Analytical: Ability to see through data and recognize patterns to inform brand and enterprise actions; Develop true insights that are multiple steps beyond facts.  

Collaborator: Teammate, owning own expertise while appreciate the power of working with teams to get to the best solutions. 

Coach & People Leader: Drive to share knowledge and develop a hard-working team  

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

Essential Functions & Responsibilities  

• Develop, evolve, and sustain a best-in-class approach for identifying meaningful cultural and culinary trends and a repeatable foresight practice that informs strategic planning processes. 
• Represent consumer expertise globally considering the intersection of macroeconomics, marketplace dynamics, structural shifts, and consumer attitudes and behaviors today and tomorrow as a result.
• Lead and implement highly visible enterprise learning plans and trend deep dives to inform innovation platform development and existing business strategy across the global portfolio.  
• Connect consumer, culinary, and cultural trends trends to broader consumer motivations and translate signals in culture into strategic opportunities for Kraft Heinz. Ensure direct applicability of all trend and foresight work to business units and enterprise initiatives, including M&A and Joint Venture strategy. 
• Build upon existing trends and foresight capabilities by vetting and onboarding new technologies and data sources to develop best-in-class methodologies. Constantly evaluates supplier partners to ensure cutting-edge methods. 

• Lead consumer vetting and landscape analysis for new technologies and venture partnerships. 
• Ensure that the consumer is at the forefront, living principles, inspiring change, pivoting, and communicating as new learning and consumer understanding is gleaned.  
• Requires working in high levels of ambiguity, creating strategic direction for growth opportunities 1-10 years out.   
• Day-to-day management and development of three direct reports. 

  

Expected Experience & Required Skills 

• At least ten (10+) years in a strategic insights/consumer research or trends-focused role, preferably at a CPG manufacturer, or 10+ years with a combination of supplier, agency, and manufacturer-side insights experience showcasing increasing responsibilities and scope.   
• Comfort with both leading custom research and synthesizing secondary data sources to tell a holistic story and influence an organization.
• Significant experience in the consumer insights space; able to break historical ways of working, experiment, and drive agility. Mastery of common qualitative and quantitative market research methods, alongside willingness to experiment and try new methods. 
• Proven ability to distill cultural, consumer, and culinary trends to drive impact into innovation pipelines, product development, business strategy, and M&A planning. 
• Experience tailoring content for diverse audiences, ranging from external customers to executive leadership team. 

• High level of tolerance for working in ambiguity, leading change, and motivating change management  
• Experience working with progressive trend and foresight tools that leverage fast-moving consumer signals and willingness to explore new tools and ways of thinking.
• Working knowledge of syndicated research tools (e.g., Nielsen, Circana, Mintel, etc.)  
• Master at storytelling in creative and impactful ways - excellent communication, organization, and presentation skills (written, oral, and across Microsoft Office Suite) 
• Advanced Degree Preferred  

  

  

Work Environment & Schedule 

This is a Hybrid role with three days a week in the local office, with limited travel or visits to external locations; offices are open workspaces. Additionally, this role requires working a salaried, exempt schedule to best execute against customer and internal expectations. 

  

Physical demands include but are not limited to 

Willingness to drive and/or travel as needed 

Operate a computer and view screens for ~100% of the work schedule 

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:

$190,300.00 - $237,900.00

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

Long-Term Incentive (LTI): In addition to base salary and bonus, this role is eligible for additional compensation in the form of equity.

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 NAZTAOps@kraftheinz.com.