Director, Menu Strategy

The Director of Menu Strategy is responsible for leading menu planning strategy, processes, and performance. This role is expected to play a key role in Product Department leadership by building and maintaining cross functional relationships with several other departments at Home Chef including but not limited to Culinary, Supply Chain, Operations, Finance, Tech, and Marketing. The candidate will be responsible for ideating, vetting and developing product optimization and new product ideas within their business vertical and collaborating with stakeholders across the organization to bring these products to life. 

The position is part of the Menu team within Product and reports to the VP of Product. The role is based in Chicago, IL with some travel.

Detailed Responsibilities

Menu Engineering, Processes, and Performance

• Leverage financial performance and customer feedback to guide future menu composition in all menu lanes - Core, Family, Add Ons / Stage Two


• Partner closely with finance teams to monitor and interpret results as well as when creating menu iterations


• Provide input into future road maps and ensure successful completion of related initiatives 


• Communicate and build alignment with internal and external stakeholders to remove roadblocks and prioritize initiatives → current projects include tiered pricing and merchandising refresh


• Identify subtasks and projects to delegate and collaborate with Menu Strategy team members with oversight to ensure successful execution

Cross-Departmental Collaboration and Execution:

• Collaborate internally with Culinary, Supply Chain, Marketing, Finance, Ops, and Tech and others to ensure smooth and successful delivery of projects


• Lead working teams to bring new initiatives from idea generation to full execution and rollout


• Communicate ongoing initiative updates and priorities within Home Chef to ensure organizational alignment


• Develop and source all inputs to shepherd projects through the Home Chef stage gate process

Innovation & New Product Development:

• Work with all available internal and external stakeholders to innovate, ideate and develop new products, processes and customer experiences


• Oversee testing new product ideas in collaboration with Consumer Insights, Supply Chain, Marketing, Finance, Culinary, Operations teams


• Interpret data, research and trends that impact the meal solutions eCommerce space and develop actionable insights for execution


• Integrate voice of customer into all aspects of the work and cooperate with Consumer Insights to transform these learnings into tangible actions

Product Strategy

• Seek to optimize launched products, thinking through ways to drive improvements to revenue, margin, and customer acquisition


• Quantify both historical decisions and future recommendations, bringing forth data driven decisions 


• Collaborate on best practices and share learnings with teams working on all menu lanes


• Set the mid to long-term product vision for all menu lanes and ensure alignment across Home Chef teams

Team Development & Leadership

• Lead menu team members in daily activities and mentor through frequent professional development sessions


• Foster a culture of collaboration, innovation, and accountability within the menu team


• Provide guidance on individual and role specific challenges; find growth opportunities that fit both the individual and business need

Qualifications

The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability needed for this role. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities.

• Bachelor’s Degree; an advanced degree is a plus


• 7+ years of experience in a rigorous fast-paced work environment – CPG/FMCG, product development, innovation, consulting, startups


• Demonstrated experience leading and developing teams, with a focus on coaching, mentorship, and talent growth


• Extremely detail-oriented and organized with the ability to develop, delegate, and oversee progress across multiple concurrent project plans


• Data-driven decision maker who can use data to drive, validate and make progress against potential courses of action


• *Must be willing and able to taste all food (e.g. animal products, allergens, gluten, etc)


• Strong analytical and financial acumen to evaluate category performance


• Proficiency in data-driven decision-making, process improvement, and delivering results


• Excellent relationship and team management skills


• Ability to lead and develop a team while working cross-functionally in a fast-paced environment


• This position requires 5-10% travel.

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