Job Description

What You’ll Be Serving Up :

The consumer is central to KFC's culture, a culture that puts consumer insights at the center of our brand strategy, communication, and promotional efforts. The Insights & Sensory Manager is a strategic and analytical leader. They are responsible for managing research design and execution of quantitative, qualitative research and sensory studies to evaluate and optimize brand strategy, television advertising, and new product innovation. By helping to ground every decision in consumer data, this role will be an indispensable member for KFC marketing & cross-functional teams.

Here’s How You’ll Spice Things Up :

Calendar Insights & Product Development Support: (45%)

New product development consultant for Marketing and Food Innovation teams:

• Drive ongoing innovation process for the KFC brand by developing and independently managing custom quantitative and/or qualitative research to identify new product innovation opportunities and set conceptual priorities for food development team.
• Partner with food innovation team providing consumer guidance for quarterly creative kitchens with food vendors and KFC leadership team.
• Be the subject matter expert on sensory testing. Design new product & core product improvement learning plans comprehensive of consumer preference and difference testing. Partnering with food innovation and calendar teams to ensure testing is executed.

Promotional insights leader for KFCC:

• Execute the consumer research agenda to validate KFC's promotional calendar initiatives with minimal supervision.
• Provide consumer insights leadership in cross functional teams through development and execution of consumer learning plans for calendar initiatives to amplify top-line growth based on in-market risk.
• Independently manage external partners in execution of quantitative research to support the national calendar and promotional testing (Ex: product naming, pricing, positioning, product development, advertising, and in-store testing).
• Deliver databased assessments for promotions which reconcile business results vs. assumptions and provide recommendations to improve the execution of future windows.

Advertising Insights: (10%)

Advertising insights leader for KFCC:

• Influence and inform consumer insights for promotion briefs.
• Lead all research for advertising to inform creative and strengthen advertising responsiveness.
• Deliver learnings on the drivers of advertising effectiveness to enable stronger creative, creative briefs, and media planning.

Market Intelligence Reporting & Insights: (35%)

QSR Category insights leader for KFCC:

• Collaborate with Marketing cross-functional team to establish clear objectives, goals, and strategies for measuring marketing effectiveness.
• Develop a comprehensive marketing measurement framework that aligns with business objectives and provides a clear understanding of marketing impact across different channels and campaigns.
• Generate regular reports and present findings to marketing teams, marketing leadership & IAT – with ownership of IAT Measurement Meetings
• Communicate insights, findings, and recommendations in a clear and concise manner to drive data-driven decision-making and marketing optimization.
• Monitor marketing spend and ROI across different channels and campaigns, making data-driven recommendations for resource optimization.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including marketing, analytics, finance, and operations, to ensure alignment and integration of marketing effectiveness initiatives with overall business goals.

Miscellaneous Research Projects: (10%)

• Responsibilities will include additional research as required including but not limited to Multicultural Research, foundational consumer deep dives or ideation sessions 1-2/yr.

Must be willing and able to travel, approximately 20%

What You Bring to the Table :

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited 4-year university in Marketing, Marketing Research, or Social Sciences.

Experience:

• 5+ years of relevant work experience with Bachelor’s, 3+ years with Master’s.
• Experience in a Consumer Insights or Market Intelligence position for a consumer products company ($500M+ in size) preferred.

Skills :

• Excellent oral and written communication skills to engage and align cross-functional stakeholders; ability to present effectively to senior leaders.
• Strong analytical skills to interpret data and form action-able recommendations.
• Exceptional project management capabilities, including driving great outcomes in a fast-paced environment.
• Steadfast ability to act as the key person-to-contact in interactions with downstream stakeholders, including franchisees and customers.

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.

What’s In It for You:

• Play a pivotal role in driving data-informed decisions that directly impact marketing campaigns, menu innovation, and customer experience initiatives.
• Collaborate with and influence senior leadership and franchisees, ensuring that the voice of the customer remains central to KFC’s growth and strategic direction.
• Leverage cutting-edge research and insights tools to uncover opportunities and craft strategies that set industry benchmarks for customer experience.

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.

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