How you will contribute:

Innovation strategy and pipeline

• Provide input – where necessary – to develop the BU innovation strategy and targets
• Recommend ideas and opportunities to develop the innovation pipeline

Innovation projects: Project Owner

• Build robust product activity requests (inc consumer need to solve for, the type of innovation, desired ATO / launch date)
• Develop consumer-led, financially profitable high level business cases (includes clarity on scope and decision-making parameters)
• Develop and deliver creative Marketing concepts and ideas – aligned to consumer need (interact with consumers as appropriate)
• Develop the launch plan in partnership with the Category Planning / Sales teams
• Track / monitor performance and recommend corrective actions if needed
• Throughout the innovation project:
• Ensure the project team is clear on the project scope and objectives (to be done at an early stage in the project)
• Gather input from the cross-functional teams and take decisions to ensure the project is consumer-led and delivers on its objectives– within the agreed scope, financial, resourcing “parameters”. Escalate if decisions outside agreed parameters are needed
• Lead the project at stage gate reviews
• Ensures excellence in launch execution
• Partners with the PCM to ensure the accuracy of the information uploaded into Accolade (working with other project team members)

Capability building

• Be the voice of the consumer (ensuring the project is focused on long-term consumer need) and educate project team members, as required

What You Will Bring

• Unearthing and applying insights to innovation
• Strategic thinking applied to identify consumer opportunities and portfolio management
• Ideas development and evaluation to build healthy pipeline
• Product and pack excellence
• Analytical skills, business acumen and commercial plan building
• Ability to work collaboratively with external partners ( design, innovation and research agencies) as well as with-functional teams ( MSC, R&D, category planning, sales, I&A, etc...)
• Project management

Particular focus areas for BTC / complex innovation Project Owners

• Enhanced strategic skills to identify white space opportunities – strategic foresight
• Enhanced ability to identify, assess and react to consumer need
• Ability to write compelling briefs based on consumer need to address / problem definition, rather than a pre-defined answer
• Complex problem-solving skills / out of the box thinking
• Diverging and converging mindset
• Dealing with ambiguity and iterative processes
• Experimentation mindset
• End-to-end enterprise – and long-term – thinker
• Transformer vs performer mindset and skills
• Agile ways of working (scrum, iteration)
• Risk taking / risk management