Director, Social Media & Influencer Marketing

Job description

### BUILT ON FLAVOR. FUELED BY PEOPLE. What’s it like to work at Kinder’s? Well, there’s a lot of snacking and geeking out over what we all cooked over the weekend. Beyond that, there’s also plenty of hard work. Because we don’t just like flavor, we’re obsessed with it. With over 100 products sold nationwide, we’re now a top-five brand in multiple flavor categories at Costco, Walmart, Whole Foods, and more. We’re not your typical CPG company. Privately held and founder-led, we like to think of ourselves as a pirate ship in a sea of cruise ships. Our crew is adventurous and fearless. We chart our own course and chase big ideas to make food unforgettable. As we expand globally and approach $1 billion in revenue, we need more smart-and-scrappy, flavor-obsessed people to come aboard. If you’re looking for a place where you can see the real impact of your work... **this is it!** Every day, you’ll be part of a journey to add flavor to millions of meals and lives. ## How You Will Have an Impact at Kinder's: We are seeking an experienced and creative Director of Social Media & Influencer Marketing to join our dynamic marketing team. This role sits at the intersection of creative, social media, and influencer strategy — leading social storytelling, creator relationships, and a social-first creative engine across Kinder’s, Spanglish Asadero, and Bare Bones Bone Broth. You will manage a team of social media managers and community staff, set the strategic direction for each brand, and bring an uncompromising editor’s eye to every piece of content, from a lo-fi TikTok to a high-production campaign. We are looking for someone who transforms brand objectives into cultural moments and drives both brand heat and commercial success across the full social ecosystem. ## Key Responsibilities Include: - **Strategy Development & Execution**: Build a multi-brand, multi-channel social media strategy across Kinder’s, Spanglish Asadero, and Bare Bones Bone Broth that prioritizes storytelling and ensures each brand is a leading voice in its conversation. Lead the concepting and execution of high-impact, social-first campaigns and seasonal storytelling that build brand love and drive organic reach. - **Social-First Creative Leadership**: Partner with Studio and Brand teams to develop content with exceptional taste and visual excellence, acting as the final editorial eye for execution and brand DNA. Influence annual planning at the inception stage, ensuring social-first assets are concepted and captured before the season begins - **Team Leadership & Development**: Manage, mentor, and inspire a high-performing team of social media managers and community staff. Facilitate a culture of creative risk-taking and agility. Set clear direction, provide ongoing feedback, and develop individual contributors who do exceptional work. - **Influencer Marketing**: Own the end-to-end influencer marketing strategy across all three brands — including creator identification and recruitment, relationship management, campaign design, contract negotiation, content briefing, product seeding, approvals, and performance tracking. Build and nurture a creator community that becomes authentic brand advocates. - **Community Management**: Oversee community management operations for all brands — setting standards for response time, brand voice, escalation protocols, and brand love moments. Champion UGC and use social listening and advanced analytics to surface consumer insights that optimize content strategy and ROI. - **Cross-Functional Collaboration**: Serve as the social subject matter expert for the organization. Partner with Brand, Creative, eCommerce, Customer Marketing, and Consumer Love teams to ensure social and influencer content is cohesive, on-brand, and fully integrated into broader marketing initiatives. Communicate strategy and seasonal plans effectively to drive total alignment. - **Retail Partner & Experiential Support**: Develop social and influencer activations designed to support key retail partners, driving both online traffic and in-store engagement. Partner cross-functionally to execute launch events and experiential activations that translate digital buzz into real-world brand relationships. - **Performance Tracking & Reporting**: Establish clear KPIs and benchmarks for all social programming. Own monthly and quarterly reporting — synthesizing organic, paid, and creator data into clear performance narratives and data-driven recommendations for senior leadership. - **Budget Management**: Oversee the social media and influencer marketing budgets across all three brands, managing relationships with external agencies and platform partners (e.g., GRIN, Aspire) to ensure maximum efficiency and output. - **Trend Monitoring & Cultural Ownership**: Maintain a proactive mindset to address cultural shifts and platform changes before they arise. Stay ahead of algorithm updates, trending aesthetics, competitor activity, and emerging formats — and bring those insights to the broader team consistently. ## Skills & Experience: - Experience: 10-12+ years of marketing experience, with at least 8+ years specifically leading social media and influencer functions, and 5+ years managing and developing teams (agency or in-house). - Multi-Brand Management: Proven track record leading social and influencer programs across multiple brands simultaneously, maintaining distinct voices, strategies, and KPIs for each. - CPG / Food & Beverage Industry Knowledge: Deep familiarity with retail-driven, consumer-packaged goods marketing rhythms — including seasonal programming, retailer support, and product launches. Fashion, lifestyle, or culture-forward brand experience also a strong fit. - Creative Taste & Editorial Eye: Exceptional creative sensibility with an uncompromising standard for content quality. You