Wellness Strategist in Minneapolis, Minnesota at INFRA

INFRA Internal team applications only. Applications due Sunday, June 7th.

Grocery Expertise Strategists are subject matter experts who help INFRA members strengthen store performance, navigate operational and industry challenges, identify opportunities for growth, and translate expertise into practical, usable support for independent retailers.

While each person brings deep expertise in a specialty area (Fresh/Food Service, Wellness, etc.), all Strategists share a common focus: helping independent retailers run stronger stores, solve real operational challenges, support their teams, better serve their communities, and continue building thriving independent natural food businesses.

We are currently hiring for a Wellness Strategist! In this role, you will partner closely with members to help strengthen wellness departments through practical support, merchandising guidance, customer experience improvements, education, operational support, and category strategy.

The ideal candidate brings deep wellness expertise along with a strong understanding of the realities of operating independent natural food stores. To be successful in this role, you should feel equally comfortable working directly with retailers in-store, using data and insights to support decision making, creating practical resources, and helping members navigate an evolving wellness landscape in ways that are realistic, actionable, and supportive of long-term store health.

1. Member Partnership & Strategic Support

• Serve as a trusted advisor to members within area of expertise.
• Provide practical guidance and support that helps members strengthen operations, improve execution, solve problems, and build sustainable businesses. This includes benchmarks in operational metrics for each area of expertise (ex:margins, spoilage, etc).
• Support members through operational challenges, strategic opportunities, and day-to-day retailer realities.
• Build strong retailer relationships through direct engagement, field partnership, and ongoing support.
• Identify opportunities to deepen member engagement and scope additional support, projects, or strategic initiatives.
• Travel to member stores and events to support retailer relationships and hands-on engagement efforts. Partner in-store with retailers to provide strategic and easily implemented guidance or analysis, recommendations for product mix, store layout, customer experience, merchandising, etc as relevant to the role. (This may include workshops, operational projects, and implementation support.)

2. Industry Expertise & Retail Insight

• Maintain deep expertise within assigned specialty area and stay informed on industry trends, shopper behavior, innovation, and operational best practices.
• Translate industry knowledge and field insight into practical recommendations and opportunities for independent natural food retailers.
• Gather retailer feedback and identify recurring needs, operational gaps, and future opportunities for member support.
• Represent INFRA through retailer conversations, store visits, conferences, peer groups, and industry engagement.

3. Resource, Program & Education Development

• Develop practical tools, frameworks, resources, educational content, and programs that support member success.
• Create scalable, shelf-ready resources that members can independently implement within their stores.
• Customize support and resources for varying member needs and operational realities in partnership with field teams and internal stakeholders.
• Lead workshops, webinars, conference sessions, peer groups, and other educational experiences that support retailer learning and implementation.
• Continuously improve offerings based on member feedback, adoption, and business impact.

4. Cross-Functional Collaboration & Organizational Contribution

• Partner across INFRA teams to support aligned member experiences and strong execution of organizational initiatives.
• Collaborate closely with field teams to coordinate retailer support, implementation efforts, and member engagement strategies.
• Contribute expertise during planning, initiative development, and organizational decision-making.
• Connect the dots across member stores. Help identify retailer impacts, operational considerations, opportunities, and risks across initiatives.
• Support a collaborative, member-centered approach to execution and problem solving.

Key Initial Projects

• Managing existing member project requests in Asana via Strategist Intake Form
• Support membership with data (SPINS, PowerBI, finanical benchmarking tools, planogram software) expertise specific to Wellness and current INFRA programming, deliverables and resources
• Leads, plans, and supports overall event planning and communication (such as Intensives, Share Groups) dependent on Member event needs
• Creates retail Wellness expertise materials that are supporting, complementary, or curriculum-extending for member events.
• Owns all things general Wellness and resources for members around category management
• Contributes to the Retail Consulting service with program development and execution in member category management, store operations, and financial best practices

What You Should Already Know:

• 7+ years of experience within a relevant retail Wellness, Operations, Grocery, or related disciplines.
• Strong experience working within grocery retail, natural foods retail, food service, or closely related retail environments.
• Strong understanding of independent retailer operations and the realities of operating small-to-mid-sized retail businesses.
• Ability to translate strategy and industry knowledge into practical, operationally realistic guidance.
• Experience building relationships and working consultatively with retail store operators, business owners, or cross-functional stakeholders.
• Experience leading projects, initiatives, workshops, training, or operational improvement efforts, including scoping large- and small- scale projects.
• Strong communication and facilitation skills, including the ability to simplify complex topics into actionable guidance.
• Comfort working independently while balancing multiple projects, retailer relationships, and organizational priorities.
• Ability to identify opportunities, recommend solutions, and support implementation efforts in dynamic retail environments.
• Willingness and ability to travel regularly for store visits, member engagements, conferences, and field support activities (up to 50%).

Job Details:
Reports to: Member Resource Manager
Status: Full-time, Exempt

Location: Remote eligible
Travel: Up to 50%

Pay Information: $65,000 - $80,000 – $95,000