Manager, Menu Strategy

Home Chef (Internal Employees); Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 90,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Life insurance

Disability insurance

Paid holidays

Vacation time

401k with employer match

Flexible spending accounts

Job summary

Home Chef is seeking a Manager of Menu Strategy to drive the ideation, vetting, and development of product ideas within the Culinary team. This role, based in Chicago with some travel, reports to the Director of Menu Strategy and coordinates with stakeholders across the organization to bring new meals to life.

You will supervise menu setting processes, influence roadmaps, and ensure successful project execution by collaborating with Culinary, Supply Chain, Marketing, Finance and Ops teams.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree a plus.
• 2–4 years in fast-paced environments (CPG, product development, innovation, consulting, startups).
• Ability to manage multiple complex projects with attention to detail.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end menu setting processes across verticals (Extras, Family, etc.).
• Collaborate with Culinary, Supply Chain, Marketing, Finance and Ops to deliver projects.
• Develop, vet and implement new product ideas with stakeholders.
• Interpret data and trends to generate actionable insights for execution.
• Provide input into product roadmaps and future menu designs.

Skills

Data-driven decisions

Strong communication

Curiosity

Urgency & adaptability

Self-starter

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s Degree

Job description

The Manager of Menu Strategy plays a key role in the success of Home Chef’s business by running projects within a key team of the menu and culinary process. The candidate will be responsible for ideating, vetting, and developing product ideas within their vertical and collaborating with stakeholders across the organization to bring these products to life.

The position is part of the Culinary team within Product and reports to a Director of Menu Strategy. The role is based in Chicago, IL with some travel.

Responsibilities

• Run the entire menu setting process within the menu vertical(s) (e.g. Extras, Family, etc.) including leveraging insights, culinary R&D, photography and content, and financial metrics to design, set, publish, and track menu success.
• Provide input into future road maps including optimized menu design and ensure successful completion of related projects.
• Communicate and build alignment with internal and external stakeholders to remove roadblocks and prioritize projects; serve as a partner within Culinary in thinking about the next generation of products.
• Identify subtasks and smaller projects to collaborate with other Menu Strategy team members under oversight to ensure successful execution.
• Work with internal and external stakeholders to innovate, ideate, and develop new products, processes and customer experiences.
• Source and stress test new product ideas in collaboration with Consumer Insights, Supply Chain, Marketing, Finance, Culinary, Operations teams.
• Interpret data, research and trends that impact the meal solutions eCommerce space and develop actionable insights for execution.
• Integrate voice of customer into all aspects of the work and cooperate with Consumer Insights to transform learnings into tangible actions.
• Actively participate in daily stationing & tastings of R&D meals.
• Collaborate with Culinary, Supply Chain, Marketing, Finance, Ops and others to ensure smooth and successful delivery of projects.
• Lead working teams to bring new projects from idea generation to full execution and rollout.
• Communicate ongoing project updates and priorities within Home Chef to ensure organizational alignment.
• Develop and source all inputs to shepherd projects through the Home Chef stage gate process.
• Seek to optimize launched products, thinking through ways to drive improvements to the top and bottom line.
• Quantify both historical decisions and future recommendations, bringing forth data-driven decisions.
• Collaborate on best practices and share learnings with peers working on other product types.
• Set the mid- to long-term product vision for the respective vertical and ensure alignment across Home Chef teams.
• Travel 10‑20% of the time.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree (an advanced degree is a plus).
• 2‑4 years of experience in a rigorous fast-pace work environment – CPG, product development, innovation, consulting, startups.
• Ability to work within a scrappy, ambiguous, fast-moving environment.
• Extremely detail‑oriented and organized with the ability to develop and make progress against multiple concurrent project plans.
• Data-driven decision maker who can use data to drive, validate and make progress against potential courses of action.
• Experience working in the fresh and packaged food space is an asset.
• Self-starter inclined towards finding solutions and comfortable working independently and with a team.
• Strong communicator and relationship builder.
• Intellectually curious.
• Sense of urgency and ability to handle fast-changing priorities and ambiguity.
• No ego team player excited to solve a wide range of challenges.
• Must be able to taste and provide thorough feedback on every meal and ingredient sample test in the kitchen, including vegetarian, pork, chicken, steak, and seafood meals.

Perks and Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, life and disability insurance.
• Paid holidays, sick time and vacation time.
• 401k program with employer match.
• Flexible spending accounts for qualified medical, dependent care, parking, or transit expenses.
• Opportunity to experience Home Chef as a customer.

$90,000 – $100,000 USD