Conagra Brands, Inc.

Director Creative Strategy & Operations

Conagra Brands, Inc.$135K — $200K *
Media
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree preferred.
  • 10+ years of experience in creative strategy, brand strategy, or related roles; CPG experience preferred.
  • Experience translating brand strategy and consumer insights into creative outputs.
  • Strong understanding of digital platforms and integrated brand activation.
  • Proven ability to influence senior stakeholders and align team priorities.
  • Strong communication, storytelling, and change leadership skills.
  • Experience in leading teams and developing capabilities through tools and training.

Responsibilities

  • Develop deep, behavior-based consumer insights to inspire brand strategy.
  • Synthesize diverse data sources into strategic implications for creative work.
  • Lead development of enduring brand platforms and strategic narratives.
  • Translate brand positioning and audience understanding into strategic direction.
  • Provide constructive feedback on creative ideas to improve effectiveness.
  • Create strategic artifacts that shape brand thinking and elevate insights.
  • Lead in-house agency operations to ensure efficient project management.

Benefits

  • Comprehensive healthcare plans and wellness incentives.
  • Bonus incentives, matching 401(k), and stock purchase opportunities.
  • Career development opportunities and tuition reimbursement.
  • Paid time off, parental leave, and flexible work schedules.
  • Employee resource groups and volunteer opportunities.
Full Job Description
Job Summary:

Leads the development of consumer-driven creative strategy, brand platforms, and operational practices that strengthen brand-building across the enterprise portfolio. This role translates consumer behavior, cultural trends, business objectives, marketplace dynamics, and brand performance into clear strategic direction that inspires distinctive, effective creative work. Partners closely with brand, analytics, behavioral science, creative, and cross-functional teams to develop insights, briefs, campaign platforms, messaging frameworks, and tools that improve the quality and consistency of creative thinking. Also provides leadership for in-house agency operations, team capability building, and scalable ways of working that enable efficient execution, greater creative effectiveness and stronger business impact.

Responsibilities:

Lead Deep Consumer Insight Development:
  • Develop deep, behavior-based consumer insights that inspire stronger brand strategy and creative work, including the ability to identify unmet needs, behavioral tensions, emotional drivers, and cultural shifts that unlock new growth opportunities.
  • Go beyond reported data and surface-level findings to identify emotional tensions, cultural shifts, category behaviors, and unmet consumer needs; synthesize consumer data, social listening, cultural observation, category dynamics, behavioral science, sales trends, competitive activity, and brand performance into sharp strategic implications.
  • Conduct learning when needed through desk research, cultural scans, social mining, qualitative synthesis, and informal ethnographic-style observation.
  • Partner with Analytics, Behavioral Science, Brand Marketing, and other teams to turn available data into more useful strategic thinking and serve as an enterprise expert on modern consumer behavior.
  • Build a repeatable standard for what great insight means inside the in-house agency.


Build Brand Campaign & Creative Platforms:
  • Lead development of enduring brand platforms, campaign territories, strategic narratives, messaging architectures, and creative foundations for priority brands.
  • Translate brand positioning, business objectives, audience understanding, and cultural context into clear strategic direction.
  • Create platforms that scale across video, social, digital, retail, ecommerce, influencer, shopper, PR, and owned channels.
  • Help brands move from one-off campaign ideas to long-term brand-building systems that are distinctive, ownable, creatively fertile, and connected to the brand's role in consumers' lives.
  • Partner with brand teams to sharpen positioning, audience definition, brand voice, and consumer relevance.
  • Provide clear, constructive, strategically grounded feedback on creative ideas, including identifying when work is too expected, generic, rational, category-conventional, or disconnected from the human truth.

Creative Thought Leadership & Knowledge Development:
  • Act as an enterprise creative strategist by partnering with brand teams to clarify business challenges, consumer barriers, growth opportunities, desired behavior changes, and strategic choices.
  • Write and lead best-in-class creative briefs for major campaigns and priority initiatives, transforming business asks into clear, provocative creative problems.
  • Synthesize consumer behavior, marketplace dynamics, competitive activity, cultural shifts, performance data, and organizational knowledge into clear, actionable strategic guidance.
  • Create strategic artifacts that shape and elevate brand thinking, including creative briefs, brand books, positioning frameworks, knowledge audits, audience profiles, messaging architectures, cultural trend reports, and campaign playbooks.
  • Develop strategic narratives, thought pieces, and planning frameworks that enable marketers, agency partners, and creative teams to move beyond tactical execution toward stronger brand-building.
  • Create tools, frameworks, and deliverables that improve how teams develop insights, evaluate ideas, write briefs, assess creative work, and make strategic decisions that raise the quality of creative thinking and inspire action.

In-House Agency Operations:
  • Lead the operational foundation that enables the in-house agency to deliver high-quality work efficiently and consistently across the enterprise portfolio.
  • Manage in-house agency workflows, resource planning, budget oversight, intake processes, prioritization, and ways of working to improve speed, clarity, and effectiveness.
  • Oversee project management and agency operations support to ensure teams remain aligned on timelines, deliverables, stakeholder expectations, and executional excellence.
  • Identify opportunities to simplify complexity, reduce friction, and create scalable systems that support growing creative demand across the enterprise.
  • Develop and implement frameworks, governance models, and operational practices that improve consistency, accountability, and performance across agency initiatives.
  • Partner with cross-functional stakeholders to connect strategy, creativity, and execution, ensuring marketing investments deliver maximum business impact.


