Senior Manager BU Innovation - Poultry Foodservice

The Senior Manager, BU Innovation sets the innovation direction for the assigned brands and categories and is accountable for the quality, balance, and business impact of the innovation pipeline. This role translates category strategy, customer needs, market trends, and business objectives into prioritized innovation platforms and investment recommendations, then leads the most strategically significant and complex initiatives from concept through in-market performance. The Senior Manager influences senior leaders across the BU, Channel Marketing, R&D, Culinary, Insights, Supply Chain/Operations, Finance, and Strategy; coaches and develops innovation team members; and delivers profit, volume, and share growth for the business and its customers.

• Own and shape the innovation strategy for the Foodservice Value Added Poultry category, aligned to corporate and business unit goals and feeding the long-range and annual plans.
• Define strategic innovation platforms and identify major white-space opportunities and emerging customer and consumer needs, using syndicated research, trend data, primary research, and competitive intelligence.
• Own the innovation pipeline and its prioritization across near-, mid-, and long-term horizons, ensuring a balanced mix of renovation, incremental innovation, and breakthrough/new-to-world opportunities.
• Establish innovation priorities and make investment recommendations to senior leadership.
• Evaluate innovation performance, ROI, and portfolio health, and adjust the pipeline accordingly.

• Lead the most strategically significant and complex product, packaging, and go-to-market initiatives, from concept development and feasibility through business proposal, approval, customer sell-in, and tracking of in-market performance.
• Influence senior leaders in Sales, Marketing, R&D, Operations, Finance, and Strategy, and serve as the liaison to other corporate functions so that innovation initiatives receive the focus they need.
• Develop executive-level innovation narratives and recommendations, including clear consumer positioning and a clear point of difference versus competitors.
• Drive customer co-innovation and strategic partnerships, working with Sales and Channel Marketing to integrate operator and distributor strategies into the pipeline, improve innovation forecast accuracy, and deliver against joint business plan (JBP) objectives.
• Leverage synergies across retail and foodservice channels to maximize idea scale.
• Direct innovation and consulting agencies and build relationships with external suppliers and partners.

• Lead, coach, and develop Managers and Associate Managers of varying experience levels, building innovation capability across the organization.
• Oversee the projects owned by direct reports to keep them on time and on track, and resolve issues as they arise.
• Serve as an expert and advisor to other Tyson innovators.

Use the innovation project management, packaging, and specification systems to advance projects with cross-functional teams.

• Education: Bachelor's degree required; MBA preferred.
• Experience and knowledge: Minimum 6 plus years of experience. Deep understanding of innovation success factors, innovation marketing, consumer insights, brand strategy, and P&L management.
• Leadership: A forward-thinking problem solver and proven collaborator who challenges the status quo to support strategic decisions, and who can devise strong solutions in unstructured situations.
• Communication: Strong communication and presentation skills, including the ability to influence senior leaders.
• Project management: Proven ability to manage multiple projects in a dynamic environment and to lead cross-functional teams and direct reports.

Requisition is not taking sponsorships.

A resume is required to be considered.

Hourly Applicants ONLY -You must complete the task after submitting your application to provide additional information to be considered for employment.

The successful candidate(s) must be willing and able to perform the physical requirements of the job with or without a reasonable accommodation.

Tyson is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, national origin, color, religion, age, genetics, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or veteran status.

We provide our team members and their families with paid time off; 401(k) plans; affordable health, life, dental, vision and prescription drug benefits; and more.

Unsolicited Assistance: Tyson Foods and its subsidiaries do not accept unsolicited support from external recruitment vendors for open positions within the United States. Any resumes or candidate profiles submitted by recruitment vendors or headhunters to any employee or applicant tracking system at Tyson Foods or its subsidiaries, without a valid written request and search agreement approved by HR, will be considered the property of Tyson Foods. No fees will be paid if the candidate is hired due to an unsolicited referral.