Brand Manager, Innovation

Role Purpose

The Marketing Brand Manager, Innovation is responsible for leading the long-term innovation strategy and early development of innovation across the portfolio, identifying new growth opportunities and translating them into compelling propositions that drive future business growth.

This role connects brand strategy, consumer insight, and market opportunity to define the next sources of growth for the portfolio. The Brand Manager, Innovation will identify emerging consumer needs, whitespace opportunities, and category trends, translating them into clear innovation territories and platforms that strengthen brand equity and expand the portfolio into new areas of growth.

The role leads the early development of innovation concepts from insight to proper handoff to the brand for commercialization, partnering closely with Insights, R&D, Sales, Supply Chain, and Finance to ensure ideas are consumer-relevant, operationally feasible, and commercially viable. The Brand Manager, Innovation will guide initiatives through early stage-gate processes while maintaining strong alignment with enterprise growth priorities and brand strategies.

Success in this role requires a curious and entrepreneurial marketer who is energized by identifying what’s next for the business and a deep passion for understanding consumer’s unmet needs. The ideal candidate combines strategic thinking with strong executional discipline, balancing creative ideation with rigorous validation and commercial accountability.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Innovation Strategy & Opportunity Identification
  • Identify whitespace opportunities and emerging consumer needs through analysis of category trends, consumer insights, and competitive landscapes.
  • Translate enterprise growth strategies into clear innovation and renovation territories that expand brand relevance and portfolio growth
  • Monitor evolving consumer behaviors, macro trends, and competitive activity to uncover new areas for innovation and brand expansion.
  • Develop strategic opportunity areas that guide future innovation platforms and product development initiatives
• Concept Development & Ideation
  • Lead the development of innovative product concepts that address unmet consumer needs and support portfolio growth. Translate consumer insights and data into compelling product propositions and innovation platforms.
  • Facilitate ideation sessions and collaborate with cross-functional partners to generate and refine breakthrough ideas.
  • Build strong project charters that clearly articulate consumer value, brand fit, and commercial potential including proforma P&L that proves financial guardrails and viabliity
• Consumer Validation & Market Learning
  • Develop learning plans to validate innovation concepts through consumer research, concept testing, and product feedback.
  • Partner with Insights team to design and execute research that informs concept refinement and prioritization. Translate research findings into actionable recommendations that strengthen product propositioins and support decision making.
• Pipeline & Portfolio Management
  • Contribute to the development and maintenance of a multi-year innovation pipeline aligned with strategic growth priorities.
  • Prioritize and manage innovation initiatives to ensure a balanced portfolio of near-term, adjacent, and longer-term opportunities.
  • Continuously refine innovation initiatives based on new insights, business priorities, and market learning.
  • Support the development of strong business cases and financial projections for innovation initiatives to ensure portfolio sufficiency
• Cross-Functional Leadership
  • Lead cross-functional teams through early stage gate and commercialization processes.
  • Manage projects through stage gate and commercialization processes to ensure initiatives progress efficiently and successfully launch.
  • Partner with internal stakeholders to ensure innovation concepts are operationally feasible, financially viable, and aligned with broader business objectives.
  • Translate research insights into actionable recommendations that strengthen product propositions and support decision making.
  • Monitor post-launch performance and identify key learnings to inform future innovation initiatives.