Innovation Project Manager

Role Purpose:

The Innovation Project Manager manages the execution of innovation projects from concept development through commercialization readiness, ensuring alignment with brand priorities, consumer insights, business objectives, and cross-functional delivery requirements. The role coordinates innovation pipelines, monitors project milestones, supports product and concept development activities, and ensures timely delivery of innovation initiatives across marketing, commercial, R&D, supply chain, and operations stakeholders.

Key Accountabilities & Activities

Generic Accountabilities

Strategy Execution

• Implement departmental plans and ensure alignment with defined business objectives.
• Translate functional goals into team-level operational plans and coordinate their execution.
• Monitor and track execution progress and report on performance against targets.

Budget and Financial Monitoring

• Support and manage budget preparation and implement cost control within the team.
• Track expenditures and report variances in line with approved budgets.

Common Accountabilities

• Manage day-to-day operations and ensure delivery of targets in line with plans.
• Identify and implement process improvements to enhance operational efficiency.
• Ensure compliance with policies, procedures, and operational standards.

People Management

• Manage and supervise team members, setting clear objectives and expectations.
• Monitor and track team performance, providing regular feedback to ensure delivery.
• Support and coordinate employee development and training initiatives.

Coordination

• Coordinate team activities to ensure smooth execution of operational plans.
• Coordinate with internal stakeholders to resolve operational issues and support delivery.

Job-Specific Accountabilities

Innovation Pipeline Management

• Manage the execution of innovation pipeline activities, including project prioritization, milestone tracking, and cross-functional delivery coordination.
• Implement innovation project plans aligned with approved business priorities, brand strategy, consumer opportunities, and market needs.
• Monitor innovation pipeline progress and track risks, delays, dependencies, and delivery gaps impacting project outcomes.
• Deliver pipeline updates, project status reports, and recommendations to support decision-making and portfolio visibility.

Concept Development & Consumer Opportunity Support

• Manage concept development activities by translating consumer insights, market trends, and brand opportunities into innovation project briefs.
• Coordinate with Consumer Insights & Research, Branding, and Commercial teams to ensure innovation concepts address clear consumer needs and business opportunities.
• Monitor concept testing inputs, consumer feedback, and market validation results to support refinement of innovation ideas.
• Deliver project inputs that support development of differentiated, relevant, and commercially viable innovation concepts.

Cross-Functional Project Coordination

• Coordinate with R&D, Supply Chain, Operations, Commercial, Finance, Regulatory, and Marketing teams to support effective delivery of innovation projects.
• Implement project governance routines, meeting cadences, and action tracking to ensure project stakeholders remain aligned on timelines, decisions, and deliverables.
• Monitor project dependencies across functions and track issues affecting development, feasibility, costing, launch readiness, or supply availability.
• Deliver coordinated solutions that support project progress and timely decision-making.

Product Development & Commercialization Readiness

• Manage project activities supporting product development, packaging development, feasibility assessment, and launch preparation.
• Coordinate with R&D and Operations to support formulation, product trials, validation activities, and production readiness requirements.
• Monitor commercialization milestones including product specifications, regulatory inputs, packaging readiness, supply planning, and launch requirements.
• Deliver project support that enables smooth transition from innovation development to market execution.

Business Case & Financial Tracking Support

• Support preparation and review of innovation business cases, including market opportunity, volume assumptions, financial inputs, investment requirements, and expected returns.
• Coordinate with Finance and Commercial teams to support validation of project assumptions and financial feasibility.
• Monitor project cost inputs, business case updates, and financial risks that may impact innovation delivery or commercial viability.
• Track project performance inputs required for innovation portfolio reviews and decision gates.

Innovation Performance Monitoring

• Monitor innovation project KPIs including project timelines, milestone completion, launch readiness, consumer validation, cost assumptions, and post-launch performance inputs.
• Track performance of launched innovation initiatives and support collection of lessons learned for future project improvement.
• Deliver performance reports and insights that support innovation reviews, portfolio decisions, and continuous improvement.

Agency, Vendor & Partner Coordination

• Coordinate with external agencies, packaging partners, research partners, design vendors, and innovation service providers to support project delivery.
• Monitor vendor deliverables, timelines, quality of outputs, and alignment with project requirements.
• Review project materials, concepts, prototypes, and external outputs to support consistency with innovation objectives and brand standards.

Track vendor-supported activities and support issue resolution where required.

Knowledge, Experience & Education

• Minimum 6+ years of experience in a relevant field, with at least 2 years in a managerial role.
• Experience in innovation project management, product development, brand management, commercialization, or marketing project delivery.
• Strong understanding of innovation pipelines, stage-gate processes, concept development, consumer insights, and commercialization readiness.
• Experience coordinating cross-functional teams across marketing, R&D, supply chain, operations, and commercial functions.
• Experience in FMCG, consumer goods, retail, or consumer-facing industries is preferred.
• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business Administration, Product Innovation, Engineering, or a related field is required.
• Professional certification in Project Management, Innovation Management, Product Management, or Agile methodologies is preferred.