Manager, Strategy Planning

About us

At the forefront of farming and food, UPSIDE Foods is innovating new ways to produce real meat, without the need to breed, feed and slaughter animals. Our process begins with an animal cell, which is cultivated and harvested as meat. The founding company of the industry, UPSIDE Foods is a mission-driven organization focused on bringing to meat lovers an authentic product that is truly humane, sustainably produced, nutritious and delicious! We are now expanding our team of dedicated professionals across disciplines to make better meat for a better world.

About this job

At UPSIDE Foods, we set ambitious, world-changing goals that will take us into a better future. As Manager, Strategy Planning, you’re one of the linchpins in making sure that our hyper-growth, novel technology company can successfully turn vision into strategy and then enable execution through excellent planning. This role is equal parts framework-designer, expert facilitator, and strategy synthesizer. You’ll report to our head of Enterprise PMO and Strategy Planning, Todd, and regularly support UPSIDE leaders at the Mgr-, Dir-, and VP-level.

Responsibilities include...

• Develop, execute, and constantly mature enterprise frameworks that enable low-turbulence and high-quality Strategy Planning processes. Treat Planning as an internal product that stakeholders should want to buy into  
• Support our senior leadership team and the Head of PMO & Strategy Planning in the synthesizing and crafting of 3+ year strategic horizons, then memorialize the output into high-fidelity materials
• Manage the enterprise goal-setting Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) processes and technology end-to-end, always working to improve our teams’ ability to achieve goals 
• Facilitate planning for budgets and headcount with their respective functional and cross-functional leaders, and support the establishment of artifacts that memorialize 
• Reflect on achievements, progress, and set-backs across the enterprise and produce insights for senior leadership on ways that the organization can better advance and achieve its vision
• Ideate and implement new capabilities in reporting and dashboarding for enterprise business processes, and support data gathering, visualizations, and architecture 

About you... 

• We value diversity. To best understand, synthesize, and align goals and plans of a future full of varied opportunities, you should yourself bring a wealth of perspective and the ability to see from many angles
• A bachelor’s degree and 6+ years of planning-focused work that drives company or department strategy. Management consulting or MBA preferred, but not required 
• Direct experience supporting an OKR, or similar, goal-setting framework. Capability to track and manage performance in dashboards plus the thought-leadership to tailor processes to best-support teams
• Success stories in 1) designing processes that people engage with and use effectively, 2) facilitating groups of 5-25 to work through ambiguous topics, and 3) synthesizing a cohesive strategy narrative from numerous inputs
• Proven ability to build rapport, trust, and alignment across leaders with a wide range of perspectives and intents, from individual contributors to C-staff, technical or non-technical, using multiple modes of communication (virtual and in-person) 
• Deep fascination with how large teams and companies are impacted by good strategy and planning, and how teams succeed in novel and developing environments
• Strong content design and material creation skills for company artifacts central to large audiences (hundreds and thousands)

Who you’ll work with…

• This role will partner with most managers, directors, and vice-presidents throughout the company in the design, facilitation, and optimization of enterprise Strategy Planning processes.
• Your teammates in the adjacent Program Management Office (PMO) will be driving the enterprise’s largest and most complex cross-functional initiatives, and you’ll partner with them to understand how Strategy Planning can set-up strategic execution.

Key Contributions in First Year…

• Support the 2023 enterprise Strategy Planning processes – then make them better for the next cycle! In particular, help us get ahead of growing pains so our approach is always right-sized.
• Get ahead of productivity impedance mismatches across teams of various sizes by providing useful data-based insights on how we’re mobilizing to achieve our goals.
• Reflect on how we go from Vision to Strategy to Execution, and provide suggestions both in real-time and holistically that increase our teams’ ability to achieve.

UPSIDE Benefits!

• Stock options for all full-time incoming team members!
• 90-100% employer-paid healthcare premiums for team members (medical [including HSA and FSA], dental, and vision)
• Pet insurance for your furry family members!
• Unlimited PTO
• DE&I (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) Council and People Engagement Programs
• Company-sponsored learning & development opportunities

When submitting your application, please include a concise cover letter that speaks to your level of experience with goal-setting frameworks, and also why this role is the next best step in your career.

UPSIDE Foods is an equal opportunity employer and we value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. Our company-wide mission is to create a product for everyone, so we are deeply committed to having teams and leaders that reflect this mission.