Director, Innovation Strategy

BUILT ON FLAVOR. FUELED BY PEOPLE.
What’s it like to work at Kinder’s? Well, there’s a lot of snacking and geeking out over what we all cooked over the weekend. Beyond that, there’s also plenty of hard work. Because we don’t just like flavor, we’re obsessed with it.
With over 100 products sold nationwide, we’re now a top-five brand in multiple flavor categories at Costco, Walmart, Whole Foods, and more. We’re not your typical CPG company. Privately held and founder-led, we like to think of ourselves as a pirate ship in a sea of cruise ships. Our crew is adventurous and fearless. We chart our own course and chase big ideas to make food unforgettable.
As we expand globally and approach $1 billion in revenue, we need more smart-and-scrappy, flavor-obsessed people to come aboard. If you’re looking for a place where you can see the real impact of your work... this is it! Every day, you’ll be part of a journey to add flavor to millions of meals and lives.
About The Role
The Director of Innovation Strategy at Kinder's will play a pivotal role in our efforts to continue delivering at market-leading speed as we grow. You will be responsible for supporting the development and continuous evolution of our innovation strategy, connecting organizational and brand priorities with market landscapes, consumer needs, customer priorities, brand permission, opportunity size, and organizational capabilities to shape our innovation pipeline, prioritization, and growth. You will also be a key partner to the broader leadership team in communicating innovation priorities, facilitating decision making, and framing implications across the organization.
This role requires a results-oriented leader with strong communication skills, project management discipline, analytical capabilities, and the ability to collaborate cross-functionally. In this role, you will report to the VP of Innovation to support the evaluation and execution of a broad range of strategic projects and initiatives.
Key Responsibilities
Long-Range Innovation Planning & Strategic Opportunities
Lead the development and ongoing evolution of Kinder’s long-term innovation plan, translating enterprise and brand growth priorities into a focused set of strategic opportunities, platforms, and categories to explore
Build and maintain market and category maps that identify consumer needs, emerging behaviors, competitive activity, and potential white space for Kinder’s
Partner with Culinary, R&D, Operations, Supply Chain, Commercialization, and other functions to understand current capabilities and constraints and identify new capabilities or investments required to unlock future growth
Collaborate with Finance, Sales, and other partners to develop fit-for-purpose business cases for potential growth initiatives (including sizing, volume scenarios, and economic perspectives appropriate to the maturity of each opportunity)
Serve as a trusted thought partner to the Innovation team and enterprise leaders, constructively challenging assumptions and helping distinguish attractive ideas from opportunities most likely to create consumer value and meaningful growth
Synthesize complex market, consumer, financial, and operational information into clear narratives and recommendations for executive and cross-functional audiences
Innovation Portfolio Prioritization & Decision Facilitation
Refine and apply a consistent approach for assessing opportunities across strategic fit, consumer value, differentiation, brand permission, operational feasibility, financial viability, capabilities requirements, timing, and risk
Translate prioritized opportunities into structured exploration, with clear hypotheses, questions to answer, and evidence required to inform decisions
Plan and lead portfolio reviews, ensuring leaders have a concise fact base, explicit tradeoffs, and actionable recommendations
Capture decisions, rationale, and follow-up actions, ensuring approved decisions are reflected in portfolio plans and communicated to the teams responsible for execution
Pipeline Visibility & Portfolio Health