Director Of Innovation Jobs

The Director of Innovation is responsible for partnering with the V.P. of Innovation on developing the innovation pipeline. This role should lead exploring, planning, developing, and executing hair for key brands and whitespace category from conception through formulation and launch. The Director drives the cross-functional innovation process leading the creation of the innovation toolkits incorporating key consumer insights and product benefits.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Team Leadership: Supervises and leads a team of innovation professionals, which may include innovation managers, researchers, designers, and technologists. They provide guidance, support, and mentorship to the team, ensuring that everyone is working towards common innovation goals.
• Continuous Improvement: Promotes a culture of continuous improvement in innovation processes. They stay updated on emerging trends, technologies, and industry best practices. They identify opportunities for enhancing innovation capabilities, implement process improvements, and drive organizational learning.
• Resource Allocation: As a supervisor, the Director of Innovation is responsible for allocating resources, such as budget, time, and personnel, to support innovation projects. They need to ensure that the necessary resources are available for the successful execution of innovative initiatives.

DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Idea Generation and Evaluation: Partners with the VP innovation in the process of generating new ideas within the organization. They stay updated on emerging trends & technologies to explore hair, white space, and blue-sky innovation ideas, recommending profitable opportunities in new benefit spaces, formats, adjacent and brand-new categories.
• Product Development: Lead the cross-functional team to driving new product development through Exploration, Feasibility and Launch Gates.
• Risk Management: Innovation inherently involves risks, and the Director of Innovation plays a crucial role in managing those risks. They assess potential risks associated with innovation projects and develop strategies to mitigate them. They also encourage a culture of learning from failure, where lessons learned from unsuccessful attempts can be applied to future endeavors.
• Innovation Strategy: Responsible for developing and implementing an innovation strategy that aligns with the organization's overall goals and objectives. They need to identify areas for innovation, set innovation goals, and establish a roadmap for achieving them.
• Performance Monitoring: Monitors the progress and performance of innovation projects and initiatives. They set key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics to assess the success and impact of innovation efforts. Regular reporting and analysis allow them to identify challenges, make data-driven decisions, and take corrective actions as needed.

o Conduct competitive landscape assessments by utilizing custom and syndicated consumer

and market research to develop the story for positioning the product and leads the creation

of the innovation toolkits.

o Manage the artwork reviewal and approval process ensuring INCI, regulatory and product

spec processes are followed.

o Briefs R&D and fragrance houses on fragrance direction for all new product development.

o Partner with R&D to manage the product claims process including managing third party

claims testing facilities.

o Own the P&L, COGS assumptions, size of prize and product forecasting for product

development.

• Collaboration and Partnerships: Facilitates collaboration and partnerships both within the organization and with external stakeholders. They work closely with other departments and senior leadership to foster a culture of innovation and establish cross-functional teams to drive innovation initiatives and deliver on-time production.

REQUIRED SKILLS/ABILITIES:

• Strong analytical and market research skills
• Communicating effectively with key cross functional stakeholders to build internal and external

facing relationships.

• Passion for the beauty industry and trends
• Experience understanding and managing the P&L for products.
• Well-organized with a consumer-oriented approach
• Team player with positivity and a solutions-oriented mindset

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:

• Experience in a design marketing or R&D product development role
• Experience using Nielsen/IRI for volume forecasting and competitive analyses.
• 6+ Years of experience in CPG or Prestige industry working with multi-functional teams.