Senior Innovation Manager - 12 Month Fixed Term Contract

PURPOSE & SCOPE OF ROLE

The Scotch & Irish (S&I) Brand House (BH) Innovation Team are responsible for setting the long-range innovation agenda, guiding and informing our future pipeline aligned to global brand strategy, and driving the implementation to successful commercialization. 

The Senior Innovation Manager (FTC) plays a key role in the long-term growth of Beam Suntory’s S&I Brand House portfolio – developing products (both liquid and packaging) which engage consumers with the brands as well as driving critical financial growth while meeting financial hurdles. This role supports the development and maintenance of the long-term (5 year+) S&I Innovation Pipeline while also supporting day-to-day planning and development of strategic and tactical innovation projects globally. 

In addition, this role manages project development and implementation through a diverse cross-functional core team (including supply chain, consumer insights, brand marketing, R&D, operations, finance, revman etc.) to successfully deliver strategically aligned, consumer-led and commercially impactful innovation projects.

DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Work with the Innovation Director, and in consultation with requisite Global Brand Leads, to build a long-term (5 year+) multi-channel innovation pipeline
  • remit will have strong focus on an amplified Cask Program delivery and other SMSW, Blended Scotch and Irish brands for domestic markets, and GTR and DTC channels as directed in order to support the growth of the brands in alignment with the overall brand ambition and business strategy 
• Maintain the long-term pipeline ensuring it remains on strategy and evolves according to the business needs whilst ensuring that the quality of innovations improve with each iteration
• Accountable for the development, flawless management and on-time delivery of the Cask Program for both markets and Private Clients and, as required, a range of strong strategic and commercially viable innovations for the S&I BH portfolio
• Support, as directed, collaborative partnership-driven innovation projects with a view to creating new products that express the brand collaboration and are aligned to brand positioning
• As part of any partnership innovation, where required, manage peer stakeholders in both SGS and partner organisations
• Work closely with the Innovation Director to inspire key marketing and R&D/PD partners in the earliest stages of innovation projects to facilitate the development of products that target emerging and unmet consumer needs
• Ensure the correct application of all SGS innovation processes and standards across all global and regional projects
• Work in partnership with Brand House Finance, SC Finance and RevMan teams to build accurate, financially viable P&Ls in preparation of stage gate presentations
• Also ensure all project documents are prepared to the highest quality and presented at the IRM (Innovation Review Meeting) ahead of submission into Planisware in alignment with the S2S (Seed to Sip) process
• Work collaboratively with cross functional, multi-market teams to deliver projects efficiently and effectively, from initial ideation, through concept development, liquid and packaging design, to commercialization in market
• Drive the right communication and quality of briefs through external suppliers and agencies to ensure exemplary execution of innovation projects  
• Direct and influence the product and packaging development and spirit teams in creating excellent tasting liquids and impactful pack presentations
• Monitor relevant category and consumer trends in needs, occasions, flavours and drink experiences, and recommend activities and projects which maintain our position of leadership within the spirits industry
• Identify and implement best practices within innovation, to develop even better ideas and a more efficient development cycle 
• Create requisite reports for key stakeholders in support of the Innovation Director and BH Leadership Team
• Manage owned project budgets, Gemba plans and T&Es as directed

KEY SKILLS & COMPETENCIES:

• Consumer/customer mindset and curiosity
• Ad hoc idea generation and problem solving
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with ability to manage stakeholders (internal/external), and communicate effectively in a multicultural, cross functional, diverse organization 
• Conflict resolution and strong teamwork in a highly matrixed environment
• D, E & I mindset
• Ability to lead/contribute to the spirit/culture of the team & category
• Good verbal and written English, with a strong aptitude for spotting grammatical and spelling inaccuracies on pre-print packaging components 
• Results oriented work ethic with high energy levels and positive / can-do attitude. 
• Resilient and focused, with impeccable organizational skills and acute attention to detail
• Strong business and commercial acumen combined with proven experience in financial analytical skills, COGs awareness and ability to perform structured analysis of complex data as it relates to brand innovation
• Outstanding project management skills
• Passionate and determined, committed to delivering projects on-time and above expectations
• Demonstrated experience in working across and up, within the organization, gaining credibility amongst peers, managers and other commercial leadership
• Self-starter, flexible, comfortable working in fast-paced, unstructured environment, and able to manage multiple priorities and projects effortlessly
• Project management software skills (Planisware or equivalent)

KEY RELATIONSHIPS:

• Internal:  Brand Leads, Private Client and Prestige Team Leads, Insight Leads, Packaging Development Managers, Project Managers, Operations/Production Team (inclusive of Spirits, QC and Inventory Management Team), BH Finance Leads, Supply Chain, Procurement, Commercialization Managers
• External: Brand Partners (e.g. peers from collaboration partners), Agency Partners, Suppliers, Contracted Partners, Market Partners 

EXPERIENCE & QUALIFICATIONS:

• Educated to degree level, with 5+ years consumer marketing experience AND/OR experience in cross-functional innovation project management outside of Marketing (e.g., R&D, Packaging, Innovation, Project Management, etc.)   
• Proven experience in evaluating consumer insights/research and extrapolating results to generate unique and impactful solutions and innovations in Spirits or other consumer-led categories
• Track record of cross-functional team leadership and generating motivation/enthusiasm for innovations and other projects
• And track record for delivery of incremental value through innovation and/or marketing, packaging, cask programs, activation etc or related initiatives  
• Scotch / Spirit industry experienced preferred