Innovation Director

We are the VMS Co-Op, a group of fast growing companies in the Vitamins, Minerals and Supplements (VMS) space. The VMS Co-Op includes OLLY, Smarty Pants and future acquisitions to come! This position's home company is OLLY.

We’re on the hunt for someone who is a visionary and can get things done! Blue sky thinking, white space identification and driving Innovation led growth runs in their DNA. This is a pivotal role to chart OLLY’s growth for the next decade. This role sits at the intersection of cutting‑edge breakthrough trends, consumer insight/foresight and science/technology. The Brand Innovation Director will not only build but also launch the short & long-term innovation strategy for OLLY to disrupt and win in the health, wellness and beauty space.

This individual will be super collaborative, analytical, curious and constantly on top of trends! You’ve got the chops to drive fresh, innovative ideas in new spaces to disrupt in the marketplace. Out of the box thinking is your M.O.! You’ll have cross‑segment platform ownership and lead the strategy and execution for consumer, product, and category research and bring external cultural trends into OLLY.

You’ll be responsible for managing a pipeline of innovations and stage gates, landing new products in market, and maximizing innovation‑led growth for OLLY. This role reports into the VP of Brand Strategy & Innovation and will have a Senior Manager reporting into this role.

• Build a disruptive innovation funnel 2027 – 2030+ at the intersection of health, wellness and beauty
• Manage the pipeline of projects, move projects through stage gates, commercialize and launch the innovations year on year for national and custom retail partners
• Deliver breakthrough innovation that sticks – identify, explore, and drive white space innovation
• Translate cultural and social signals into product opportunities
• Create an innovation strategy across win, compete and maintain segments
• Partner with Insights to translate consumer learnings and foresight into actionable business initiatives – identifying unmet or under‑served consumer, shopper, and/or customer needs and/or segments
• Help create innovation and category stories for strategic customers across brick and mortar and e‑commerce
• Partner with Brand Strategy, Marketing & Finance & eCom to create innovations that deliver on all business goals
• Influence the broader Brand team on long‑term brand & innovation strategy and identify key growth accelerators

You’re a passionate brand crafter who knows how to break through in a dynamic fast‑changing environment. Creative & curious, you have a passion for identifying white innovation based on cultural, social and global trends, consumer needs, competition, and/or sales data. You’re not afraid to dive into the data, interpreting numbers and translating them into actionable insights. You are a strategic thinker, a collaborative leader and never afraid to roll up your sleeves to do whatever is necessary to win in the marketplace by bringing disruption and new thinking.

You’re an expert multi‑tasker: run the business in the here and now, and identify opportunities for growth in the future? No problem! Foresight, blue sky thinking and white space identification and landing new things excites you! You are passionate about the brand and this category of health & wellness, to deliver innovations that truly deliver and make lives better, happier, healthier!

• 12‑15 years of brand experience in innovation and strategy within the CPG industry
• Proven experience in creating new markets, new categories and launching disruptive innovation year on year
• A fast and flexible leader who jumps on new opportunities and has a natural aptitude for collaboration across functions
• Solid analytical skills and experience working with syndicated data such as IRI Unify
• Ability to translate data into insights for actionable growth
• Knowledge and experience in working with all customer channels (including e‑commerce)
• Exceptional verbal and visual communicator – can effectively story‑tell in PowerPoint and analyze data clearly in Excel
• E…