Dir., Consumer Insights

What You’ll Be Serving Up

You are a leader in the KFC US marketing organization, driving critical insights and special projects that shape innovative strategies, prioritize the voice of the consumer, and deliver breakthrough business outcomes. Your mission will be to ensure the consumer is at the center of all we do – gleaning critical insights to drive action for the organization.

KFC Corporation, based in Plano, Texas, is one of the few brands in America that can boast about having a rich, 60-year history of success and innovation. In fact, KFC is the world's most popular chicken restaurant chain and a division of Yum! Brands, the world’s largest restaurant company.

Yum! Brands, Inc., based in Louisville, Kentucky, has over 45,000 restaurants in more than 135 countries and territories and is one of the Aon Hewitt Top Companies for Leaders in North America. In 2018, Yum! Brands was recognized as part of the inaugural Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index. The company’s restaurant brands – KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell – are global leaders of the chicken, pizza and Mexican-style food categories.

More important than our size is our commitment to breakthrough innovation and the success of our employees. We're proud of the unique culture we've built, one where everyone can be their best self, make a difference and have fun! We believe in our people, trust in their positive intentions, encourage ideas from everyone, and have actively developed a workforce that is diverse in style and background.

Here’s How You’ll Spice Things Up

Owning KFC US’ insights strategy and execution

• Transform all aspects of the customer experience and marketing activations by setting and executing KFC US’ insights strategy across market, consumer, marketing communications, digital, and sensory intelligence:
• Digital: Drive growth in our digital channels as a thought partner to guide insight-driven execution by our digital marketing teams.
• Sensory: Shape food innovation by sharing sensory insights that create craveable new concepts and drive customer delight.
• Integrated Marketing Communications Analytics: Enhance understanding of our brand health and outcomes by evaluating campaign effectiveness, investments, and impact.
• Market Intelligence: Maintain brand relevance through effective competitive and market analysis to assess peer strategies, industry trends, disruptive forces, etc.
• Consumer insights: Ensure KFC US stays consumer-centric, maintaining a robust view of our consumer segments, need states and preferences, etc. to drive our strategies, innovation, and positioning.
• Optimize ROI across spending on research and insights initiatives by fostering highly productive relationships with vendors, building vendor capability, and managing the annual research and tracking budget.
  
  
  

Driving special projects (e.g., Project Lasso) that transform our brand experience

• Cultivate delightful guest experiences and happier restaurant team members by driving Project Lasso, including supporting a simpler menu, streamlined operations, and better technology.
  
  
  

Infusing insights across the organization and orchestrating consumer-centric work across function

• Inform KFC US’ broader strategy by transforming consumer insights into actionable business decisions and planning recommendations (e.g., AOP, marketing plan).
• Drive organizational alignment by presenting consumer-focused insights in compelling and actionable formats to senior leadership and franchisees.
  
  
  

Leading and inspiring your team

• Inspire and cultivate a high-performing team by communicating clear results-oriented expectations, mentoring and equipping the team with resources to meet objectives and grow their careers at KFC US.
  
  
  

What You Bring To The Table

• Education:
• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, or related field required; MBA preferred.
  
  
  

Experience

• 12 years of relevant work experience with Bachelor’s, 10 years with Master’s.
• Experience in a senior Marketing position for a consumer products company ($500M in size) preferred.
• Experience working with external agencies, market research firms, and consultancies preferred.
  
  
  

Skills

• Exceptional ability to build, lead, and inspire a high-achieving team to achieve company objectives.
• Excellent oral and written communication and negotiation skills to influence and drive action from stakeholders; ability to present effectively to executive leaders.
• Strong analytical skills to leverage data-driven insights to inform business decisions.
• Exceptional project management capabilities, including overseeing and delivering great outcomes in a fast-paced environment.
• Outstanding ability to shape and execute strategic visions that align to broader organizational goals.
• Steadfast ability to empathize and serve the needs of downstream stakeholders, particularly customers, while balancing company priorities.
  
  
  

Mindset

• Relentless in the pursuit of excellence and maintaining high standards.
• Resourceful and adaptive in ambiguous situations with a proven ability to operate “in the grey.”
• Resilient in the face of obstacles and persistent in driving towards results.
• Thrive in a collaborative environment and excel at inspiring and developing team members.
  
  
  

Salary Range: $165,000 to $185,000 annually bonus eligibility stock-based compensation. This is the expected salary range for this position. Ultimately, in determining pay, we'll consider the successful candidate’s location, experience, and other job-related factors.