Vice President Innovation

Overview

The Vice President of Innovation will lead the Consumer Insights, Culinary, and Research & Development functions for a North American food production operation comprising 13 manufacturing sites and a workforce exceeding 5,000 employees. This role demands expertise in converting consumer insights into culinary and product innovations across multiple customer and channel segments. It also involves managing product category growth and directing R&D resources and project pipelines. The position is a critical contributor to revenue expansion and serves on the North American Leadership Team.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage and oversee a team of 1 to 5 employees, including hiring and performance management duties.
• Collaborate closely with business development, sales teams, and customers to identify market prospects and prioritize product innovation projects.
• Build and lead the consumer insights and product category management teams.
• Develop systems and capabilities to generate consumer insights and evaluate culinary and product development projects.
• Create and sustain strong cross-functional product development teams, actively monitoring priorities, progress, challenges, and opportunities to ensure momentum.
• Champion innovation, top-tier product quality, reliability, and customized food solutions within the organization.
• Establish and lead an advisory council comprised of internal and external health and food industry specialists, organizing events to inject innovative thinking throughout the network.
• Conduct strategic ideation sessions with internal and external stakeholders to foster strategic partnerships and discover transformational innovation opportunities supporting company goals.
• Coach teams to define innovation challenges accurately and encourage a mix of practical and expansive thinking for idea generation.
• Assess innovations throughout the network to share successful practices and scale effective initiatives.
• Formulate strategic partnerships to aid project development and scale food programs.
• Define performance metrics and manage the evaluation, qualification, and development of new ideas, incorporating rapid prototyping and testing as necessary.
• Promote and enforce safety procedures through training, education, and adherence to policies and regulations.
• Engage with business development and customer teams to communicate culinary and innovation concepts effectively while capturing the customer voice.

Qualifications

• At least 10 years of experience in the food or beverage industry, preferably leading innovation programs or product/solution development.
• Proven ability to foster wide-ranging yet practical thinking resulting in successful food product design, testing, and market launch.
• Experience in creating and managing a consumer insights department that collates relevant consumer and market data.
• Proficiency in leveraging technology to drive innovation and strategic execution, including familiarity with social media and digital marketing trends and tools.
• Strong track record of building and maintaining collaborative relationships within large organizations and diverse stakeholder groups, leading through influence.

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced degrees such as MA, MS, or MBA in Food Science, Chemistry, Business, Management, or related disciplines are desirable.