Sr. Manager, Product Innovation

About the role...

At Advantage Solutions, we are the unseen architects behind your everyday purchases. From pantry staples at places like Target, to samples at Costco, to your online shopping carts at Amazon, we ensure your favorite goods are always in stock and within reach by connecting manufacturers to the right retailers and helping retailers figure out the best ways to get those products into your hands. We elevate brand presence, enhance retail strategies, optimize performance, and create memorable customer experiences.

The Explore team at Advantage Solutions is a newly established data and AI innovation team dedicated to helping our business unit leaders define, test and build the next generation of businesses and experiences for our employees, our customer’s employees, and their shoppers. While this team builds our fair share of decks, our raison d'etre is to define and run proof of concept and pilot programs that validate the ability of new technologies to drive real value to the business and user experience.

We are looking for a Sr Manager of Product Innovation who is passionate about data and AI to join our very small team with very big goals. Specifically, you will work closely with the VP of Innovation & Strategy to identify new business opportunities for AI, run proof of concept and pilots to validate use cases, manage and improve our innovation pipeline, process, methods, and tools, and identify and evaluate potential strategic technology partners.

As we are a new team, you will need to represent and promote the Explore Innovation team to our internal IT Leaders and our Branded, Retail, Experiential and Shared Services business unit executives. You will also need to educate and inspire the organization about using AI to address our biggest business challenges and opportunities.

The Explore team office is in the Chicago West Loop. This is a hybrid role requiring 1-3 days/week onsite.

Responsibilities

• Working with business leaders in clarifying business opportunities, defining new concepts, building high level business cases, and prioritizing potential use cases.
• Managing our innovation pipeline and advance our innovation tools, methods, and processes.
• Defining and managing PoC and Pilot programs with internal teams and external strategic partners.
• Technology partner scouting including investigating emerging technologies and trends, assessing potential technology partners, and conducting due diligence.
• Developing and facilitating executive level innovation workshops.
• Conducting basic field research to understand business processes and user needs.
• Networking and promoting awareness of the Explore team and AI within the Advantage IT organization and the business groups with which it partners.

Required Experience

• Bachelor’s degree and 8+ years of experience in product, innovation, engineering, or a related field, or master’s or MBA (preferred) and 4+ years of experience.
• 4+ years of leadership experience managing cross-functional teams and projects.
• Field research, user requirements and product definition
• Experience with innovation management frameworks and tools.
• Executive level innovation workshop definition and facilitation

Desired Experience

• 4+ years of experience working in Consumer-Packaged Goods and/or Retail.
• Experience working in a technology driven startup.
• Local to Chicago, IL and willing and able to go onsite a couple days/week.

Capabilities

• Strong project management skills and ability to oversee multiple innovation projects from concept to execution.
• Expertise in analyzing data, market trends, and competitive landscapes to identify opportunities.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills for presenting ideas and influencing stakeholders.
• Ability to collaborate with technical teams and understand technical concepts.
• Familiar with design thinking methodologies and ability to facilitate workshops and brainstorming sessions.
• Skills in managing an innovation pipeline and portfolio of projects.
• Proficiency in using data and analytics to inform decision-making.
• Ability to manage and influence senior executives and key stakeholders.
• Proficiency in managing timelines, budgets, and resources.