Food CPG Innovation Manager

Job Goal/Mission

Within 90 days of the role start date
, you should be:

• Completing day to day tasks and functions required to commercialize new or maintain existing 180
  
  Snacks branded and private label products.
• Leading project teams, assigning individual responsibilities, enforcing accountability and developing/maintaining timelines to ensure timely completion of projects/tasks.
• Working collaboratively with cross-functional teams and contractors to deliver safe, consistent, and most importantly delightful products to our customers in the timeframe required.

• Monitor and control project work identifying and quantifying variances to timelines and budgets and communicating regularly with all stakeholders
• Run and/or participate in commercialization meetings, ensuring project decisions are made efficiently and documented
• Communicate the project plan and scope. Utilize CODA to develop and share timelines for applicable projects
• Work collaboratively with R&D for the development of prototypes and scheduling of plant trials as needed for projects
• Work collaboratively with Design for the development of prototypes and scheduling of plant trials as needed for projects
• Work collaboratively with Printers for the development of prototypes and initial purchase orders
• Employ effective interpersonal time and resource management skills to complete projects
• Provide subject matter expertise for the projects managed
• Initiate new item setups in Deacom ERP, including BOM setup/maintenance
• Assist in SKU maintenance (discontinued items, Deacom clean up, Organic, Non-GMO, Kosher, etc.)
• Review/approve internal product specifications
• Complete customer forms as required for project initiation/completion
• Initiate and complete packaging/graphics projects
• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, or related field would be helpful but not necessary
• Proven experience in project management within the CPG industry would be helpful but not necessary
• Passion for building and launching new items into the world
• Passion for continuous improvement of processes, automating and reorganizing where possible
• Can commercialize in about 1/3 of the time most competent people think possible
• Strong time management, planning and prioritization skills
• Professional written and verbal communication skills, with excellent client facing skills (external) and the ability to communicate at all levels within the organization (internal)
• Ability to work with and build effective relationships with sales, plants, suppliers and customers
• Ability to learn our business, be a team player and enjoy working in a team-oriented environment
• Strong problem solving/decision-making skills, interpersonal skills, and analytical capabilities
• Good general understanding of business and financial principles.
• Demonstrated work ethic, integrity, and professional conduct
• Ability to lead a team and enjoy working in a fast-paced environment
• Organized and detail-oriented
• Ability to provide artistic vision to Designers that will drive trial and velocity on shelf

• High-stress management (lots of data, know which ones to pay attention to, so not overwhelmed)
• Enjoys the full process of being in a conversation simply talking about a cool idea, and a few weeks later watching the forklifts load the container taking a new item to thousands of retail points where customers will experience the product
• Takes delight in being one of those rare people that can hold huge amounts of information and maintain both the big picture and small picture
• Genuine love for software tools and organizational systems that can scale.

• To improve the lives of our customers by providing the most delicious and healthy snacks that beat anything currently in the market in each category we choose to play- thereby making 180
  
  Snacks #1 in sales in the selected category and making our retail partners, company members, and investors prosperous.
• Obsessively profit-oriented
• Key objectives are established for a reason. Words are words. Actions are actions. But only results are results.
• They understand that all results should indirect/directly Increase revenue, or decrease cost. If the company is not profitable, and turn that profit into cash, then nobody wins.
• Therefore, they are able to prioritize which key objectives to focus on.
• And, in order to move forward as efficiently as possible, they are instinctively automation-oriented (ie software, equipment, SOPs). They hate unnecessarily redundant and manual actions.
• Salary-exempt. Because no metric matters more than achieving the Key Outcomes, they do whatever it takes to get the project done. Our top players agree to be salary-exempt, in exchange for certain privileges (ie bonuses, flex-schedule, work flow autonomy, etc.)
• Self-starter, Self-finisher The buck always stops with them, they are never victims and they take ultimate responsibility. If everyone in the company disappeared right now, they would still be able to…