ROLE: SENIOR STRATEGIST (PORTFOLIO/RETAIL)TEAM: THE KITCHEN NORTH AMERICALOCATION: CHICAGOROLE OVERVIEW:The Senior Strategist at The Kitchen is responsible for serving as the day-to-day strategic lead across multiple brands, supporting Portfolio Marketing. We seek someone who thrives in a fast-paced, creative environment. This role demands a unique blend of strategic thinking, cultural curiosity, and, channel expertise to deliver 360 campaigns that win shoppers, from above the line to below the line. Day-to-day responsibilities include developing strategies for occasion-based multiple brand campaigns, and delivering channel strategic plans that unlock business growth. We seek someone with a proven track record of successful campaigns, strategic brief development, and framework building. The ideal candidate understands the full marketing funnel and ecosystem, with particular emphasis on retail, shopper, and portfolio marketing.
CORE RESPONSIBILITIES:- STRATEGIC THINKING: Maintain a deep understanding of the brands, audiences, business priorities, competition, and industry trends. You will work on creative briefs, comms plans, campaign rollouts, and thought leadership, among other things, ensuring strategic thinking is incorporated in all aspects of the agency's work.
- RETAIL, SHOPPER AND PORTFOLIO STRATEGY & CREATIVE BRIEF DEVELOPMENT: Define strategies for our Kraft Heinz portfolio of brands to drive cross-sell and incremental purchase during power windows, understanding how to drive situational salience at the moment of purchase/truth. Identify how our brands best show up together in these key occasions and shopper moments, delivering insights that will inspire creative teams and meaningfully impact businesses.
- COLLABORATION WITH CREATIVE TEAMS: Work closely with the Creative team to brainstorm, generate thought starters, and actively help them hone their work.
- UNDERSTANDING OF PAID MEDIA: Understand ad units, media opportunities, and post content options in a complex multi-platform online environment to make strategic recommendations for creating and amplifying work that reaches the right audience, with both paid and owned media.
- UNDERSTAND HOW TO WIN IN ONLINE/TRADITIONAL RETAIL ENVIRONMENT: Demonstrate knowledge of how to plan campaigns for a shopper mindset. Think about all channels where our shopper will intersect with our message, and how to effectively communicate to resonate across our brands.
- PRESENTATION SKILLS: Strong communication skills, excellent writing ability, and enthusiastic presentation skills. Translate big and complex ideas clearly and effectively into simple, compelling stories and presentations to help get ideas approved by Brand Partners.
- TEAM COLLABORATION: Work with a pod structure consisting of Creatives, Account, Production. Own relationships with Central Marketing Portfolio team for your assigned campaigns.
EXPERIENCE & SKILLS:- 5+ years of experience in a brand, comms, shopper, or retail strategy role.
- Proven track record of managing national brands, ideally for a CPG or lifestyle brand.
- History of working with Creative teams, providing expertise and influencing creative ideas.
- Proficiency in creating presentations (PowerPoint, Google Slides).
- Ability to translate research and data into meaningful insights that inspire big ideas.
- Solid understanding of the tools and frameworks that support strategy development (e.g., social listening).
- Strong background in channel or comms strategy, unlocking the right message at the right moment.
- Excellent presentation and communication skills in a group environment.
- A university or college diploma in marketing, advertising, or a related field is preferred.
The anticipated annual base salary range for this position is $100,000-$120,000. Individual compensation within this range is determined based on job-related factors such as experience, skills, level of responsibility, internal equity, and business needs. This range represents the expected base salary for this role and does not include other elements of The Kitchen's total rewards program.
