Upstream Marketing Director, FEI - Remote

Thank you for your interest in joining Solventum. Solventum is a new healthcare company with a long legacy of solving big challenges that improve lives and help healthcare professionals perform at their best. At Solventum, people are at the heart of every innovation we pursue. Guided by empathy, insight, and clinical intelligence, we collaborate with the best minds in healthcare to address our customers’ toughest challenges. While we continue updating the Solventum Careers Page and applicant materials, some documents may still reflect legacy branding. Please note that all listed roles are Solventum positions, and our Privacy Policy: https://www.solventum.com/en-us/home/legal/website-privacy-statement/applicant-privacy/ applies to any personal information you submit. As it was with 3M, at Solventum all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.

Job Description:

Upstream Marketing Director, FEI - Remote

3M Health Care is now Solventum

At Solventum, we enable better, smarter, safer healthcare to improve lives. As a new company with a long legacy of creating breakthrough solutions for our customers’ toughest challenges, we pioneer game-changing innovations at the intersection of health, material and data science that change patients' lives for the better while enabling healthcare professionals to perform at their best. Because people, and their wellbeing, are at the heart of every scientific advancement we pursue.

We partner closely with the brightest minds in healthcare to ensure that every solution we create melds the latest technology with compassion and empathy. Because at Solventum, we never stop solving for you.

Position Summary

The Upstream Marketing Director, Front-end Innovation will play a significant role in shaping and executing the franchise “Build” strategy – building a strong front-end pipeline that feeds the innovation roadmap with high-quality, validated opportunities. In this role, you will ensure innovation investments are grounded in insights from customers, markets, technologies, and business strategy. Co-own with the Upstream Marketing Director for new products, the Advanced Wound Care Build strategy and innovation roadmap with accountability for the front-end phase – defining new opportunity spaces, unmet needs, and strategic growth platforms. Responsibilities will include the following:

Strategy & Innovation Roadmap

• Lead the development of the long-range innovation roadmap, identifying where the franchise can expand through solving unmet customer needs, innovative technologies, adjacent market categories, or new business models
• Partner with Upstream leadership to align opportunity areas with franchise strategic and financial goals
• Partner with the Upstream Marketing Director to transition qualified opportunities into structured new product initiatives (NPIs)
• Maintain an integrated view of opportunity creation versus concept execution
• Serve as a key member of the Global Upstream leadership team

Opportunity Identification & Exploration

• Drive structured innovation processes with cross-functional early innovation working teams (e.g., design thinking, jobs-to-be-done, ethnography, etc.) to identify meaningful customer and clinical unmet needs
• Synthesize insights from customers, markets, and technologies into opportunity maps and need statements that guide ideation and feasibility work
• Partner with R&D, Medical Affairs, and Finance to assess early technical, clinical, and financial feasibility and innovation readiness for pipeline of opportunities
• Partner with Senior Strategic Marketing Manager to evaluate whether certain opportunities may be better served through a Buy/Partner strategy

Governance & Process Leadership

• Define and manage the FEI process, ensuring clarity of roles, decision gates, and progression criteria for early opportunities
• Establish criteria for advancing early concepts into the Upstream Marketing pipeline
• Present opportunity maps and early innovation concepts to leadership to inform resource allocation and Build strategic direction
• Establish and maintain a balanced portfolio of early-stage initiatives, from horizon scanning to concept incubation

Your Skills and Expertise

To set you up for success in this role from day one, Solventum requires (at a minimum) the following qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Marketing, Business Management, or a related field AND 12 years of progressive experience in front-end inn