Associate Manager, Innovation

About the Role

The Associate Brand Manager, Innovation is responsible for creating and delivering a product innovation pipeline that supports the marketing strategy to increase household penetration and help Tate’s achieve its ambition to lead premium snacking in baked goods. This role involves identifying opportunities through consumer understanding, prioritizing through commercial and brand strategy, and collaborating with cross-functional teams to execute innovation projects.

Responsibilities

• Support the development of brand innovation strategy, in partnership with the Director, to create a multi-year innovation pipeline aligned with brand growth strategy and financial targets.
• Translate unmet consumer needs into winning concepts using consumer research, syndicated data, and market trends.
• Work with agencies to develop consumer-centric innovation bundles and validate concepts.
• Manage the brand 4:2:1 plans (e.g., pipelines) and collaborate with business partners to develop proposals and drive consensus on opportunities, resources, and timelines.
• Lead commercialization projects, drive growth, and support Tate's long-term strategy.
• Provide marketing leadership through the innovation stage gate process, collaborating with R&D, Consumer Insights, Sales, Operations, and other teams.
• Partner with Sales to develop channel and customer-level understanding for packaging, pricing, and placement.
• Work with R&D to ensure clear product development briefs and exceed consumer expectations during prototyping and testing.
• Brief Creative teams and external agencies on innovation-related needs and manage feedback/approvals.
• Develop new item forecasts and projections with Sales, Consumer Insights, Demand Planning, and Finance to align with financial hurdles and mitigate waste.
• Create internal and external sell-in stories for innovation, articulating strategic rationale and consumer problem-solving.
• Track post-launch performance and integrate learnings into pipeline innovation development.
• Support the innovation team with data hygiene, budget management, and other needs.
• Adapt to shifting organizational priorities and take ownership of new duties with a roll-up-your-sleeves mindset.

Requirements

• Proven ability to analyze and leverage syndicated data (Nielsen or equivalent), customer POS data, shipment history, and shopper data to identify business opportunities.
• Proficiency in MS Office, especially Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel, and Word.

Qualifications

• 6-8 years of experience in CPG marketing for food manufacturing.
• Excellent strategic, analytical, and decision-making skills with a solid understanding of Nielsen Data (or comparable).
• Knowledge and experience managing a P&L.
• Passion for consumer insights and innovation curiosity.
• Performance mindset with a bias for setting and measuring KPIs.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, able to foster open communication and influence others.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, including presentation skills.
• Knowledge of the Stage Gate process for innovation initiative management.
• Strong project management skills with the ability to prioritize and multi-task complex projects.
• Entrepreneurial and methodical approach.
• Results-oriented with high expectations of self and team.
• Collaborative mindset with strength in receiving and communicating feedback.

Education

Bachelor of Science/Arts degree.

Pay

The base salary range for this position is $97,300 to $133,815. The exact salary depends on factors such as experience, skills, education, and location.

Benefits

• Health insurance
• Wellness and family support programs
• Life and disability insurance
• Retirement savings plans
• Paid leave programs
• Education-related programs
• Paid holidays and vacation time

Many of these benefits are subsidized or fully paid for by the company. Some benefits have eligibility requirements.

Additional Information

No relocation support is available for this position.