Team Leadership & Capability Building:
  • Lead, coach, and develop direct and indirect resources, including agency operations and owned digital platform support roles.
  • Build a culture of creativity, discipline, accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement within the in-house agency.
  • Identify capability gaps and partner with leaders to build practical tools, examples, and training that help teams apply creative strategy and brand platform standards consistently.
  • Champion new tools, technologies, AI-enabled approaches, and best practices that improve creative operations, production efficiency, and brand-building quality.


Qualifications:
  • Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree preferred.
  • 10+ years of experience in creative strategy, brand strategy, integrated marketing, content strategy, in-house agency leadership, or related marketing capability roles; CPG experience preferred.
  • Experience translating brand strategy and consumer insights into creative platforms, briefs, content systems, and marketing ideas.
  • Strong understanding of owned digital platforms, social content, creative production, and integrated brand activation.
  • Proven ability to influence senior stakeholders, manage ambiguity, and align cross-functional partners around shared priorities and decision rights.
  • Strong business acumen, communication, storytelling, facilitation, and change leadership skills.
  • Experience leading teams or matrixed resources and building capability through coaching, tools, templates, and repeatable standards.
  • Digital fluency and curiosity for emerging marketing technologies, including AI-enabled tools that improve creative quality, efficiency, and scalability.


Disclaimer:
This job description is not intended and should not be construed to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, skills, efforts or working conditions associated with the job. It is intended, however, to be an accurate reflection of those principal job elements essential for making decisions related to job performance, employee development and compensation. As such, the incumbent may perform other duties and responsibilities as required.

Compensation
Pay Range:$135,000-$200,000

The annual salary listed above is the expected offering for this position. An employee's actual annual salary will be based on but not limited to: location, relevant experience/level and skillset, while balancing internal Conagra employees' equity. Conagra Brands will comply with applicable law regarding minimum salaries for exempt employees.

Our Benefits

We care about your total well-being and will support you with the following, subject to your location and role:
  • Health: Comprehensive healthcare plans, wellness incentive program, mental wellbeing support and fitness reimbursement
  • Wealth: Great pay, bonus incentive opportunity, matching 401(k) and stock purchase plan
  • Growth: Career development opportunities, employee resource groups, on-demand learning and tuition reimbursement
  • Balance: Paid-time off, parental leave, flexible work-schedules (subject to your location and role) and volunteer opportunities


About Conagra Brands, Inc.

We’re ConAgra Foods. We make the food you love. We're passionate about sharing the love of food, stories of our people and the commitment we bring.

Conagra Brands, Inc. Careers

Join the vibrant team at Conagra Brands, Inc., a leader in the food industry, where innovation meets tradition. At Conagra, we are committed to building a dynamic and inclusive culture that fosters growth and leadership in the global marketplace.

Work You’ll Do

At Conagra Brands, Inc., you will be part of a team that is dedicated to making an impact on the food industry through continuous innovation and a commitment to quality. Our diverse team of professionals is driven by a passion for excellence and a desire to exceed consumer expectations.

Explore Job Opportunities

Whether you're looking for an entry-level position or a more experienced role, Conagra offers a range of job opportunities that can help propel your career to new heights. Our team is growing, and we are looking for individuals who are eager to bring their unique skills and perspectives to our company.

Internship Programs

Kickstart your career with Conagra’s internship programs. These opportunities are designed to give you hands-on experience and insights into the food industry, while also enhancing your skills through practical application. Internships at Conagra are a stepping stone to full-time employment and a great way to build your resume and network with industry leaders.

Professional Growth and Development

Conagra Brands, Inc. is deeply invested in the professional growth of its employees. With access to comprehensive training and development programs, including leadership development and diversity training, our team members are equipped to thrive in their careers and contribute to the company’s success.

Benefits and Culture

Working at Conagra comes with a wealth of benefits that underscore our commitment to our employees’ well-being and professional growth. From competitive health benefits and retirement plans to flexible working conditions and wellness programs, we ensure that our team is supported both in and out of the workplace.

Join Our Team

We are actively hiring and looking for motivated individuals who are ready to join a leading company in the food industry. Search open positions that match your skills and interests on our Careers page. At Conagra Brands, Inc., we value curiosity, creativity, and a collaborative spirit.

Stay Connected

Keep up to date with the latest at Conagra by following our Careers Blog. Gain insider perspectives, industry-leading insights, and career tips that you can apply today. Personalize your experience by subscribing to job alert emails, tailored to your preferences and designed to keep you informed of new opportunities and company news.

Networking and Innovation

At Conagra Brands, Inc., networking and innovation are at the heart of our operations. We encourage our employees to engage in cross-departmental collaborations, fostering an environment where innovation can thrive. This approach not only enhances our product offerings but also ensures that our team members grow together, building a stronger, more cohesive company.

Embark on Your Career Journey with Conagra Brands, Inc.

Discover the exciting and rewarding career opportunities awaiting you at Conagra Brands, Inc. Bring your passion, your innovation, and your vision to our team, and help us continue to shape the future of the food industry. Join us in our mission to drive growth and innovation, while enjoying a culture that values diversity and leadership.

SEARCH CONAGRA JOBS

Learn more about Conagra Brands, Inc.
Size
18,600 employees
Market Cap
$18.6 billion
Industry
Net Income
$1.1 billion
5 Year Trend
+8.1%
Revenue
$11.5 billion
NASDAQ

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