Associate, Corporate Strategy

kinders; Walnut Creek (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Kinder's is seeking a team member to drive our corporate strategy capability, helping identify, evaluate, and execute growth opportunities as we scale toward a billion-dollar business.

You will work across strategic priorities including new category and market evaluation, long-range planning, business transformation, and corporate development, with senior leadership exposure and increasing ownership over end-to-end projects.

Qualifications

• Experience identifying and evaluating growth opportunities.
• Ability to build analytical models and scenarios.
• Strong communication of findings to executives.
• Experience leading cross-functional initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Growth Strategy & New Opportunity Evaluation: Build and maintain a map of potential new categories, markets, and growth platforms for Kinder's.
• Growth Strategy & New Opportunity Evaluation: Analyze market size, growth, profitability, competitive dynamics, consumer needs, and strategic fit to prioritize opportunities.
• Growth Strategy & New Opportunity Evaluation: Design and synthesize consumer research, including surveys, to assess Kinder's brand fit, purchase interest, and key barriers.
• Growth Strategy & New Opportunity Evaluation: Develop business cases and recommendations for priority opportunities, including potential paths to enter and win.
• Corporate Strategy & Long-Range Planning: Support the development and evolution of our long-term strategic plan, collaborating with functional teams to outline growth ambitions and initiatives.
• Corporate Strategy & Long-Range Planning: Build analytical models, external benchmarks, and scenarios to evaluate strategic options.
• Corporate Strategy & Long-Range Planning: Partner with cross-functional leaders to translate company strategy into clear priorities, milestones, and measures.
• Business Operations & Transformation: Identify and quantify opportunities to improve growth, margins, operating efficiency, and organizational effectiveness.
• Business Operations & Transformation: Structure and drive discrete transformation workstreams spanning operating model, processes, roles, and enabling technology.
• Business Operations & Transformation: Develop practical implementation roadmaps, track progress, and surface risks.
• Corporate Development: Conduct strategic and financial analyses of potential M&A, joint venture, and other investment opportunities.
• Corporate Development: Support market and target screening, valuation and financial modeling, due diligence, and investment recommendations.
• Corporate Development: Support transaction execution and post-close integration planning, coordinating with internal teams and external advisors.
• Enterprise Strategic Initiatives: Independently manage discrete strategic initiatives from inception to completion.

Skills

Strategic thinking

Analytical skills

Cross-functional collaboration

Job description

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 THIS ROLE:

Kinder's is seeking a team member to drive our corporate strategy capability who is passionate about being part of a team of hard-working people focused on bringing the future of flavor to consumers everywhere.

Kinder's has reached a pivotal point in its growth. As we scale toward becoming a billion-dollar business, we believe sustained success will require not only great products and entrepreneurial instincts, but increasingly sophisticated strategic capabilities, operating disciplines, and decision-making processes. This role exists to help build those capabilities while preserving the speed, agility, and entrepreneurial culture that have fueled our success to date.

The Associate, Corporate Strategy will help identify, evaluate, and execute the growth opportunities that will shape Kinder's future. You will work across strategic priorities including new category and market evaluation, long-range planning, business transformation, operating model improvement, and corporate development. You will structure and drive discrete workstreams, build rigorous analyses, and translate findings into practical recommendations, with active coaching from senior strategy team members. This high-impact development role reports to the Director of Corporate Strategy and offers regular exposure to the VP of Strategy and senior functional leaders, periodic opportunities to present to the CEO and broader executive team and increasing ownership for end-to-end projects as you grow.

While the role spans several strategic disciplines-including corporate strategy, corporate development, business transformation, and enterprise strategic initiatives-the allocation of time across these areas will naturally evolve based on business priorities, market dynamics, and the company's stage of growth. Rather than driving a fixed set of responsibilities, this role is designed to provide flexible strategic capacity where it can create the greatest enterprise value.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

Growth Strategy & New Opportunity Evaluation:

• Build and maintain a fact-based map of potential new categories, markets, and growth platforms for Kinder's


• Analyze market size, growth, profitability, competitive dynamics, consumer needs, and strategic fit to prioritize opportunities


• Design and synthesize consumer research, including surveys, to assess Kinder's brand fit, purchase interest, and key barriers


• Develop business cases and recommendations for priority opportunities, including potential paths to enter and win

Corporate Strategy & Long-Range Planning:

• Support the development and evolution of our long-term strategic plan, collaborating closely with functional teams and leaders to outline growth ambitions, strategic priorities, and the initiatives required to achieve them


• Build analytical models, external benchmarks, and scenarios to evaluate strategic options and inform resource allocation


• Partner with cross-functional leaders to translate company strategy into clear priorities, milestones, and measures of success

Business Operations & Transformation:

• Partner with functional leaders to identify and quantify opportunities to improve growth, margins, operating efficiency, and organizational effectiveness


• Structure and drive discrete transformation workstreams spanning operating model, processes, ways of working, roles, decision rights, and enabling technology


• Develop practical implementation roadmaps, track progress against targets, and surface risks or decisions requiring leadership attention

Corporate Development:

• Conduct strategic and financial analyses of potential M&A, joint venture, and other investment opportunities


• Support market and target screening, valuation and financial modeling, due diligence, and preparation of investment recommendations


• Support transaction execution and post-close integration planning, coordinating with internal teams and external advisors as needed

Enterprise Strategic Initiatives: Independently manage discrete strategic initiatives from