know the difference between content that builds a brand and content that just fills a calendar — and you can articulate and defend that standard. - Influencer Platform Expertise: Hands-on experience managing creator programs through platforms such as GRIN, Aspire, CreatorIQ, Tribe Dynamics, Dash Hudson, or similar tools. Fluent across nano, micro, and macro influencer tiers. - Industry Knowledge: Comprehensive knowledge of paid social, organic social, influencer seeding, and affiliate strategies, with a clear understanding of how to drive both brand awareness and commercial conversion. Deep understanding of FTC guidelines and influencer contracting. - Analytical Skills: Strong analytical abilities with a track record of using data to report on and optimize performance. Comfortable building and presenting performance narratives for senior leadership. - Communication & Influence: Exceptional communication skills with the ability to articulate a creative vision to senior stakeholders, sell breakthrough concepts into executive leadership, and navigate a complex, cross-functional organization. - Project Management: Excellent organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple campaigns and workstreams across multiple brands simultaneously in a fast-paced environment. Implements efficient internal and external workflows to achieve the highest quality output at speed. - Negotiation Skills: Strong negotiation skills for influencer contracts, agency partnerships, deliverables, and rates. - Education: Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Communications, Public Relations, or a related field. - Agency Background: Agency experience welcome — especially candidates who have successfully transitioned in-house and know how to run lean with high creative output. #### Personal Characteristics: - A social-first, viral thinker who is obsessed with trending aesthetics and the mechanics of digital storytelling - Growth mindset with an excitement to learn, teach, and push the creative work forward - Demonstrated leadership, communication, and stakeholder management skills across multiple functions - Strong collaboration skills and ability to work in a fast-paced, team-oriented, matrixed environment - Entrepreneurial spirit with the ability to work through ambiguity and act as a change agent - Passionate people-leader who builds trust with teammates, creators, and consumers alike - Long-term thinker capable of driving alignment around a vision while making smart near-term decisions - Proactive ownership mindset — takes full accountability for brand social health and community sentiment - Self-starter who takes initiative, speaks their mind, and pushes back constructively - Excited to be part of a fast-moving team with the ability to be a leader and a follower where required ## Location and Travel: The position will be based out of our 70,000 sq. foot office in Walnut Creek, CA. We strongly believe in the power of culture and community and have a hybrid work structure with 4 days in the office on a weekly basis to encourage collaboration and personal connections that will allow us to better serve our customers and consumers and to have more fun. Employees currently enjoy 1 flex day per week with the opportunity to choose to be either in the office or to work from home based on what makes most sense for them and their teams. **As noted, travel is expected to be a core component of this role with significant travel required, albeit typically with reasonable advance notice.** ## Pay Transparency: The expected starting salary range for this role is $215,000-$240,000 per year. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range based on the location of the role. The amount a particular employee will earn within the salary range will be based on factors such as relevant education, qualifications, performance and business needs. ### SEASONED FOR SUCCESS: - No two days here are the same. - We try to be good team members and good communicators, but we don’t live by hierarchy and structure – everyone is a difference maker here. - We make a lot of decisions in the face of incomplete information – our team embraces ambiguity and tries to make good decisions fast rather than great decisions slow. - We believe our job is to take smart risk, not to eliminate risk. - We believe in growing our skills and becoming a better company with more managerial expertise, but we are an entrepreneurial company at heart. - We aren’t trying to be average – we want to do exceptional things, and we are willing to work hard to achieve them. ### BENEFITS THAT BRING MORE TO THE TABLE: We offer a range of total rewards that may include paid time off, 401k, bonus / incentive eligibility, equity grants, competitive health benefits, and other family-friendly benefits, including parental leave. Kinder’s benefits vary based on eligibility and can be reviewed in more detail during the interview process. ### OUR RECIPE FOR BALANCE: We believe great culture starts with people. We’re a people-first company built on connection, collaboration, and balance. Most of our work happens in the office to spark creativity and community, but we also offer flexibility so team members have the autonomy to work outside the office when needed to support their work-life balance and personal commitments. ### WHERE EVERY INGREDIENT MATTERS: Kinder's is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, ancestry, national origin, gender, citizenship, marital status, religion, age, disability, gender identity, results of genetic testing, veteran status, as well as any other legally-protected characteristic. If you have a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act or similar law, and you need any accommodation during the application process or to perform these job requirements, please reach out to us at [careers@kinders.com](mailto:careers@kinders.com)