Do you have a passion for Innovation? This is your chance! Join the Arla Marketing team as our Innovation Manager! This exciting role will be the perfect opportunity for you to be part of an exciting team and a dynamic, world-class Consumer Packaged Goods and Dairy Manufacturing company.

 

As our Innovation Manager, you will lead and manage the development and execution of high-impact, strategic branded innovation initiatives. In this role you will focus on identifying market opportunities, designing innovative solutions, and driving new product development tailored to the unique needs of the Foodservice and Club channels.

 

About the role

 

Reporting to the Senior Commercial Innovation and  Project Manager, you will:

Lead the end-to-end development and execution of the Foodservice and Club innovation pipeline for Arla Foods Canada, ensuring alignment with the company's strategic priorities by utilizing Arla’s Stage/Gate process and Project Planner Analyze market trends, customer needs, and competitive activity to identify opportunities for new products and formats Forge strong relationships and leverage best practices from Arla Global, Dairies, and Project Management teams to gain and share insights into the global innovation pipeline for potential relevance to the Canadian market Effectively lead multiple strategic branded New Product Development (NPD) projects simultaneously, ensuring projects stay on schedule and to budget, by utilizing strong communication, collaboration, leadership, and project management skills Bring a solution-oriented mindset to all projects to proactively anticipate project obstacles / constraints / resource requirements and elevate with solutions to team as required Manage the end-to-end innovation process, tailored to Foodservice and Club channels Contribute to innovation process improvements personalized for the Foodservice and Club channels ensuring all projects are managed through the Stage/Gate process accordingly, with agility Lead 1:1 stakeholder management efforts, serving as the key point of contact for innovation needs within the Foodservice and Club channels, and drive processes to develop tailored solutions for customer requirements Build and maintain strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders, including cross-functional teams and Foodservice/Club Sales Directors Develop and execute communication to key stakeholders and follow-ups with cross-functional team members to ensure progress between team meetings Act as the voice of the customer in internal discussions, ensuring innovation projects align with their strategic objectives Partner with key Foodservice operators, distributors, and Club channel customers to co-create innovative solutions that meet their unique requirements Develop and present tailored product concepts, ensuring they align with customer priorities and operational capabilities Network across the FMCG industry to understand the development of new strategically branded products and innovation processes including competitor monitoring in specified areas of expertise and ensure findings are brought to the attention of relevant stakeholders across the business Coordinate with sales, supply chain, and marketing teams to ensure seamless product launches which includes building project schedules and workflows to ensure project objectives are delivered on-time and on-budget accordingly to the defined scope, timeline and cost parameters Understand innovation performance and key innovation metrics (KPIs) and contribution to exploration of areas to improve by working with the commercial team on post NPD launch evaluations

 

Who are you?

 

You will have a at least 3-5 years of experience in commercial innovation within an FMCG environment. Your experience will include brand development, product management, and marketing activation. You will have demonstrated skills in analytics, with the ability to interpret complex data sets to inform decision making; Nielsen experience would be an asset. You will have strong expertise in stakeholder management, with the ability to influence and align diverse internal and external partners. Your track record will include management of multiple projects while staying on schedule and budget. Your knowledge will also include a strong understanding of the Foodservice and/or Club landscapes.

 

Your education will include a university degree in marketing, business administration, or equivalent, and you will hold a relevant professional designation (PMP, Lean Six Sigma, or equivalent).

 

What do we offer?

 

In pursuing this exciting opportunity, the selected individuals will be awarded with a competitive compensation package.

 

At Arla, we strive to unlock the highest potential in each other while working together to create the future of dairy. We push each other to keep our cooperative at the forefront of the dairy industry, so we can create Good Growth and bring health and inspiration to the world, naturally.

 

We do so much more than make some of the world’s favorite dairy products. We give babies the best start in life, make the family dinner unforgettable and mornings worth getting up for.  Every single one of us plays an important role and together we build and help establish our position as one of the largest dairy companies in the world.

 

Application and contact

 

Interested and qualified candidates are invited to submit their resume.  Arla foods is committed to providing equal opportunities for all applicants and employees regardless of race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic or national origin, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, record of offences (for which a pardon has been granted), disability, marital or family status, or any other characteristic protected by law.   If you require an accommodation in order to participate in the recruitment process, please contact us at the email address above to provide your contact information. While we appreciate all resume submissions, only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

 

While we appreciate all applications, only applicants that are legally authorized to work in Canada will be considered for this role.

 

We have a purpose for Good

At Arla, we strive to unlock the highest potential in each other while working together to create a sustainable future of dairy. We call it Stronger People Stronger Planet and it is deeply anchored in our organisation and founded on our commitment to respecting human rights, increasing access to healthy dairy nutrition, inspiring good food habits, and improving the environment for future generations. In order to succeed we need to hire people with a sustainable mindset. Could this be you?

 

BEWARE! RECRUITMENT FRAUD
It has come to our attention that there are a number of fraudulent emails and fake recruitment campaigns on the internet from people purporting to work for Arla Foods. Learn more via this link.

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