Brand Manager - Beverage, Ready to Drink 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 Hydration Platform is a significant driver of growth in support of the long term vision. 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.

Key Components of the Role

* Manage the development and validation of a multi-year RTD innovation strategy and Now, Near, Next pipeline that is rooted in meaningful consumer pain points and white space in the category.

* 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 packaging 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 leaderships 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.

* Lead the strategy & execution of an improved innovation approach for Hydration to enable both the incubation and acceleration of ideas.

* Be a champion of an innovation culture across the Hydration 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

* 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

* 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

EEO Policy

Kraft Heinz is an EO employer - Minorities/Women/Vets/Disabled and other protected categories

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.