Associate Manager, LTO Product Strategy in Charlotte, North Carolina at Krispy Kreme

Since its founding in 1937, Krispy Kreme's focus has remained the same - making fresh doughnuts using our founder's original recipe. The brand's iconic Hot Light lets consumers know when doughnuts are being made in the shop so they can stop in and enjoy them hot, right off the line.

Krispy Kreme's Associate Manger, LTO Product Strategy & Inbound Licensing helps bring craveable, culturally relevant limited time offers to life across doughnuts and beverages. This role supports the development and execution of the LTO portfolio by turning consumer insights, trends, cultural moments, and brand partnerships into product ideas that drive traffic, trial, and brand excitement.

The Associate Manager partners closely with cross-functional teams to support product strategy, concept testing, NPD briefs, menu planograms, approval materials, and post-launch recaps. This role also supports inbound licensing partnerships as a key pillar in the broader LTO strategy – helping identify and execute partnership opportunities that add cultural relevance, strengthen product storytelling, and create incremental excitement for the brand.

A TASTE OF WHAT YOU WILL BE DOING:

LTO Product Strategy & Ownership

• Support the overall limited time offering product strategy across Retail shops and Fresh Delivery channels, including seasonal, LTO, and opportunistic product launches from ideation, concept testing, new product development briefs, and product approval process.
• Act as a key support partner with manager, commercialization team and cross-functional partners through the IDEAL (Ideate, Develop, Evaluate, Actualize, Launch) development process for all assigned projects.
• Leverage insights, trend analysis, competitive intelligence, and historical performance to support LTO innovation recommendations and product development decisions.
• Partner with consumer insights and analytics on concept testing, including writing concepts, reviewing testing materials, and leveraging key learnings.
• Support the development of NPD briefs for LTO and seasonal programs, leading briefs for smaller-scale product opportunities by translating brand, consumer, market, and business insights into clear, actionable product direction.
• Collaborate with brand marketing, culinary innovation, operations, commercialization, supply chain, and finance to help ensure conceptual products/programs can be translated consistently with customer wonder and operational excellence.
• In partnership with manager, culinary innovation leads, and supply chain, ensures products are developed within specified cost parameters to achieve our business targets (traffic, profit, menu mix and sales), while also delivering on a quality experience.
• Support sales forecasting by helping organize historical performance, competitive context, product assumptions, and key business inputs.
• Lead menu planogram development for LTO windows, partnering with manager, operations and commercialization to ensure the final assortment is clear, accurate and operationally executable.
• Support product “sell-in” with cross-functional partners and leadership through presentation development, recaps, and support materials.
• Maintain project tracker and timeline tools to provide clear visibility into project status, key decisions, risks, and next steps.
• Support postmortem development for LTO launches, including support in gathering performance results and partnering with manager and cross-functional team to identify key learnings and recommendations for future program optimization.

Inbound Licensing & Brand Partnerships

• Research potential brand partners, licensed IP, anniversaries, entertainment moments, cultural trends, and competitive examples to inform partnership recommendations.
• Support partner proposal development by preparing materials, organizing key information and tracking next steps.
• Assist in evaluating licensed IP for strategic/brand fit, consumer relevance, and operational feasibility in partnership with culinary, marketing, and manager.
• Support day-to-day licensor relationships, manage product approvals, track feedback, and help ensure timelines are met.
• Lead new partner setup, including coordinating required documentation, routing invoices, and partnering with Legal, Marketing, Finance, Procurement and manager as needed.
• Support licensing project management by tracking key milestones, approvals, risks/issues, deliverables, and follow-ups.

YOUR RECIPE FOR SUCCESS:

• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business, or related field.
• 1-3 years of experience in brand management, product marketing, or innovation within QSR, CPG, or food & beverage. Includes internship or co-op experience.
• Strong organizational and project management skills with ability to manage details, timelines, follow-ups, and multiple workstreams at once.
• Curious, consumer-first thinker with an interest in trends, culture, food and beverage innovation, and brand partnerships.
• Strong analytical skills with ability to gather information, identify key takeaways, and translate research into clear recommendations.
• Strong written and oral communication skills with the ability to create clear, concise, and compelling materials for cross-functional and external partners.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with multiple departments and key stakeholders around common goals.
• Detail-oriented and proactive, with a strong sense of ownership and accountability.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced environment with shifting priorities and tight timelines.
• Self-motivated with an innovative, can-do spirit; always ready to learn, contribute, and help move the business forward.
• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to build relationships with internal teams and external partners.
• Proficient in Microsoft PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook; experience with project management tools, syndicated data, or consumer insights platforms is a plus.

*The above statements are intended to describe the general nature of work performed by the employees assigned to this job and are not the official job description for the position. The official job description will be provided during the application/interview process.

BENEFITS:

• Comprehensive benefits (medical, vision, and dental insurance)
• Employee discount program
• 401K plan
• Generous PTO Plan
• Company events
• Education Reimbursement
• Adoption Assistance
• Life Insurance
• FSA/HSA Plans
• Pet Insurance

Learn more at www.kkbenefits.com

WHY KRISPY KREME?

At Krispy Kreme, we focus on:

• Loving People:
• Our global culture is best captured by our Leadership Mix, a dozen behaviors that define how we work with one another across the world and give back to our communities. Check out our leadership mix here.
• Belonging happens once each Krispy Kremer knows their bold authentic self is welcomed, dignified, and loved, where their wonderfully original identities flourish and thrive.

• Loving Communities:
• At Krispy Kreme, sharing joy is at the center of everything we do, and we strive to inspire this in our communities. Our brand purpose truly shines through our Acts of Joy and community fundraising initiatives.
• In the U.S., we have been donating unsold doughnuts to local food banks, with a goal of bringing a smile to our consumers as they enjoy a small, sweet treat. We partner with Feeding America and Convoy of Hope, who in turn partner with organizations nationwide to distribute donations to people in need through diverse types of programs and services.
• In 2022, we helped community groups raise $40 million globally. Last year in the U.S., we supported more than 83,000 fundraising events, raising nearly $37 million.

• Loving Planet:
• We have been conducting a multi-year global GHG emissions assessment to establish an emissions baseline, using this foundation to soon set goals for greenhouse gas emission reductions.
• We are working on reducing food waste through donation efforts, animal feed, and composting programs.

Krispy Kreme is an Equal Opportunity Employer:

At Krispy Kreme, we believe that your originality sweetens our recipe. We value the diverse ingredients of the ethnicity, national origin, race, age, sex, gender, intersex, or veteran status of every individual. We strive for an inclusive culture that allows each of our peeps to bring their bold authentic self to work regardless of their religion, gender identity & expression, sexual orientation, or disability.

About Krispy Kreme

Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Krispy Kreme is one of the most beloved and well-known sweet treat brands in the world. Our iconic Original Glazed® doughnut is universally recognized for its hot-off-the-line, melt-in-your-mouth experience. Krispy Kreme operates in more than 35 countries through its unique network of fresh doughnut shops, partnerships with leading retailers, and a rapidly growing Ecommerce and delivery business with more than 14,000 fresh points of access. Our purpose of touching and enhancing lives through the joy that is Krispy Kreme guides how we operate every day and is reflected in the love we have for our people, our communities and the planet. Connect with Krispy Kreme Doughnuts at www.KrispyKreme.com, or on one of its many social media channels, including www.Facebook.com/KrispyKreme and www.Twitter.com/KrispyKreme.