Senior Associate (Corporate Strategy)
Chicago | Full Time
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We are Relish Works, an innovation hub focused on challenging the status quo and pioneering the next evolution of the food industry. Relish Works operates as an independent start-up working with a top wholesale food distributor to identify growth opportunities and create user-centered solutions for the food service industry. We are a scrappy group of passionate practitioners and are looking to add a Senior Associate to our Chicago-based innovation studio.
About the role:
The Senior Associate will focus on developing corporate growth strategies, defining new business opportunities, and bringing new products and solutions to market. You will collaborate with interdisciplinary project teams of strategic thinkers and doers who have skills, experience and expertise across user research, experience design, business strategy, and product development.
This role is best for someone who is both a creative, strategic thinker and a resourceful, self-driven doer, with experience presenting strategic recommendations to executive teams and a deep curiosity in applying their critical thinking and analytical skills to solving many different types of strategic problems.
Your day to day could be a combination of any of the following:
- Conducting market research on industry trends, customer needs, and competitive landscapes, and developing insights to inform strategic business recommendations
- Creating compelling, narrative-driven reports about the state of the industry, economic factors, and market analysis, tailored to the firm’s most senior leaders and executives
- Building and updating financial models, such as revenue forecasts, scenario modeling and performance analyses of our competitors, tailored to the firm’s senior financial leadership
- Contributing an analytical skillset on strategy project teams, leading creative teams through strategic thinking in order to develop process solutions and business strategies that influence broadline business strategies.
- Supporting teams with the testing of new business models and service offerings, identifying how these new concepts will work, make money, and solve user problems.
- Working directly with executive stakeholders, partners, consultants and contractors to drive projects forward
- Collaborating with teams and leveraging expertise across Relish functional areas (innovation, ventures, investments)
- Mentoring junior talent in strengthening their analytical mindset and strategic approach to business decisions
You should apply if you have:
- A bachelor's degree or foreign equivalent degree in finance, business, or related field (Pre-MBA)
- 3-5 years of experience in corporate strategy, innovation, and/or new business design (cross-industry consulting experience preferred)
- Ability to frame problems and present results to an executive level audience
- Expertise in data analysis and financial modeling (using tools such as Excel & Tableau)
- Comfort with ambiguity and ability to thrive in a self-directed culture
- Openness to learn from diverse perspectives and collaborate on multidisciplinary teams
- Motivation to solve end-user challenges, meet stakeholder needs, and deliver on business goals
- Desire to work on a lot of different types and sizes of projects
- Aspiration to work in a startup environment where we move fast
- Willingness to ask questions
- A learner mindset - you are always interested in expanding your knowledge and perspective
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
You will thrive if you align with our values:
- Our team is inclusive, passionate, resourceful, and dependable. We are a team of problem solvers who have super powers in strategy, research, design, and communication. We prioritize flexibility and collaboration in our work. We expect our team members to feel accountability for all parts of the business, not just their discipline.
This position is based in Chicago, requiring work in a hybrid office model located in The Loop and typically less than 20% travel.
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What We Do
We are Relish Works, an innovation hub focused on challenging the status quo and pioneering the next evolution of the food industry. While backed with the support of an established and profitable food service organization, Relish Works operates as an independent innovation hub focused on user-centered solutions. Our efforts explore improvements to the established company’s core business, as well as solving for unmet customer needs and developing new businesses.
