NA Innovation Strategy & Foresights Lead

The Kraft Heinz Company; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 104,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare coverage

Wellbeing programs

401k and savings plans

Job summary

The Kraft Heinz Company in Chicago seeks a strategic partner to shape the NA zone innovation strategy, translating consumer signals into clear options and aligning priorities with the growth plan. You will lead cross-functional collaboration across Insights, R&D, Supply Chain, Regulatory, Finance, and Sales, building practical tools and governance to move ideas from concept to impact.

You’ll energize the marketing organization, enable brand-agnostic foresight, and coach teams to rigorously test

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in CPG marketing.
• Demonstrated experience supporting (not necessarily owning) innovation strategy—translating ambiguity into clear 'where to play / how to win / what to build' options and decision points.
• Contagious passion for consumer marketing, culture, new product ideas and trends.
• Advanced storytelling skills with the ability to synthesize data/insights into a powerful story for internal or external audiences.
• Demonstrated ability to influence leaders and inspire and lead cross-functional teams.
• Strong IRI skills.

Responsibilities

• Shape the NA Zone innovation strategy by helping identify where to play, setting innovation sufficiency targets, tracking progress against those targets, and aligning innovation priorities and recommendations to the overall Kraft Heinz growth plan.
• Directly lead and / or partner with BU cross-functionals to execute ‘big bet’ whitespace innovation
• Influence how innovation happens across the organization, ensuring teams – regardless of function – operate with a shared innovation for what great innovation looks like.
• Act as consultant to BU Marketers and cross-functional teams, providing hands-on strategic guidance and coaching throughout innovation process to ensure rigor in execution and stronger business outcomes.
• Operationalize innovation strategy & foresights ways of working by building practical toolkits, templates, and governance that connect trends/foresights to innovation briefs, learning plans, decision points, and pipeline choices.
• Enable brand-agnostic trend and foresight integration by translating signals into clear implications and opportunity areas that can be applied across brands, categories, and channels.
• Support non-adjacent category expansion exploration by helping structure hypotheses, learning agendas, and early concepting pathways that teams can pressure-test efficiently.
• Partner closely across functions (Insights, R&D, Supply Chain, Regulatory, and Finance) to ensure strategies and opportunities are grounded in feasibility and executed with pace, surfacing barriers and opportunities that improve decision quality.

Skills

CPG marketing

Innovation strategy support

Storytelling

Influence leaders

Cross-functional leadership

IRI skills

Job description

The Kraft Heinz Company in Chicago seeks a strategic partner to shape the NA zone innovation strategy, translating consumer signals into clear options and aligning priorities with the growth plan. You will lead cross-functional collaboration across Insights, R&D, Supply Chain, Regulatory, Finance, and Sales, building practical tools and governance to move ideas from concept to impact.

You’ll energize the marketing organization, enable brand-agnostic foresight, and coach teams to rigorously test