Senior Manager, Innovation New Product Development

$130,000 - $155,000/Yr

Liquid I.V. - El Segundo, CA

Full-time - Senior

El Segundo, CA

Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods

About the position

Liquid I.V. is looking for a creative and highly technical product development leader to help lead and execute delivery of our exciting new product innovation pipeline. Reporting to the Senior Director of Product Development, this role will manage and have the support of two product development scientists. The Senior Manager, Innovation New Product Development will be an integral member of the LIV R&D organization and will have cross-functional collaboration within all levels of the business. The ideal candidate will be obsessed with our customers and will hold the bar high in delivering innovative products with undeniable product superiority. They are well informed and plugged into industry trends and are a skilled taster with a mastery toward flavor creation. They must also be able to coach and inspire technical execution of programs to ensure we look around corners throughout the commercialization process. Functions and duties of this role include, but are not limited to: managing the entire innovation product development (PD) lifecycle from concept ideation with marketing, prototyping, specification development, scale-up support, and to in-market support. The Senior Manager will coach and develop PD talent, ensuring they are well supported, and effectively mobilize resources to meet key business objectives. They will manage and hold the team accountable against OKRs to ensure the team is meeting their performance goals. Additionally, the role involves developing and leading an agile, high-performing team to objectively deliver the ‘product superiority' measures with innovation projects. In addition to managing PD scientists, the Senior Manager will also execute independent PD projects themselves in the lab, manufacturer, or with development partners. The Senior Manager will help strengthen and foster relationships with co-development partners who are critical in delivering PD programs. They will assist in the development of project briefs for innovation concepts, research and define the products' feasibility and development parameters, and monitor and maintain on-time delivery of critical project milestones within the innovation PD budget. The role also includes assisting in the enterprise annual operating planning process by providing inputs into PD operations budgets and overhead resource planning. The Senior Manager will coach the PD team to design experiments to ensure the final product meets consumer expectations, production efficacy, shelf-life stability, cost, sensory, and aesthetic requirements in accordance with the brand's strategy and goals. They will partner with marketing and scientific teams to drive proactive innovation research to get ahead of new flavor, benefit, and form factor trends, and help identify and create best-in-class flavors, including coordination and participation in product tastings to deliver superior profiles. Furthermore, the Senior Manager will define and oversee stability and analytical testing criteria required for all products, participate in artwork review and approval processes for primary and secondary components, and deliver operationally effective and meaningful specifications for new products to ensure customer quality is always met. Finally, they will optimize the Innovation PD process with the goal to deliver smart agile execution, while ensuring the team looks around technical corners to deliver excellence. Travel as necessary to represent the team at industry conferences, tradeshows, supervise formula development, pilot and/or production runs, and work onsite at CM R&D facilities as needed to meet project approval milestones.

Responsibilities

• Manage the entire innovation product development (PD) lifecycle from concept ideation with marketing, prototyping, specification development, scale-up support, and to in-market support.
• Coach and develop PD talent - ensure they are well supported, and effectively mobilize resources to meet key business objectives.
• Manage and hold team accountable against OKRs to ensure the team is meeting their performance goals.
• Develop and lead an agile, high performing team to objectively deliver the ‘product superiority' measures with innovation projects.
• Execute independent PD projects in the lab, manufacturer, or with development partners.
• Strengthen and foster relationships with co-development partners who are critical in delivering PD programs.
• Assist in the development of project briefs for innovation concepts, research and define the products' feasibility and development parameters.
• Monitor and maintain on-time delivery of critical project milestones within innovation PD budget.
• Assist in the enterprise annual operating planning process by providing inputs into PD operations budgets and overhead resource planning.
• Coach PD team to design experiments to ensure final product meets consumer expectations, production efficacy, shelf-life stability, cost, sensory, and aesthetic requirements.
• Partner with marketing and scientific teams to drive proactive innovation research to get ahead of new flavor, benefit, and form factor trends.
• Help identify and create best-in-class flavors, including coordination and participation in product tastings to deliver superior profiles.
• Define and oversee stability and analytical testing criteria required for all products.
• Participate in artwork review and approval process for primary and secondary components, copy for marketing collateral and training materials for storytelling, marketing, and educational needs.
• Deliver operationally effective and meaningful Specifications for new products to ensure customer quality is always met.
• Optimize the Innovation PD process with the goal to deliver smart agile execution, while ensuring team looks around technical corners to deliver excellence.
• Travel as necessary to represent team at industry conferences, tradeshows, supervise formula development, pilot and/or production runs, work onsite at CM R&D facilities as needed to meet project approval milestones.

Requirements

• Master's degree in food science or related field required.
• 8+ years of progressive growth experience working in CPG, preferably in food and beverage industries.
• Minimum 3+ years' experience managing technical teams.
• Proven experience leading and inspiring high-performing teams & individuals.
• Consumer obsessed with a track record of success building external partnerships to expand the capacity and capabilities of R&D organization.
• Deep technical expertise in areas such as powdered beverages, nutritional supplements, flavor design and development, specification development, formulation management.
• Strong working knowledge of food science, health and nutrition, food manufacturing processes, quality assurance principles, product development systems and processes, ingredient supply market, as well as scale up and product commercialization.
• Demonstrated analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to coach a team to define problems, create both scrappy & detailed experiments, collect and interpret data, draw valid conclusions, and propose solutions.
• Experience and proficiency in executing strong co-development agreements with external partners with scope in: IP protection, negotiations, cost structure, and SOW development.
• Experience developing and managing R&D budgets.
• A polished and poised technical manager with strong influencer, oral & written presentation skills.
• Strong working knowledge of R&D program management.
• Strong ability to coach, grow talent, understanding of training and development programs, performance management, and building capabilities within the team for both short and long-term career growth.
• Agile and adaptable to change and demonstrates ability to motivate team amidst aggressive business objectives and priority shifts.

Benefits

• 100% company-paid medical, dental and vision insurance for employees (PPO, HMO and Kaiser options).
• A 401k plan with company match, short and long-term disability coverage.
• A generous PTO and sick policy that includes 13+ paid annual holidays.
• Wellness classes (fitness, mental health, nutrition, finance, etc.).
• An Employee Assistance Program, including membership for guided meditation for all employees.
• Monthly tech and wellness reimbursement.
• An infinite supply of Liquid I.V. for endless hydration!