Lead - Innovation, Digital Technology Solutions

Primary Function:

The Lead-Innovation, DTS will play a critical role in leveraging technology to enhance product development, formulation processes, and innovation within the food industry operations. The primary focus will be to optimize / leverage digital solutions to support food formulation, recipe management, and innovation workflows. This position will support the digital applications & infrastructure that facilitate efficient and effective innovation operations globally. The focus of this position will be to support Sr. Manager Innovation, Solution Architect Innovation, and Digital Partners while contributing to specific aspects of projects or operations while gaining experience.

The position requires a blend of technical skills, analytical thinking, and effective communication abilities to contribute to strategic projects within the innovation function. This position will work closely with the Innovation business team, to understand the business requirements, ensure translation of the requirements into design specifications, and ensure the delivery of high-quality solutions. This position will work closely with the external partners to ensure the process is well understood and solutions are built or customized to meet Ingredion needs.

Core Responsibilities:

• Collaborate with food scientists, R&D teams, and IT professionals to develop and implement digital tools and systems for food formulation, recipe management, and innovation processes.
• Gather, capture & analyze the business requirements and processes of our business to be translated into solutions.
• Test and validate the solutions and ensure they meet the quality standards and expectations of the solution design.
• Collaborate with the digital partners, project managers, solution delivery leads, business analysts, and end-users to provide feedback, updates, and recommendations on the solutions. Work closely with partner team / organization to ensure the solution meets the business needs.

Project Support:

• Support project teams in the implementation of digital technology enhancements and projects. This may involve tasks such as documentation, coordination among team members, working with partner providers, conducting UAT, scheduling meetings, and tracking project progress.  Assist in the development of project estimates and the completion of a comprehensive financial model, detailing costs, savings, revenue opportunities, and the investment horizon to ensure projects deliver maximum value.
• Work closely with the Solution Architecture teams to determine how the application needs to be customized and integrated with various applications / platforms to streamline formulation workflows and enhance collaboration among cross-functional / regional teams.
• Works closely with the product owners and product managers to deliver a robust solution that that can support future business requirements throughout the product life cycle.
• Provide help and support to resolve any technical issues and challenges that arise during the project implementation and deployment.

Documentation and Reporting:

• Prepare and maintain accurate documentation for systems, processes, and project activities. Assist in developing reports and presentations that communicate findings, progress, and recommendations to stakeholders.
• Develops training materials and conduct sessions to educate users on new IT tools and systems / applications related to food formulation. Maintain documentation and user manuals for IT solutions, facilitating knowledge sharing and adoption across the organization.

Process Improvement:

• Contribute to process improvement initiatives by identifying inefficiencies in current systems and processes. Participate in discussions and brainstorming sessions for enhancing innovation operations through digital technology.

Assess Technology:

• Works closely with the technical teams to come up with possible solutions that can be reviewed to address the business requirement.
• Supports product managers in end-of-life product decisions to maintain, refresh or retire services or systems, including applications, technologies, processes, and information.
• Participates in Fit Gap Analysis with external software to evaluate fitment and changes / enhancements that may be need to meet specific process / integration needs.
• Analyzes the business-IT environment to detect critical deficiencies and / or gaps and works towards solutions for improvement.

Learning and Development:

• Continuously learn about new technologies, innovation trends, and best practices. Stay updated on the latest technologies, trends, and innovations and suggest improvements and enhancements to the