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

Maintain a single, integrated view of active, emerging, and upcoming innovation initiatives, including status, timing, key milestones, major dependencies and risks, investment and/or resource needs, and decisions required

Monitor the balance and health of the portfolio across time horizons, categories, growth platforms, and types of innovation, identifying gaps, overconcentration, and disconnects from strategic priorities

Anticipate portfolio-level capacity constraints and competing demands early, bringing the right partners together to resolve sequencing, resourcing, or scope tradeoffs

Innovation Strategy Tools & Ways of Working

Build and continuously improve practical tools that strengthen innovation decisions and help the Innovation team to evaluate and advance new opportunities (e.g., market maps, opportunity screens, project charters, volume models, dashboards, templates for consumer learning)

Establish standards for inputs at each stage, balancing discipline with Kinder’s entrepreneurial pace and tailoring the depth of analysis to the size and uncertainty of the decision

Establish a practical cadence for long-range planning, portfolio reviews, and prioritization that provides forward visibility without unnecessary process

What You Bring to the Table

Education / Experience

10+ years of experience in innovation strategy, portfolio strategy, corporate or brand strategy, management consulting, or a related role

CPG or food industry experience a plus (but not required)

Demonstrated experience translating market, consumer, competitive, and business inputs into long-range growth choices and prioritized innovation opportunities

Strong strategic problem-solving skills and analytical capabilities, including market landscaping, opportunity assessment, scenario development, and early sizing

Strong project and portfolio management discipline, with the ability to manage multiple workstreams and maintain an integrated portfolio view without becoming the day-to-day project manager for each

Demonstrated ability to lead and influence cross-functional stakeholders, communicate complex issues clearly, and build alignment around decisions

Proficiency in Excel and PowerPoint; experience in project management tools a plus (we currently use Wrike)

Bachelor’s degree (MBA or other relevant advanced degree a plus)

Personal characteristics

Growth mindset with a passion for learning (and teaching)

An objective, low-ego facilitator who can challenge thinking, surface tradeoffs, and keep the organization moving without forcing consensus

Obsessive problem-solver with a focus on delivering quality results

Builder by nature with willingness to dig in and build systems to help drive change

Comfortable making progress through ambiguity and helping others make good decisions with imperfect information

Motivated by creating lasting impact and value

Passionate people-lover excited by the opportunity to build strong relationships with teammates

Excited to be part of a fast-moving team with the ability to be a leader and a follower where required

Location and Travel

The position will be based out of our office in Walnut Creek, CA. We strongly believe in the power of culture and community and have a work structure with 4 days in the office on a weekly basis to encourage collaboration and personal connections that will allow us to better serve our customers and consumer and to have more fun. Fridays are flex days with employees having the opportunity to choose to be either in the office or to work from home based on what makes most sense for them.

Pay Transparency

The expected starting salary range for this role is $ 2 15 ,000- $2 40 ,000 per year. The salary range posted for this role reflects the good-faith base pay range Kinder’s reasonably expects