Senior Marketing Innovation Manager - Bayer Corporation

At Bayer we’re visionaries, driven to solve the world’s toughest challenges and striving for a world where 'Health for all Hunger for none’ is no longer a dream, but a real possibility. We’re doing it with energy, curiosity and sheer dedication, always learning from unique perspectives of those around us, expanding our thinking, growing our capabilities and redefining ‘impossible’. There are so many reasons to join us. If you’re hungry to build a varied and meaningful career in a community of brilliant and diverse minds to make a real difference, there’s only one choice.

Senior Marketing Innovation Manager  

Senior Marketing Innovation Manager will be responsible for leading, creating, developing, and finalizing a robust 5 and 10 year innovation pipeline for CH North America with focus on Allergy and Claritin brand in particular, and delivering on this pipeline for the assigned category of brands to achieve performance KPIs and objectives. The pipeline will leverage global opportunities as well as initiate new ones for either local or global consideration. The pipeline will consist of sustainable core innovation, adjacencies, and potentially assessing opportunities in new markets or new business models, depending on the objectives and priorities set by the strategic business unit.

YOUR TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The primary responsibilities of this role,  Senior Marketing Innovation Manager , are to:

• Drive US NPD Development and Strengthen US Innovation Category Pipeline, while managing through full delivery and execution of plans for the assigned category of brands, Allergy;
• Partner with brand and insights teams, R&D and GCBU’s to create robust 5 and 10 year pipelines covering all key brands in the business unit that deliver business objectives for North America. This should cover line extensions related to new "claim" areas, adjacencies, and new markets/new business models as strategically appropriate for each category/division;
• Lead US innovation activities for and with assigned Brand Pod and represent the US/NA with the global innovation teams;
• Work with brand teams in the US and globally to identify specific strategic goals, create exploratory projects leveraging world class innovation and design capabilities that uncover unmet consumer needs or jobs to be done;
• Drive coordination of new claims related to new product idea;
• Drive the coordination with brand teams on the development and delivery of continuous pipeline of new product ideas relative to claims;
• Develop new concepts and/or prototypes, mine consumer insights;
• Assess and partner with external vendor when appropriate, to develop concept designs and prototypes that meet unmet consumer needs;
• Test with consumers to understand appeal and scale of opportunity;
• Present to Key customers for engagement and sell-in;
• Develop "Gate A" documents by working with appropriate cross-functional resources, including Canada where appropriate;
• Develop robust business cases based on research, along with finance/demand planners, with assumptions from consumer insights, commercial strategy & sales, and other cross-functional partners that maximize opportunities and meet key financial metrics;
• Secure NA brand team, and where relevant, GCBU buy-in to business cases; keep overall stakeholders apprised of key milestones;
• Exchange learnings and tools with New Growth Initiatives and Innovation Capabilities partner and internal innovation network to optimize best practices and share challenges;
• Stay abreast of all relevant industry and academic thinking on innovation;
• Liaise with medical and cross-functional team to qualify/support claims.

WHO YOU ARE

Your success will be driven by your demonstration of our life values, more specifically related to this position, Bayer seeks an incumbent who possesses the following:

Required Qualifications:

• Knowledge equivalent to BS/BA degree;
• Proven success in innovation work, with experience scoping/starting and aligning new initiatives, understanding/mining and applying consumer insights, consumer cocreation and design thinking concepts, concept writing, innovation theories, tools and techniques, as well as the ability to translate these practices into meaningful innovation results through the implementation and delivery stages;
• Experience translating own vision into action;
• Fit to Win competencies:
  • Builds effective teams, cultivates innovation, learning and change agility, customer focus, action oriented/drives results, collaborates globally and locally, plans and aligns, drives stakeholder engagement, effectively manages suppliers;
• Fit to Win skills:
• Financial and Operational Acumen:
  • Excellent financial and project management skills to critically and objectively assess programs and investments versus results;
  • Ability to streamline operational processes and drive efficiency though the use of technology;
• Analytical Acumen:
  • Superior analytical ability, assessing different models and related outputs.
  • Experience with business forecasting a plus;
  • Must be curious with an openness to new thinking balanced with realistic business needs;
• Marketing Brand Building:
  • Excellent communication skills required;
  • Must be able to create an environment that encourages innovation and risk taking. ability to engage in positive/productive debate with the leaders of key internal constituent groups;
  • Ability to collaborate and influence key stakeholders with empathy and flexibility;
• P&L Management:
  • Takes activist ownership of bottom line, and has experience owning L.O.B. budgets and results.

Preferred Qualifications:

• BS/BA degree (MBA desirable) plus 8 years of innovation experience ideally in the CPG industry or equivalent combination of education and experience.