Director, Innovation Strategy

Kinder's • Walnut Creek, CA

9h • $215,000 - $240,000 • Onsite

About The Position

The Director of Innovation Strategy will support the development and continuous evolution of Kinder’s innovation strategy, connecting organizational and brand priorities with market landscapes, consumer needs, customer priorities, brand permission, opportunity size, and organizational capabilities. The role will shape the innovation pipeline, prioritization, and growth, and partner with the broader leadership team to communicate priorities, facilitate decisions, and frame implications across the organization. The Director reports to the VP of Innovation and supports the evaluation and execution of strategic projects and initiatives.

The position leads long-range innovation planning, opportunity assessment, portfolio prioritization, decision facilitation, pipeline visibility, and the development of tools and operating practices that support innovation decisions. It collaborates across functions to assess capabilities, develop business cases, balance portfolio health and capacity, and translate complex information into clear recommendations. The role is based in Kinder’s Walnut Creek, California office, with five days per week in-office as the usual work structure and Fridays flexible between office and home.

Requirements

• 10+ years of experience in innovation strategy, portfolio strategy, corporate or brand strategy, management consulting, or a related role.
• Demonstrated experience translating market, consumer, competitive, and business inputs into long-range growth choices and prioritized innovation opportunities.
• Strong strategic problem-solving 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.
• Bachelor’s degree.
• Growth mindset and passion for learning and teaching.
• Objective, low-ego facilitation skills, including the ability to challenge thinking, surface tradeoffs, and keep the organization moving without forcing consensus.
• Strong problem-solving orientation and focus on delivering quality results.
• Builder mindset and willingness to develop systems to help drive change.
• Comfort making progress through ambiguity and helping others make good decisions with imperfect information.
• Motivation to create lasting impact and value.
• Ability and enthusiasm to build strong relationships with teammates and work in a fast-moving team, leading or following as needed.

Nice To Haves

• CPG or food industry experience.
• Experience using project management tools; Kinder’s currently uses Wrike.
• MBA or other relevant advanced degree.

Responsibilities

• Lead the development and ongoing evolution of Kinder’s long-term innovation plan, translating enterprise and brand growth priorities into strategic opportunities, platforms, and categories to explore.
• Build and maintain market and category maps identifying consumer needs, emerging behaviors, competitive activity, and potential white space.
• Partner with Culinary, R&D, Operations, Supply Chain, Commercialization, and other functions to understand capabilities and constraints and identify capabilities or investments needed for future growth.
• Collaborate with Finance, Sales, and other partners to develop business cases for growth initiatives, including sizing, volume scenarios, and appropriate economic perspectives.
• Serve as a thought partner to the Innovation team and enterprise leaders, challenging assumptions and distinguishing attractive ideas from opportunities likely to create consumer value and meaningful growth.
• Synthesize market, consumer, financial, and operational information into clear narratives and recommendations for executive and cross-functional audiences.
• Refine and apply a consistent approach to assessing opportunities across strategic fit, consumer value, differentiation, brand permission, operational feasibility, financial viability, capability requirements, timing, and risk.
• Translate prioritized opportunities into structured exploration, with clear hypotheses, questions, and evidence requirements.
• Plan and lead portfolio reviews, providing leaders with a concise fact base, explicit tradeoffs, and actionable recommendations.
• Capture decisions, rationale, and follow-up actions, and ensure approved decisions are reflected in portfolio plans and communicated to execution teams.
• Maintain an integrated view of active, emerging, and upcoming innovation initiatives, including status, timing, milestones, dependencies, risks, investment or resource needs, and required decisions.
• Monitor portfolio balance and health across time horizons, categories, growth platforms, and innovation types, identifying gaps, overconcentration, and disconnects from strategic priorities.
• Anticipate portfolio capacity constraints and competing demands, convening partners to resolve sequencing, resourcing, or scope tradeoffs.
• Build and improve practical tools for evaluating and advancing opportunities, such as market maps, opportunity screens, project charters, volume models, dashboards, and consumer-learning templates.
• Establish standards for inputs at each stage, balancing discipline with Kinder’s entrepreneurial pace and tailoring analysis to the size and uncertainty of decisions.
• Establish a practical cadence for long-range planning, portfolio reviews, and prioritization that provides forward visibility without unnecessary process.

Benefits

• Paid time off.
• 401(k).
• Bonus or incentive eligibility.
• Equity grants.
• Competitive health benefits.
• Family-friendly benefits, including parental leave.
• Flexible work arrangements, including the option to work from home on Fridays and flexibility to work outside the office when needed.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director