Job Details:

Job Purpose/Summary (The “What”):

The Senior Manager, Customer Focused Innovation is responsible for management of the business activities related to innovation for the key strategic customer accounts they are assigned and has total responsibility to deliver an innovation pipeline. This role develops long and short-term strategies, new product and package ideas, and go-to-market approaches that will achieve corporate growth through innovation and deliver on profit, volume, and share objectives.

This position will lead cross functional teams from across the enterprise (BU, Customer Planning, Sales, R&D, Culinary, Insights, Supply Chain, Operations, Finance and Strategy) to develop and execute innovation initiatives from inception to commercialization for our partner accounts in order to successfully drive future growth.

She/he must have a deep understanding of innovation success factors, and be a forward thinker, problem solver and proven collaborator, challenging the status quo to support strategic decisions. He/she must have a strong knowledge base of innovation, project leadership, marketing, consumer insights, business/brand strategy, and P&L management.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities (The “How”):

• Develop and implement the innovation pipeline and innovation strategies feeding the long range and annual customer strategic plan, reflecting overall corporate and business unit goals

• Lead development and execution of product and packaging innovation projects from need sate understanding through commercialization including concept development, feasibility validation, product and packaging R&D, business proposal and approval, project execution, customer sell in and tracking of in-market performance

• Work in our innovation project management, packaging, and specification systems to advance projects with the cross functional team.

• Act as liaison with all other corporate functions to ensure business initiatives receive necessary focus

• Creatively identify opportunity areas for growth by effectively using syndicated research and trend data, primary market research and competitive intelligence

• Develop meaningful consumer positioning for all innovation product lines that creates differentiated added value versus competition and effectively communicate product advantages to consumers

• Work collaboratively with Insights, R&D, Customer Planning, Sales and the BU to identify new ideas, build research and development plans, screen ideas and food prototypes and optimize our innovation offerings to meet consumer/operator needs.

• Work collaboratively with Insights and R&D to identify new ideas, build research and development plans, screen ideas and food and optimize our innovation offerings to meet consumer needs and have a clear POD vs. our competitors.

• Work hand-in-hand with the Sales and Customer Planning organization to understand and integrate operator and/or distributor strategies into innovation pipeline. Proactively work with these partners on innovation forecast accuracy, maximization of opportunities, and development of plans to deliver against JBP objectives

• Manage innovation process and overseeing projects they own to ensure they stay on time and on track, and any issues that arise are resolved successfully.

• Leverage synergies across retail and foodservice channels to maximize idea scale

• Act as an expert and advisor to other Tyson Innovators.

• Partner with PMO organization to ensure compliance with Stagegate process design and supporting systems

Requirements:

• Education: Bachelor’s Degree required; MBA or BBA preferred
• Experience: Minimum 6-10 years direct Product Innovation, Product Development, or Marketing experience preferred. Excellent knowledge of innovation, marketing strategy, strategic business analysis, financial planning, and market research fundamentals. Demonstrated success in leveraging consumer knowledge and insights to drive business results. Experience reporting to senior executives.
• Computer Skills: MS Office Suite competency including -Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Teams
• Communication Skills: Strong communication and presentation skills are required.
• Special Skills: A highly motivated leader with the ability to devise an excellent solution in unstructured situations. Proven ability to effectively manage multiple projects in a dynamic environment is required. Strong collaborator with demonstrated ability to lead cross functional teams and direct reports.
• Supervisory: N/A
• Travel: 10-15% anticipated

Relocation Assistance Eligible:

Work Shift:

Hourly Applicants ONLY -You must complete the task after submitting your application to provide additional information to be considered for employment.

Tyson is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, national origin, color, religion, age, genetics, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or veteran status.

We provide our team members and their families with paid time off; 401(k) plans; affordable health, life, dental, vision and prescription drug benefits; and more.

CCPA Notice. If you are a California resident, and would like to learn more about what categories of personal information we collect when you apply for this job, and how we may use that information, please read our CCPA Job Applicant Notice at Collection, click here.