Director, Innovation Excellence

Job Description

We are seeking a Director of Innovation Excellence to drive the future of innovation across our +$22B North America portfolio. This leader will shape our nutrition strategy, elevate innovation best practices, and establish a new approach to portfolio innovation, all with the goal of unlocking growth by meeting evolving consumer needs and industry dynamics.

Reporting to the Vice President of Creative, Capabilities & Innovation, the Director will be both a strategic thought partner and operational powerhouse, developing systems, processes and frameworks that push our innovation capabilities to new heights.

The impact of this role will be felt across our 300+ person marketing organization, as well as across insights, R&D, Supply Chain, Regulatory and other key functions that drive our innovation agenda. This leader will be responsible for embedding a best-in-class innovation mindset and ways of working that accelerate our ability to bring successful new products to market, ensuring our product and pipeline strategy meets both internal and external demands.

Beyond strategy and execution, this leader will also be responsible for building a culture of innovation, fostering a collaborative and forward-thinking community that empowers teams to think bigger, move faster, and innovate smarter, with the consumer always at the center.

Nutrition Strategy & Product Pipeline Leadership

o Define and lead implementation of the North American Nutrition Strategy, setting the long term vision based on consumer trends, competitive dynamics, regulatory shifts, and evolving industry standards.

o Proactively monitor and anticipate where consumer expectations, regulatory frameworks and category trends are headed, ensuring our brands are positioned for long-term success.

o Work in close partnership with global nutrition leaders, R&D, regulatory, and government affairs to translate strategic imperatives into clear priorities for product innovation, renovation and portfolio management.

o Lead a team of two, collaborating with a global nutrition leader, to develop and execute strategies that influence pipeline innovation, reformulation and white-space opportunities.

Innovation Excellence & Capability Building

o Lead the vision and development of innovation best practices, setting the gold standard for ideation, concept validation, pipeline development, consumer testing and go-to-market execution.

o Act as consultant to cross-functional teams, providing hands-on strategic guidance and coaching throughout innovation process to ensure rigor in execution and stronger business outcomes.

o Develop strategic partnerships with Insights, R&D, Supply Chain and across marketing, working collaboratively to build innovation capabilities that drive stronger pipeline success.

o Create, implement and scale new frameworks to improve brief development, testing protocols, consumer input and iteration processes, ensuring our innovation approach is faster, smarter and more effective.

o Embed an agile, insight-driven approach to innovation, ensuring teams are equipped with the right tools, methodologies, processes and community to continuously refine and improve how we innovate.

o Drive learning & development efforts, ensuring teams have ongoing education, training and exposure to best-in-class innovation methodologies.

o Influence how innovation happens across the organization, ensuring teams – regardless of function – operate with a shared innovation for what great innovation looks like.

Portfolio Innovation

o Develop and operationalize a new model for portfolio innovation, focusing on brand-agnostic opportunities that cut across multiple categories or unlock new core-adjacent whitespace opportunities.

o Establish cross-functional collaboration models that allow teams to leverage collective insights, capabilities and scale to develop innovations that expand portfolio reach and relevance.

o Act as a connector between brands, channels and innovation hubs, ensuring we are maximizing synergies and whitespace opportunities rather than working in silos.

o Identify consumer-driven opportunities that cut across brands, categories or channels, to build a robust, high-impact innovation pipeline.

Culture & Community

o Foster an organization wide culture of innovation, ensuring innovation is embedded in how we think, work and make decisions – not just specific teams or roles.

o Build and lead a community of innovators across the business – facilitating learning forums, best practice sharing, inspiration sessions and collaborative working groups to strengthen capabilities at all levels.

o Serve as a visible and vocal advocate for innovation within the company, helping to inspire,