Senior Brand Manager- Innovations

As the Senior Brand Manager-Innovation as Marketing Innovation Manager for Canada, you’ll have the responsibility Innovations for the Adult Nutrition and Specialty portfolio. This role has direct responsibility of identifying innovation pipeline and serving as a commercial lead on cross-functional project teams to ensure projects are delivered to quality, time and cost standards and achieve business deliverables. The incumbent will also serve as project lead for local initiatives managed with internal cross functional teams.

What You’ll Do

· Liaise with US and Global Innovation managers to identify key innovation and ensure appropriate scope

· Serve as liaison with Canadian brand teams to fully understand brand objectives and strategies.

· Identify new innovation opportunities and drive alignment to strategies and opportunities with marketing managers, Marketing director and General Manager.

· Understand trends and market dynamics (health care, healthcare professional, retail, consumer, nutrition science, competitive, adjacent categories)

· Generate deep consumer and customer insights via US, Global or local research and identify desired unmet needs

· Create innovation strategies that help achieve brand vision and goals.

· Work seamlessly with cross functional partners across R&D, Market Research, Supply Chain, Sales and Finance to make connections across brand strategies, customer/market understanding, and internal/external capabilities to provide recommendations on possible new opportunities.

· Build business case for new commercial and product innovation leveraging US business case and insights along with analysis and synthesis of:

o Demonstrable customer and consumer need

o Strategic fit to brand vision and objectives

o Market and competitive landscape

o Financial profiles, investments, and risk

· Serve as commercial lead on cross-functional project teams to drive projects through the Innovation development process to commercialize opportunities.

o Serve as commercial lead on Adult Nutrition and Specialty Nutrition opportunities as well as some global projects.

o Act as Canada liaison on early stage global innovation programs.

o Transition projects to Brand team once the Canadian portion of the project has passed targeted goals.

· Act as the lead for local initiatives for tactical opportunities to drive fast to market introduction.

Required Qualifications

· Passion for customer/consumer insights and innovation

· 5-7 years of progressive product marketing, brand management, and innovation experience in either health care, pharmaceutical, nutrition, and/or regulated consumer packaged goods marketing.

· Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional teams from idea through launch.

· Comfortable working with R&D.

· Ability to understand somewhat complicated nutrition science with the help of subject matter experts and an aptitude to translate science into meaningful consumer and healthcare professional benefits.

· Strategic thinker with demonstrated ability to prioritize and focus.

· Strong analytical and financial modeling skills.

· Strong oral and written communication skills, with proven ability to interact directly with leadership to drive strategy and investment decisions.

· BA/BS Degree in marketing. MBA strongly preferred.