Innovation and Program Portfolio Manager - Cookies, Cones and Crusts

Ferrero - Chicago, IL

Full-time - Mid Level

Chicago, IL

5,001-10,000 employees

Furniture and Related Product Manufacturing

About the position

Ferrero is seeking an Innovation and Program Portfolio Manager for Cookies, Cones, and Crusts, based in Chicago, IL. This role is pivotal in driving innovation and facilitating the design and development of new products within the portfolio. The successful candidate will manage the optimization and communication of capital requirements for innovations, acting as the local liaison with the global Ferrero team. This position requires alignment on the innovation pipeline and capital needs, ensuring that updates are effectively communicated to the global team. As the local expert in the Ferrero commercialization process, the manager will evaluate incoming requests for new developments, considering factors such as complexity and technical feasibility. In this dynamic role, the Innovation and Program Portfolio Manager will be responsible for maintaining the capital expenditure (capex) budget for innovations, collaborating closely with the Innovation Brand Team, Brand Management, and R&D Technical Project Managers. The manager will create long-term plans for significant capex initiatives and partner with category planning to understand growth capital needs. Additionally, the role involves supporting portfolio analysis and optimization activities, evaluating the full Cookies, Cones, and Crusts portfolio annually, and providing insights on performance to leadership. The manager will also act as a project manager for key initiatives, developing and managing project timelines, success criteria, and risks. Effective communication of project status updates to senior management is essential, as is holding cross-functional team members accountable for their tasks. The role requires the ability to handle multiple initiatives simultaneously and work under pressure to meet deadlines, ensuring the effective use of resources and timely execution of strategically important projects.

Responsibilities

• Local Liaison for Category Capital Budget with Ferrero Central Team
• Maintain capex budget for innovations, working closely with the Innovation Brand Team, Brand Management and R&D Technical Project Managers.
• Create long term plan for large capex initiatives for the local team, working closely with Innovation Brand Team, Brand Management and R&D Technical Project Managers.
• Partner with category planning to understand capital needs for growth and kick off feasibility with engineering and industrial.
• Evaluate full Cookies, Cones & Crusts portfolio annually and provide overarching view of performance.
• Work with the cross-functional team to bring proposals to leadership.
• Track project volumes and financials, helping the PM and cross-functional team perform post launch analyses to ensure the team continuously improves in our commercialization process.
• Local expert and key point of contact for the Cookies, Cones & Crusts Ferrero Commercialization Process.
• Train marketing team on process and understanding when projects need to be kicked off.
• Develop and manage project timelines, success criteria, issues, risks, opportunities and assumptions.
• Communicate project status updates to Senior Management when requested.
• Hold cross functional team members accountable for delivering his/her tasks on time.
• Ensure effective use of resources, communicate organizational priorities, and drive timely execution of strategically important projects.
• Evaluate and recommend go/no-go action based on the viability of a strategic initiative.
• Handle multiple initiatives simultaneously and work under pressure to meet deadlines.

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree required, preferably in Business, Engineering, or related discipline
• 3+ years of Project Management experience; preferably in CPG
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Well-practiced at building very strong, respectful, relationships with all levels of an organization
• Experience with a project gating process
• Experience with the product development process, preferably in food
• Familiarity with Marketing key principles, particularly within the Innovation and Pipeline building space
• Strong work ethic with high sense of urgency, accountability, and initiative
• Ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines with an ownership mentality
• Excellent software skills: Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Outlook; Microsoft Project and ERP/SAP knowledge is a plus

Benefits

• Good vacation/PTO package
• 401k match
• Good health benefits