Manager, Corporate Strategy

We are hiring a key member of our Corporate Strategy team at Kraton’s Global Headquarters in The Woodlands, Texas. This newly created Manager, Corporate Strategy role will raise the enterprise’s market‑intelligence (MI) and data capability to the standard the business now requires, building on existing domain expertise while ensuring only the strongest practices are leveraged enterprise‑wide.

Key Responsibilities

• Assess & Raise Enterprise Market Intelligence – Evaluate current MI capabilities across Polymer and Pine, distinguish decision‑ready assets from gaps, and elevate MI into a coherent, decision‑oriented capability that leadership can rely on.
• Build & Steward the Enterprise Data & Analytics Backbone – Partner with business units, IT, and Finance to gather the right data, establish standards, tools, and governance, and operationalize analytics/AI tooling for repeatable insight. Identify and prioritize AI, analytics, and digital value‑creation opportunities with clear business cases.
• Translate Insight into Decisions – Convert market and data findings into decision‑ready recommendations on pricing, portfolio, growth, and strategic positioning. Prepare executive‑level materials that frame options, trade‑offs, and recommendations.
• Lead, Guide & Enable – Together with the Business – Work alongside business‑unit and functional teams to build ownership and capability, coach partners, and hold a clear standard for “good.” Orchestrate cross‑functional collaboration (Polymer, Pine, Commercial, SCM, Finance, IT) and act as the connective tissue between external market reality and internal strategic decision‑making.

Required Skills

• Full professional proficiency in English and Korean (written and spoken).
• 7+ years in corporate strategy, management consulting, market/competitive intelligence, or a comparable strategy‑analytics role.
• Proven ability to assess, build, and elevate capability—judging analysis quality, structuring, systematizing, and enabling others.
• Strong grounding in market research, competitive intelligence, data strategy, analytics, and AI/digital concepts.
• Excellent strategic thinking, trend interpretation, insight generation, and storytelling for executive audiences.
• Ability to influence and collaborate across business units and functions.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in chemicals, specialty materials, manufacturing, or industrial sectors.
• Management consulting background or experience partnering with strategy consultants and internalizing their methods.
• Comfort operating in a global, matrixed, multi‑business organization.

Education, Certifications & Licenses

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Economics, Engineering, or Data/Analytics.
• MBA or advanced degree preferred.

Benefits

• Medical Insurance (multiple plans) with TeleDoc, Flexible Spending Account & Health Savings Account options.
• Dental & Vision Insurance.
• Health Advocate – free support to understand coverage and answer questions.
• Life Insurance – base coverage paid for by Kraton with optional additional coverage.
• 401(k) – matching contributions based on enrollment level.
• Employee Assistance Program – provided at no cost.
• Accident, Disability, and Critical Illness Insurance.

Kraton is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer.