We’re assembling collection of job descriptions for a wide array of innovation-related roles, including in the manufacturing industry. We hope it’ll be useful as you’re trying to build out your own innovation team — or to see how other companies describe what innovation means to them, who innovation leaders report to, etc.
You can help. E-mail us with job descriptions you’ve seen, or used at your organization.
(Please note: Some of these searches may be on-going, but most aren’t. Please check with the company, LinkedIn, or Indeed to confirm.)
- Innovation Director, Amsterdam Printing
- Chief Innovation Officer, Construction Specialties
- Director/Innovation & Portfolio Management, MasterBrand Cabinets
Innovation Director, Amsterdam Printing
Amsterdam Printing, a division of Taylor Corporation, and a leader and innovator in the business to business promotional products marketplace, has a career opportunity for an Innovation Director.
The Innovation Director will take a leadership role to identify business development opportunities and develop initiatives to help grow the Amsterdam business. These initiatives include opportunities with new product development, market development, or technological advancement. It also includes reviewing existing processes and identifying opportunities for improvement that can produce measurable results.
Innovation Director Responsibilities:
- Partners with leadership team to develop strategic vision for the company
- Researches and integrates possible market opportunities into business plans
- Oversees the development of overall business opportunities, new markets, technological innovation, and product lines to strategically position the company for short and long-term sustainability and market share growth
- Provides leadership in planning, designing, and implementing strategic business plans and objectives, and evaluating results; maintains accountability throughout
- Reviews current operations in most departments, and coordinates with other business functions to increase effectiveness of business development initiatives
- Compares competitive operations vs. internal operations with the goal of defining and implementing programs for sustained competitive advantages
- Establishes and maintains strategic industry relations, and creates and maintains communication channels for understanding and utilizing industry regulations and trends
- Participates in professional organizations and attend seminars, technical symposiums, and trade shows
- Develops and executes presentations for and with senior managementMay provide insight and recommendations regarding mergers and acquisitions
Proficiency and Skills:
- Understanding of full product and market life-cycle concepts and implementation
- Understanding of how sales and marketing channels operate and integrate
- Project management skills and experience
- Strong teamwork and communication skills; ability to translate strategic ideas and initiatives across multiple departments and audiences
- Familiarity with e-commerce and telephony
- Analytical skills including capability to produce forecasts
- Critical thinking skills (converting problems or opportunities into strategic plans)
Innovation Director Job Requirements:
- Bachelor degree in related field or equivalent amount of experience preferred
- 5 years experience in Market Development
- 3 years experience in Leadership, preferably within the Promotional Products industry
- Proficient with MS Office, CRM, Lifetime Value
Chief Innovation Officer, Construction Specialties
Construction Specialties, Inc., www.c-sgroup.com, a 65 year old, privately held global manufacturing company is seeking a Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) to join their management team. The CIO will work to achieve accelerated growth through customer and market focused innovation.
The CIO will be responsible for driving innovation throughout the organization and building an innovation team that will deliver solutions to uncover unmet customer needs. This will include coordinating go to market messaging, validating messaging against market research and coordinating with Construction Specialties strategic business units.
Responsibilities:
- The CIO will lead innovation efforts across the company.
- The CIO will work with internal and external teams using human-centered design and innovation methodologies to meet customer needs (Foresight, Insight and Co-Innovation).
- The CIO will serve as the day-to-day lead in corporate headquarters innovation space managing interactions with internal stakeholders.
- This person must be an excellent public speaker and presenter and enjoy working with diverse, cross-functional teams.
Director/Innovation & Portfolio Management, MasterBrand Cabinets
Position Summary:
The Director – Innovation & Portfolio Management will be responsible for developing and directing our discovery and innovation process across all brands and product categories in order to strengthen and grow MasterBrand Cabinets, Inc.’s position within the market. This individual will work closely with the Innovation Cell team, Sales, Marketing, Operations, channel partners, and customers to assure all parties are working together toward a common objective. Relocation assistance is available for this position.
Organizational Relationship:
This position will report to the Executive Vice President – Product & Brand Marketing.
Accountabilities:
- Coordinate messaging strategies between product management and brand communications to develop consistent brand messaging across all channels
- Collaborate with the web marketing team to gather and analyze
- Radiant Six reports and other information related to product development
- Coordinate with the Fortune Brands Home & Security (FBHS) legal team regarding intellectual property additions and changes
- Oversee the process of developing, updating, and communicating new product warranties
- Lead, support and develop the Industrial Design team
- Develop the group’s product innovation and development process, taking an innovative approach to consumer needs in order to develop a market-leading product portfolio
- Refine New Product Introduction (NPI) process to enable MasterBrand Cabinets, Inc. (MBCI) to bring the right products to market faster
- Continuously improve our innovation process and develop analytical tools to filter and prioritize concepts
- Chair the Innovation Cell and ensure Product Management is the voice of the customer –understand our customers and their needs, work to create new products that will exceed expectations
- Work in conjunction with the Innovation Cell to:
- Create and implement product development processes which ensure efficient use of resources and timely delivery of projects to market, always with a focus on Design, with manufacturing and cost in mind
- Define new market opportunities across all brands and product categories; establish product definition including value proposition, pricing, features, services, and roadmap; maintain market knowledge of competition, industry, vendor strategies, and consumer buying behaviors
- Build strategies and business cases for initiatives through thorough competitive and market analyses, deep understanding of emerging trends, and development of meaningful consumer insights
- Analyze, recommend, and lead opportunities based on new technologies or “white space” opportunities
- Constantly research and seek new ideas, designs, efficiencies and concepts, keeping up-to-date on market, consumer, and competitor activities
- Build close relationships with internal departments (Product Management, Supply Chain, Cost Accounting, Sales and Marketing) and external partners to keep up-to-date on emerging ideas to translate them into tangible solutions
- Present new ideas and concepts to senior management teams and drive them through to realization
- Travel domestically and internationally as business needs require; estimated travel currently anticipated for this position is approximately 20%
- Other duties as may be assigned at management’s discretion.
Knowledge, Skills, and Experience:
- Industry and product passion; strong desire to win
- Passion for creating exceptional solutions that enable our business; high sense of urgency and results orientation
- Ability to conceptualize and research new ideas and evaluate new ideas
- Strong analytical and critical thinking skills; quantitatively and qualitatively analyze concepts, strategic opportunities, and competitive threats
- Ability to drive successful execution of strategic plans; ability to deliver target results
- Exceptional project management skills
- Assertive personality with team orientation/balance; demonstrated ability to influence others
- Innovative problem solver with the ability to develop solutions
- Strong communication skills – written, verbal and presentation skills; ability to connect with a diverse audienceStrong team orientation; ability to partner with cross-functional groups
- Consistently demonstrate the 5 Traits of Success: Teamwork, Integrity, Hard Work, Confidence, and Passion.
Education
- Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, or a related field is minimally required
- 7+ years of experience in the building products industry with a marketing and/or product background
- Demonstrated success creating effective marketing plans that fully leverage products and services
- Possess or obtain intimate knowledge of the market, including styles, trends, designer behaviors, design processes, and consumer acceptance
