Business Design & Strategy Lead

Business Design & Strategy Lead

at Relish Works

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 Business Design & Strategy Lead to our Chicago-based innovation studio.

About the role:

The Business Design & Strategy Lead will lead efforts focused on defining new business opportunities, developing growth strategies, and bringing new products and solutions to market. You will lead 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, systems thinker and a resourceful, self-driven doer, with expertise managing teams and stakeholders and a deep curiosity in applying their skills to solving many different types of strategic problems. 

Your day to day could be a combination of any of the following: 

• Conducting primary and secondary research to identify new business opportunities in the food service industry
• Developing new growth strategies for the wholesale food distribution business
• Creating and testing new business models and service offerings, identifying how these new concepts will work, make money, and solve user problems.
• Collaborating with teams and leveraging resources and expertise across Relish functional areas (innovation, ventures, investments)
• Working closely with stakeholders, partners, consultants and contractors

You should apply if you have:

• A bachelor's degree or foreign equivalent degree in finance, business, or related field
• 4-6 years of experience in corporate strategy, innovation, new business design, and/or product growth 
• 1-2 years of leading projects and workstreams 
• Ability to frame problems and present results to an executive level audience
• 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
• Passion for the restaurant industry and success

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.