Manager, Corporate Strategy

About the role

We are looking to hire a key member of our Corporate Strategy team at our Global Headquarters in The Woodlands, Texas. This newly created Manager, Corporate Strategy role exists to raise the enterprise’s market‑intelligence (MI) and data capability to the standard the business now requires. The manager works directly with the businesses to distinguish strong capabilities, leverage them enterprise‑wide, and close gaps where market intelligence falls short.

Responsibilities

• Assess and raise enterprise market intelligence by evaluating current MI capabilities across Polymer and Pine, distinguishing decision‑ready assets from gaps.
• Build and steward the enterprise data & analytics backbone, partnering with business units, IT, and Finance to establish standards, tools, and governance.
• Propose, shape, and operationalize analytics/AI tooling that turns data into repeatable insight.
• Identify and prioritize AI, analytics, and digital value‑creation opportunities with clear business cases.
• Translate market and data findings into decision‑ready recommendations for pricing, portfolio, growth, and strategic positioning.
• Prepare executive‑level materials that frame options, trade‑offs, and recommendations.
• Guide and enable business‑unit and functional teams, building ownership and capability while setting clear standards.
• Orchestrate cross‑functional collaboration across Polymer, Pine, Commercial, SCM, Finance, IT, and external partners to raise market‑intelligence maturity.
• Act as the enterprise’s connective tissue between external market reality and internal strategic decision‑making.

Requirements

• 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.
• Demonstrated ability to assess, build, and elevate capability, judging 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.
• Comfort operating in a global, matrixed, multi‑business organization.

Education

• 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.
• Life Insurance – base coverage paid by Kraton with optional additional coverage.
• 401(k) with matching contributions based on enrollment level.
• Employee Assistance Program at no cost.
• Accident, Disability, and Critical Illness Insurance.