Senior Manager, New Product Development

DESCRIPTION & REQUIREMENTS:

Position Overview:

1. Lead the India R&D Hub and work towards achieving the Business Plan for India and SWA region partnering with Global R&D Centers, BU Marketing, Technical & Supply Chain. 
2. Build a robust Innovation Pipeline of most consumer preferred products across categories like Juice, Dairy, Fusion, Sparkling, Tea & Coffee and Functional Beverages for India and SWA markets to fuel both short and long term growth.
3. Implement Global R&D best practices and continue enhancing the team capability in Juice, Dairy, Fusion, Sensory and Analytical areas.
4. Drive the growth of the India R&D center to become a strong global leader on: 1) Mango Science and Application; 2)Innovation Tailored for BOP consumers inlcuding product and Package innovation and  3) External Technology Acquisition (ETA) hub in India within the global ETA network.
5. Implement Liquid Food Model for India and SWA region.

KEY RESPONSIBILITY AREAS / DEVELOPMENTAL EXPERIENCES

1. Driving Cross Discipline Connectivity:

a) Managing stake-holders outside of R&D. Building bridges between functions outside of R&D to achieve speed to market and speed of discover through strong collaboration with BU Marketing team (Juice Marketing, Innovations, Knowledge & Insights, Commercial Beverages and SWA teams), Technical Team (Commercialization, Technical Services, SRA, Process, Packaging, QA ), Supply Chain ( Technical, G2G ) and Finance -Value Chain Analysis. 

b) Drive a strong collaboration with Global R&D Centers –
- Shanghai in the areas of Dairy, Sensory, Analytical, Functional Ingredients, Process, Packaging Development and Documentation activities related to product approvals.
- Brussels & Apopka on Juice, Sweeteners, Hydration
- Atlanta on Sparkling and documentation work leading to product approvals.

2.  Project Management :

a) Setting strategic priorities and encourage the team in planning work, build capability and collaborate with other key stake holders. Monitor the work progress to achieve desired outcomes.
b) Planning for current and future needs. Assessing project risks over a long term.
c)Managing multiple suppliers and cross functional teams.
d) Coordinating, developing and managing people. Allocate and manage capital resources.
e) Continue building a very creative work environment and enhance the team capability to cater for the long term vision. Guide the team to participate and represent R&D in the cross-functional project meetings with relevant stake holders.

3. Technical Communication for Business Effectiveness –

a) Guide the team in making presentations to the BU Leadership team members and communicate complex concepts with compelling information to influence resource decisions. Guide the team in anticipating potential hurdles and address them in the product development stage itself.
b) Encourage feedback and open communication from internal and external stake-holders to better understand others’ perspectives, clarify points of potential confusion.

4. Business and Functional Expertise -

a) Applying the management expertise to set direction and resolve problems in own discipline and creating linkage to other disciplines within R&D and the BU Stakeholders.

5. Building a Business Case –

a)    Using influence and negotiation, paired with convincing scientific, consumer and economic data, to create a compelling Business Case for innovations.
b) Managing business case for projects by influencing relevant stake-holders with convincing scientific, consumer and economic data.
- Removing barriers to Business Case development.
- Explaining proposed initiatives and their strategic imperatives to BU Leadership team members.

6. Bringing Innovation to Market –

a)    Maintaining open and direct communication with the team to ensure they have the resources necessary to support innovation. Guide the team in generating and translating innovative ideas into most consumer preferred, scalable, value chain sustainable, robust products.
b) Creating an environment that supports and rewards innovation by removing barriers impeding creativity and providing resources to spark breakthrough thinking across R&D

7. External Collaboration and Research.

a)   Tapping India external capability (Research Institutes and Suppliers) and leveraging their expertise in meeting both India and Global needs.


JOB SPECIFIC COMPETENCIES

Technical Skills:

1              Solid knowledge of Product Development and ability to contribute expertise in ingredients, package, nutrition, process, manufacture etc.          

2              Strong Sensory capability.           

3              Knowledge of company specific rules for creating formulas        

4              Develop Strategy and deliver.   

5              Ability to influence BU stake-holders with expertise and knowledge across categories of Juice, Juice and Dairy Fusion, Sparkling, Premix and Hydration products.          

6              Working Knowledge on Process and Product Commercialization               

7              Working knowledge on Research and Application            

8              Working Knowledge on Technical Consumer Research and its application.

General Competencies:

1. Accelerate Growth

- Drive innovative business improvement

- Balance immediate and long term priorities

- Strategy Development       

2. Drive Execution

- Delivering Results

- Import and Export of Good Ideas

- Build High Performing Team

- Strong connection with Global community            

3. Unleash Potential

- Develop and Inspire others

- Sets winning example

JOB COMPLEXITIES:

1              The India R&D hub is small today. The candidate will need to drive the capability growth of this organization at the same time they deliver on the challenges of the India innovation pipeline and the global responsibilities. This inlcudes recruiting, nurturing and making sure each employee has the right plans and opportunities to accelerate their learning and advancement in the organization.           

2              India is a country of mixed cultures and each state has its own taste preference and drinking habits. The food consumed in every state is different and India has 26 states.  So to develop the most consumer preferred product that can cater to the palate of pan-India is a major challenge.      

3              In India, route-to-market is a major challenge due to the infrastructure issues.  70 % of our sales happen during summer when most part of the country goes up to 45 deg C with a severe sunlight exposure. To develop the most preferred product profile that will remain stable to such severe temperature conditions with direct sunlight exposure is the biggest challenge.           

4              Delivering low cost products that are perceived as value- for- money by the consumers, without compromising on the taste is another challenge.  

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