Assistant Manager, Pet Innovation at Smucker Retail Foods, Inc. — Orrville, OH

Your Opportunity as the Assistant Manager, Pet Innovation

Imagine being part of the innovation future of the consumer packaged goods industry.  Smuckers is building a unique innovation capability balancing both a creative approach with a general manager mindset that will be a key driver of growth for the company. The goal is to create a start-up culture within an $8B CPG and that requires marketing leaders that are driven to build and launch new businesses and seek a career in marketing and innovation.

Location: Orrville, Corporate Offices

Work Arrangements: Hybrid - onsite a minimum of 9 days a month primarily during core weeks as determined by the Company; maybe more as business need requires.

In this role you will:

• Work with the Innovation Leadership team to ensure innovation is aligned to our broader Pet Strategy and Key Objectives.
• Develop and validate concepts that deliver on key consumer needs and align to the brand strategy.
• Develop a robust pipeline of disruptive innovation that drives incremental and profitable growth. Provide thought leadership to inspire greatness, divergent thinking, and ongoing inspiration for business building platforms for sustained growth.
• Lead a diverse, cross-functional best in class team who will be responsible for shepherding platforms and product concepts through the innovation process, considering strategic, consumer, technical and business viability.
• Lead with a blend of disciplined management practices with entrepreneurial behavior, skills, and mindset to make intuitive strategic decisions while appropriately managing uncertainty and risk.
• Represent innovation with multiple stakeholders including brand marketing, operations finance and retail customers.
• Align and Influence leadership to make optimal prioritization and commercialization decisions.
• Manage the innovation metrics that support overall profitability.
• Assist in building internal innovation capabilities and help to shape a culture of creativity and innovating thinking.

What we are looking for:

Minimum Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree
• At least 3 years of relevant work experience in Marketing or Innovation
• At least 3 years of experience in the consumer packaged goods industry
• Understanding of how consumer insights drive the development of effective innovation concepts
• Strong analytical capability and ability to lead / influence a cross functional team

Additional skills and experience that we think would make someone successful in this role:

• MBA
• Sets a high standard for performance.  Pursues goals with purpose and a sense of urgency.
• Creates an inclusive and creative environment.
• Persists despite set-backs and works to gain acceptance for ideas.
• Rallies behind the vision and exhibits optimism.
• Comfortable with ambiguity and excitement about envisioning the future.
• Passion to take initiative and drive change.

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The Right Place for You

We are bold, kind, strive to do the right thing, we play to win, and we believe in a strong community that thrives together. Our culture is rooted in our Basic Beliefs, and we believe in supporting every employee by meeting their physical, emotional, and financial needs.

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We're an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, age, national origin, disability status or protected veteran status.