Innovation Manager Jobs

Innovation Manager

We’re OperationsInc, a Human Resources consulting company. Our client, Yellow Wood Partners, is a Boston-based private investment firm that invests exclusively in the consumer industry https://www.yellowwoodpartners.com/. They have recently purchased Suave brand in North America from Unilever. They have retained us to find an Innovation Manager to join the new team at Suave.

Suave is a leading personal care brand that sells products across hair care, body care, and anti-perspirant/ deodorant. This is an exciting opportunity to get in at the ground floor of this new, stand-alone company. Suave is the #1 hair care brand in America by volume stressing great product quality at an attractive price. They have been providing consumers with accessible high-quality products for over 75 years!

Position Summary

The Innovation Manager is responsible for supporting innovation pipeline development and executing commercialization projects to achieve corporate/brand volume and profit objectives. This individual will work in concert with the larger brand management team to define and execute new product development, as well as updates to pack graphics and structures across the Suave portfolio. Candidate must have experience with 3D packaging innovation and pack/price architecture optimization, and would ideally also have worked on brand relaunches. Although this role focuses on innovation, fluency in brand operations and strong financial acumen are key.

Primary Responsibilities Include the Following:

· Help identify a pipeline of fresh business building ideas that drive incremental growth for our portfolio, deliver against business strategies, and meet target consumer needs. This includes differentiated product and packaging ideas in current and future contiguous categories.

· Collaborate with Marketing and Sales to creatively identify opportunity areas for growth by effectively leveraging syndicated data, consumer research and competitive intelligence.

· Lead cross functional teams through commercialization of existing innovation projects and future validated ideas to deliver commercially and financially viable platforms.

· Build ideas based on a foundation of product and packaging commercialization viability that will deliver strong financial performance – this will require strong business model savvy, a general management aptitude, and strong partnerships with cross functional resources to deliver results.

· Provide strong leadership to create direction and inspire greatness with cross functional teams. A "can do" attitude with a strong drive for results will be necessary to overcome obstacles and motivate the team through project ebbs and flows.

Primary Requirements Include the Following:

· Bachelor’s degree required, MBA preferred

· 5-10 years in marketing, with a minimum of 2-3 years in CPG space

· Experience managing brand relaunches including 3D packaging innovation is required

· Past work on pack/price architecture optimization

· Strong analytical skills and financial acumen

· Experience managing cross-functional teams to deliver measurable business results

· Experience in a fast-paced entrepreneurial environment a plus

Personal Attributes Include the Following:

· Positive and energetic individual with a strong business acumen, an abiding sense of urgency to achieve results.

· Inquisitive individual who has a history of seeking out best practices and successfully assimilating them into their organization.

· Invokes trust, collaboration, shared accountability, and continuous improvement with the ability to quickly develop trust and loyalty at all levels in the organization and with external constituents.

· Knows what excellence looks like and how to get there.

· Ability to develop and implement strategy, with a high bias for execution and activation, comfort with getting hands dirty.

· Demonstrated track record of problem solving and priority setting.