Head of Innovations (Commercialization)

International FMCG company, one of the top player in the segment, is looking for Head of Innovations (Commercialization) to drive development and deployment of Innovation agenda in long & mid-term with full responsibility for Innovation process.

Key Responsibilities:

Innovation Strategy:

• Contribution to company & marketing strategy development with identification of the most promising growth areas (segments, products, tastes, pack types)
• Works out concrete strategic & tactical recommendations in innovation development on the base of main trends on the market. Collaborate with Head of CMI on identification & alignment of key trends
• Ensure innovation projects will create added value from the consumers, customer, portfolio and brand perspectives for overall business strengthening
• Build innovation pipeline of concrete actions for strategic (long term) and annual (short term) business plan
• Contribution to company & marketing strategy development with identification of the most promising growth areas (segments, products, tastes, pack types)

Innovation Process:

• Own Innovation process with periodical review of the process to fit market environment, legal & industry limitations
• Organize & Lead monthly Innovation Steering Committee meeting with Management Team with projects status & required approvals in innovation pipeline.
• Collaborate with Brand & Portfolio leads in preparation to Steering Committees.
• Maintain & develop IT Systems for Innovation process support
• Initiate & prepare Annual Innovation Workshop with further concepts qualitative / quantitative research
• Validates NPI (NPD) enter innovations funnel with compliance to Finance, Volume, Production min. benchmarks.
• Maintain regular informing of wide organization of NPI (NPD) Development status
• Monitor competitors’ innovations and provide monthly observation

People & stakeholders management:

• Manage and Develop team of 7 talents, responsible for Innovations and Project Management
• Provide periodical review of Team Structure, develop & update job descriptions for the team members
• Ensure effective motivation and development of the team
• Coordinate & involve cross-functional stakeholders (Finance, Supply Chain, Sales) in Innovations Development and functional contribution on required project steps.
• Collaborate with Brand & Portfolio leads in projects & process alignment.

Experience Required:

Work Experience:

• 7+ years dealing with a broad range of complex business projects in brand marketing.
• Experience of Leadership roles in marketing team with direct reporting to Marketing Director (Head of Marketing function).
• Experience of work in structured International Business is mandatory. Experience of work in Innovations / Commercialization is an advantage.
• Experience of work in FMCG.

Functional Skills:

• Advanced PC user (Excel, PowerPoint).
• Deep understanding and familiarity with key analytic tools for tracking commercial performance (Nielsen Connect, Kantar Brand Power) ability to slice, structure and analyze internal data.
• Experience of management complex project and multiple projects simultaneously. Developed presentation skills.
• Good knowledge of marketing mix,
• Experience to work with insights.
• Strong understanding of P&L on brand, project, portfolio levels.
• Good practice of development new pack types and product recipes would be an advantage.

Languages: Fluent English & Russian languages are mandatory

Required soft skills:

• Strategic thinker capable to setup, run & own Innovations agenda.
• Great Team & People coach and motivator.
• Collaborator capable to establish good working connection with existing Innovations Team and other departments (Supply Chain, Sales, Finance, etc. ).
• Insight generation with focus on “can do” approach with building of clear and common understanding on how to deliver the results.
• Curious person interested in new FMCG, packaging, product trends tended to exploration, analytical trendspotting and hypotheses development.
• Learner on the fly.
• Familiar to deal with high level of uncertainty, capable to decompose complex business tasks to clear project steps.