Job description
Our client, a leader in the beauty and retail space, is looking to bring on an Innovation & Product Development Manager to their team on a fulltime basis, starting immediately. Candidate can sit in either Chicago or NYC.Overview:
The Innovation Manager will report to the Director of Marketing to lead, ideate, and define the new product development three-year global pipeline for cosmetics accessories. The individual will be responsible for the complete product development cycle to drive incremental growth through new product launches while sustaining and invigorating existing products. This individual will also need to identify white space product opportunities on accessories with the potential to manage additional brands and categories. The ability to quickly identify and capitalize on high growth trends and fully develop into the brand product portfolios will be crucial. They will lead the brands towards innovation in new product development expertise, trend awareness, forecasting, and translating consumer insights to drive the organization towards business goals successfully.
The Innovation & Product Development Manager Responsibilities:- Lead the development of a 3-year product roadmap for potential new launches aligned with the overall company strategy for all brand portfolios, specifically and especially, cosmetics accessories
- Identify white space opportunities and critical competitive gaps to expand current categories based on trends, NPD data, consumer demo, and psychographics.
- Collaborate with the Director of marketing to optimize the current product development process to lead the organization towards strategic efficiency.
- Strong analytical skills to substantiate product development decisions to senior leadership – ability to use Nielsen/data and manipulate to tell a story
- Ability to integrate quantitative data and consumer insights into the product development process to substantiate decisions.
- Lead and develop the junior members of the Innovation/Product Development team with clarity and vision.
- Work in close collaboration with cross-functional stakeholders to achieve a fastfashion approach to beauty, accelerated speed to market, and flawless product development execution.
- Collaborate with packaging and creative partners for cohesive product experience for consumer and retail-specific requirements.
- Provide clear direction to product development cross-functional partners regarding product, packaging, performance, aesthetic, efficacy, claims, and competitive superiority.
- Strong understanding of COGs and what levers must be pulled to achieve aggressive cost goals – understanding of P&L and retail cost structures i.e. list price, customer margin, gross profit, etc.
- Build cross-functional partnerships with Brand Marketing, Creative, Sales Supply Chain, Sourcing, and Operations.
- Lead weekly cross-functional product development meetings from an innovation perspective to troubleshoot and advance the timeline to achieve key deliverables.
- Collaborate and foster strong vendor relationships to help the organization and team towards efficiency and low touch product development vendor model.
- Present trend forecasting and consumer insights to the organization on a frequent basis to reinforce and drive innovation strategy forward.
- Partner with Marketing and Sales to present new product innovation to retailers based on data, trends, and consumer demographics for critical customers such as Wal-Mart, Target, and Ulta.
- Candidate must possess 5 years of relevant Product Development experience.
- Candidate must have extensive experience within the beauty space and must possess experience in cosmetics accessories.
- Experience working across international markets.
- Experience working with contract manufacturing as part of the product development process
- Ability to manage vendor/supplier relationships and have an extensive network of vendors/suppliers to tap into.
- Understanding of end-to-end new product innovation process required.
- Strong skills in anticipating needs and demonstrating a proactive approach to job responsibilities.
- Excellent communication skills (verbal, written, interpersonal) with all levels.
- Excellent attention to detail.
- Strong project management skills and ability to multitask across complex and high sku count of product development.
- Strong collaboration and communication skills applied to immediate and crossfunctional team.
- Ability to maintain a senior-level strategic point of view while managing details of the product development process.
Expired job
