Opportunity Overview:
Are you passionate about creating innovative products that delight customers and drive business growth? This is a unique opportunity to join a mission-driven, fast-growing food company where you'll lead innovation initiatives from concept to launch. In this highly collaborative and entrepreneurial environment, you'll have the ability to shape the future of new product offerings, bring fresh ideas to life, and directly impact the company's long-term success. If you're a creative thinker with strong project management skills and a passion for building what's next, we invite you to explore this exciting opportunity.
Position Summary:
The Innovation Manager will be responsible for leading the end-to-end process of developing new products and line extensions. This includes identifying market opportunities, managing the innovation pipeline, developing prototypes, collaborating cross-functionally, launching new products, and tracking results to drive continuous improvement-all aligned with the company's strategic goals.
Key Responsibilities:
- Build and manage an innovation pipeline that supports growth objectives.
- Facilitate ideation sessions and work cross-functionally to define and scope projects.
- Lead the stage-gate process to efficiently bring innovations from concept through commercialization.
- Analyze consumer, customer, and shopper insights to identify opportunities and build a multi-year innovation roadmap.
- Set and monitor key performance indicators to assess project success and inform future strategies.
- Manage cross-functional project teams through concept development, prototyping, and launch.
- Develop and present sell-in stories to internal stakeholders and customer partners to gain project support.
- Collaborate with Finance to create high-level P&Ls for new product concepts.
- Oversee project budgets, timelines, and resources to ensure successful execution.
- Foster a culture of creativity, innovation, and continuous improvement.
- Provide regular communication and updates to senior leadership on project status and outcomes.
Qualifications:
- Minimum of 5 years of experience in innovation, product development, brand marketing, or project management.
- Strong background in leading innovation programs, ideally within the food industry (preferred).
- Creative mindset with a proactive, solutions-oriented approach to problem-solving.
- Strong analytical skills, including the ability to evaluate market opportunities and build compelling business cases.
- Solid understanding of P&L structures and financial modeling for new products.
- Excellent project management, organizational, and communication skills.
- Experience presenting to and influencing senior leadership and cross-functional teams.
- Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, or a related field (preferred).
- Ability to travel up to 10% of the time.
Why Join Us:
This role offers the chance to work in a dynamic and forward-thinking organization where innovation is at the heart of everything we do. You'll have the opportunity to lead exciting new initiatives, drive meaningful change, and make a lasting impact on products that bring value to consumers and customers alike.