Senior Manager - Innovation/Channel Development

Company and Position Information:

Del Monte Foods (DMFC) is a multi-national food company headquartered in Walnut Creek, CA, with a powerful portfolio of brands, including iconic Del Monte®, Contadina® and College Inn®. Our premium-quality meal ingredients, snacks and beverages can be found in six out of ten U.S. households.

At Del Monte Foods, we believe in supporting one another. In helping our people shape their own careers - in letting them grow outward, upward and across disciplines. We are tending to the greater good, providing accessible, nourishing, great-tasting food for all. We are Del Monte Foods - Growers of Good.

The salary range for this role is:
$129,670.50 - $233,345.25

Responsibilities:

The incumbent is a builder, an individual who has the passion and the dedication to grow their business and team through innovative thinking, collaboration, and hard work. He/she takes a holistic approach to developing amazing products, competitive pricing strategies, and new channels of distribution. He/she leads teams that include multiple stakeholders from within the Marketing department and outside of the Marketing department including Field Sales, Finance, Demand & Production Planning, Operations, and R&D.

Position can be a hybrid role based out of the Walnut Creek HQ office (preferred) or can be fully remote and located in the following states: AR, CA, CO, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, MI, MN, NC, NE, NJ, NV, OH, OR, PA, TN, TX, VA, WA, WI.

• Identify Market Opportunities: Constantly monitors market trends, consumer behaviors, and competitive activities to identify emerging opportunities for innovation and growth including channel expansion.
• Develops Innovation/Renovation and Channel Development Strategies: Formulating and implementing innovation strategies aligned with the company's overall objectives and market dynamics. This involves setting clear goals, timelines, and resource allocations for innovation projects.
• New Product Development (NPD): Leads the development of new products from concept ideation to commercialization. This includes directing market research, collaborating with cross-functional teams (R&D, marketing, sales, etc.), managing product development timelines, managing innovation budgets, and ensuring product quality and compliance.
• Product Portfolio Management: Analyzes the company's existing product portfolio to identify opportunities for innovation. Makes strategic decisions regarding product line extensions, product improvements, and discontinuations based on market insights and performance data.
• Innovation Pipeline Management: Manages a pipeline of innovation projects at various stages of development. Prioritizes projects based on strategic objectives, market potential, resource availability, and risk considerations.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Collaborates closely with various departments such as R&D, marketing, sales, supply chain, and finance to ensure alignment and seamless execution of innovation initiatives. Builds strong relationships and fosters a culture of innovation across the organization.
• Risk Management: Anticipates and mitigates potential risks and challenges associated with innovation initiatives, such as technical feasibility, regulatory compliance, market acceptance, and competitive threats.
• Project Management: Effectively manages multiple innovation projects simultaneously, ensuring they stay on track in terms of timelines, budgets, and deliverables. Implements project management best practices and tools to drive efficiency and accountability.
• Continuous Improvement: Continuously evaluates the effectiveness of innovation strategies and processes, identifying areas for improvement, and implementing corrective actions to enhance innovation capabilities and outcomes.
• Organizational Development and People Management: Selects, coaches, trains, and manages career development of direct reports including "Channel Development/Innovation Manager" to deliver objectives.
• Other duties as assigned.

• Connect our teams to a clear strategy.
• Provide the support our teams need for success.
• Hold ourselves and our teams accountable.

• Solve problems together with our teams.
• Enable smart risk taking.
• Empower our teams to make decisions and take action.

• Are intentional about building trust.
• Lead with empathy.
• Grow and develop our teams.

• Bachelors' Degree in Business or related field. MBA strongly preferred.
• Strong professional background with 5+ years brand and marketing experience (within CPG , preferably Tier 1 Organization).
• Builds the Future:
  • Builds a clear picture of the growth path for their business.
  • Identifies and focuses resources on the biggest priorities.
  • Identifies and builds a pipeline of product line with external and internal partners and cross functional team.
• Builds the Business:
  • Comfortable alternating between roles-an advocate for the brand and the consumer as well as a business leader, influencing outcomes and pushing towards excellence.
  • Crafts business plans that create long-term competitive advantage.
  • Creates opportunities and solutions through resourcefulness and strong bias for action.
  • Combines a disciplined and fact-based approach with consumer insight and intuition.
• Builds People and Teams:
  • Can motivate and influence people across management levels.
  • Motivates and develops talent across their direct and indirect teams.
  • Creates an inclusive and creative environment.
• Builds Trusts:
  • Works collaboratively with internal and external agency and cross functional partners
  • Acts with high degree of ownership and personal accountability.
  • Uses clear and concise verbal and written communication to lead upwards and across the organization.
  • Consistently delivers results despite obstacles.

• Strong track record of business results.
• Demonstrated ability to bring consumer insights to life across all product and marketing touchpoints.
• Innovation/Renovation experience and prior knowledge/experience of center store food categories is desirable.
• Experience leading cross-functional teams.

• Competitive salary.
• Comprehensive benefits package including Medical, Dental, Vision, and 401(k).