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Position Summary

We are looking for an Innovation Project Manager to help us bring our Innovation ideas to life, enabling us to continue our explosive growth, launch into exciting new categories and reach new consumers. The Innovation Project Manager will be responsible for managing large, complex Innovation and Renovation projects that include cross-functional teams and sometimes external stakeholders. You will manage and collaborate on all stages of projects, schedule and facilitate meetings, provide status reports, and take on some of the action items required to move projects to a successful, on time completion.

Examples of projects include: development and commercialization of new products, implementing packaging re-designs, facilitating the pursuit of regulatory certifications (organic, gluten free, etc.), implementing recipe and/or supplier changes and facilitating margin improvement projects. You will also be responsible for maintaining a library of product and ingredient specifications and packaging designs and proactively communicating any changes to these items to the broader Kettle & Fire team.

The position must handle multiple projects, adhere to project timelines, and organize workloads while maintaining accurate, detailed documentation of tasks and results. The position interacts with all levels of the organization and routinely works with vendors, suppliers, manufacturers and other third parties.

Kettle & Fire Mission

We create products that heal rather than harm.

When we talk about creating products that heal, we mean two things:

We create products that support our consumers on their path to improved health and wellness
We create products that support a healthy food system

This role will be critical to achieving Kettle & Fires mission, which is based on the taste, quality and nutrition we deliver to our consumers via our products. To achieve this mission, we are continuously working to bring new products to our consumers or improving our current products. This role will be responsible for coordinating all the activities that are required to bring these products and improvements to life.

Kettle & Fire Core Values

All employees at Kettle & Fire operate with these core values in mind.

Growth Mindset - Were willing to take on projects and initiatives that may make us feel uncomfortable. We tolerate and encourage inevitable failures that come with trying something new.
Caring About Our Customers - We put our customers first. In everything.
Transparency - The better we share learnings amongst ourselves, the more effective we will be as a team. Were all about building trust as a team and trust between our company and customers.
Radical Candor - Were all about being extremely candid with each other to help us improve. We give honest feedback (positive or negative) with the intent to help others improve rapidly, and do not take things personally.
Deep Work - We do the work that creates the most value for ourselves and others (both the team and customers).
Fun - If were not enjoying ourselves on our journey, then whats the point?

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

The Innovation Project Manager will be responsible for the following:

Coordinate and manage the development and execution of product and packaging initiatives, including: concept development and project feasibility, product/packaging development, securing relevant certifications, vendor and manufacturer setup, sell-in material creation and full commercialization
Work collaboratively with External Agencies, Brand Marketing, R&D, Finance, Sales and Operations to build commercialization timelines and execute Innovation and Supply Chain initiatives on time
Facilitate market research and innovation insight projects with external agencies to ensure Kettle & Fire leadership has the insights needed to inform innovation priorities and strategies.
Partner with R&D to bring great-tasting, high quality products to life that align with the Kettle & Fires brand positioning, meet consumer needs and achieve financial objectives for sales, gross margin and profitability
Collaborate with Supply Chain to identify sustainable and humanely raised ingredients to support Kettle & Fires social, ethical and environmental standards
Lead projects from planning through implementation by creating and using standards, templates, processes, and procedures
Champion innovation initiatives across the organization to ensure necessary business focus
Manage deadlines, lead communication within project teams, provide status reports through each phase with all stakeholders and assist in resolving workflow issues and push the team to ensure timeliness
Ensure accountability from all project team members for agreed-upon deliverables
Build strong, collaborative partnerships and promote teamwork with cross-functional teams to ensure alignment at all stages of commercialization process
Continuously evaluate the effectiveness of internal processes and implement process improvements to speed up execution
Equip Sales and Marketing teams with essential product knowledge by maintaining an up to date and accurate library of product and packaging design information and proactively communicating any changes to these items to the broader Kettle & Fire team

Requirements

Minimum Qualifications (Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities)

Bachelors degree in business, education, or other related area; or years of project management experience may be substituted for the educational requirement with a PMP certification
3 or more years of Project Management and/or Business Analyst experience, ideally in the food and beverage industry
A demonstrated commitment to relentless continuous improvement and outstanding organization skills with experience coordinating multiple projects with varying deadlines
Solid facilitation skill with robust 'toolkit' of techniques
Resource needs identification, selection, assignment, and management
Risk and issue identification and management
Scope identification and management
High level of responsibility and accountability
Strong customer focus (internal and external customers)
Have an ability to motivate a team to achieve goals while creating a fun and productive culture.
Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, high-growth, entrepreneurial environment.
Excellent oral and written communication skills
Preferred industry experience: food and beverage
Travel as necessary (up to 25%)

Benefits

We cannot take care of others (our customers) without taking care of ourselves (our people) first. That is why we pay extremely competitive salaries and offer a variety of perks to help you optimize your health.

Vacation & Holidays: We offer three weeks of paid vacation each calendar year. Along with vacation, we offer 12 paid holidays each year.
Health insurance: You have the choice to opt-in to the best health, dental and vision insurance we can get.
Nutrition: You get a monthly budget to invest in getting fresh food locally.
Fitness: You get a monthly budget to invest in a gym membership, personal trainer, yoga classes, and anything else that helps you increase your physical fitness.
Books: We'll support your reading habits by covering 4 books a month.
Meditation: We cover any app you use to improve your meditation consistency.
Free product: You need to be able to brag about how awesome Kettle & Fire products are, so team members get free product for their personal use.

Physical Demands and Work Environment

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the functions.

While performing the duties of this position, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear. The employee frequently is required to use hands or fingers, handle or feel objects, tools, or controls. The employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; sit; and reach with hands and arms. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this position include close vision, distance vision, and the ability to adjust focus. The noise level in the work environment is usually low to moderate.

Note

This job description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed by the employee(s) incumbent in this position. Employees will be required to follow any other job-related instructions and to perform any other job-related duties requested by any person authorized to give instructions or assignments. All duties and responsibilities are essential functions and requirements and are subject to possible modification to reasonably accommodate individuals with disabilities. To perform this job successfully, the incumbents will possess the skills, aptitudes, and abilities to perform each duty proficiently. Some requirements may exclude individuals who pose a direct threat or significant risk to the health or safety of themselves or others. The requirements listed in this document are the minimum levels of knowledge, skills, or abilities. This document does not create an employment contract, implied or otherwise, other than an at will relationship.

Kettle & Fire

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