The Sr. Manager, Product Strategy & Innovation is a new position and will be a key member of the Kerry Brands Marketing team. Reporting to the Sr. Director of Brand Marketing and partnering closely with Brand Managers, this position will be responsible for developing cross-brand product portfolio strategies and new product development/innovation pipelines and processes. The role will own critical work streams across the portfolio of brands to accelerate growth through strategic innovation projects and customer-specific product opportunities. The Sr. Manager, Product Strategy & Innovation will flex between categories, brands, channels and customers depending on the opportunity. The successful candidate will be experienced conducting product gap analyses, identifying innovation platforms/pillars, qualifying concepts through qualitative and quantitative research, creating portfolio/product strategies, leading product opportunity sizing analyses and owning innovation pipelines and processes.
Key responsibilities• Develop a cross-brand portfolio strategy for B2B and B2C channels to drive tangible growth, identifying consolidation and innovation opportunities.
• Develop innovative, creative and breakthrough product concepts that have the potential to grow the Brands business.
• Partner with Insights to qualify new ideas with consumers and/or operators through qualitative and quantitative research.
• Utilize data to identify Kerry Brands opportunity spaces and innovation platforms (flavor/taste trends, category trends, competitive activity, customer opportunities and future dynamics).
• Work across Kerry Taste & Nutrition teams to pull through differentiated ingredient technologies into branded innovation and new product launches.
• Partner with R&D to lead semi-annual innovation and ideation sessions on behalf of the Brand Managers to identify new product ideas.
• Work with Sales on custom, non-exclusive product opportunities; utilize those opportunities to create scalable volume for branded expansion.
• Perform market sizing analyses and assess overall brand fit to provide go/no-go recommendations.
• Partner with Brand Managers, R&D, Finance, Procurement and Supply Chain to lead innovation projects through the development and commercialization process; stage innovation launches for hand-off to Brand Managers and Sales teams.
• Work with Sales team to develop sales/volume targets for innovation across channels; partner with Finance to develop business cases.
• Present recommendations and project updates to the leadership team for review and feedback.
• Requires a bachelor’s degree; master’s degree is preferred.
• 7+ years of brand/product marketing experience; 4+ in new product development/innovation in a CPG or food/beverage manufacturing company.
• Experience with both B2B and B2C brands, with channel expertise in foodservice.
• Significant experience in cross-functional leadership, product portfolio management and innovation/product launches.
• Ability to flexing between high-level strategy development and “in the trenches” project execution.
• Highly collaborative, yet tenacious, with the ability to operate effectively within a matrixed environment.
• Comfortable working in ambiguity; resilient with an ability to overcome setbacks and challenges.
• Skilled at analyzing and synthesizing data to develop strategies, make recommendations, etc.
• Superior strengths in the following areas:
- Analytical skills – Data and trend analysis, business case development, market sizing.
- New Product Development & Innovation – From concepting to product development to launch.
- Financial Performance – P&L understanding and ability to develop market sizing models.
- Insights – Familiar with primary and secondary market research sources and processes.
- Communication skills – Exceptional verbal, written and interpersonal skills.
- Travel required (up to 20%).