Sr Mgr Portfolio Innovation

Job Location: Hershey, PA

Job Summary:

The Sr. Mgr. Global Portfolio Innovation THX champions the development of a winning innovation that leverages consumer insights to deliver a world-class portfolio along with compelling marketing storytelling; with the ultimate objective to enable THX to deliver strat plan revenue targets and enhance brand equity globally in line with THX Force Multiplier vision.

The Sr. Mgr. Global Porfolio Innovation collaborates with business owners to develop the annual plan across all THX business units including pricing and promotional programs for everyday and seasonal experiences which are consistent with company/THX guardrails. This role identifies key building blocks and growth platforms focused on delivering KPI's (i.e. AOV, UPT, CR, etc.) that achieve sales, profit and marketing objectives.

In addition the Sr. Mgr. Global Portfolio Innovation is in charge of driving global scale and integration of cross functional teams by implementing, governing, maintaining, evolving and communicating the THX GATE process and providing leadership with quarterly Business reviews.

The role is also responsible for developing a high-performing team with four team members. Additionally, this dynamic and highly collaborative position interacts cross functionally with Marketing, Finance, Product Development, Retail Operations, Logistics and Merchandise Planning.

Role Responsibilities:

Portfolio Innovation (Retail, D2C, Experiential Food and Events)

• Develops and leads Portfolio Innovation to address trends/unmet consumer needs and brand white-space opportunities to achieve THX innovation growth and profit targets. This includes the identification and assessment of strategic opportunity areas and development of new initiatives, from discovery and ideation, through to commercialization using THX innovation stage gate process. Fill the 3-year Innovation funnel and growth plan, from inception through to sustainable commercial success addressing any change management needs required to align and excite the organization around the initiatives.

Storytelling

• Manages development and communication of THX content monetization initiatives through exclusive and unique stories that drive consumer engagement and conversion across THX channels
• Incorporates and balances objectives of all departments to oversee production of strategic, compelling stories
• Collaborates with internal and external partners to coordinate and oversee the story collection, production and distribution process
• Creates strategic plans (from research through measurement/evaluation) and in designing specific content strategies to meet organizational objectives
• Crafts story calendars to facilitate implementation across THX

THX Gate Process

• Leads new product development efforts utilizing the Stage Gate process from concept to post-launch
• Implements project management tools, dashboards, and metrics to successfully facilitate and deliver on the NPD and portfolio strategic goals supporting all THX retail channels
• Ensures key stakeholders/team members follow a structured and repeatable process from ideation, business case/commercial specification, engineering/production validation, to market launch and post-launch
• Ensures all projects follow detailed project schedule, defining critical milestones, aligned with Stage Gate deliverables. Ensures project scope, schedule, and required resources are clearly defined and aligned across all stakeholders
• Identifies project risks/issues and develops contingency plans to mitigate impact on schedule or scope throughout project lifecycle
• Schedules and lead all required project gate review meetings with gatekeepers
• Facilitates and shares lessons learned to ensure proliferation of knowledge and best practices implementation across the organization

Qualifications:

• BS Degree in a related field (ex. Marketing, Business, Merchandise, Retail, Management) Master's Degree preferred
• Minimum 5 years retail, brand/seasonal marketing
• Minimum 3 years of innovation experience
• Minimum 2 years of eCommerce experience
• Category management experience
• B&M Syndicated analytical skills
• Google Analytics skills
• Demonstrated track record of strong leadership with ability to achieve results and successfully lead major project teams
• Demonstrated strong business judgment and decision-making skills; ability to identify, prioritize, and articulate high-impact initiatives.
• Strong collaboration, analytical and report writing skills; conceptual and strategic abilities
• Ability to handle multiple priorities and react quickly to special situations
• Proven track record in managing new product development, introduction and product life cycle
• Product development experience; past experience in product portfolio development (CPG highly preferred)
• Experience developing and implementing strong brand communication plans (storytelling)
• Proven ability to translate insights into sound merchandising / marketing / promotional / product optimization recommendations (prescriptive selling).
• Experience partnering with IT & UX agencies in creating personalization & customization platforms
• Strong knowledge of SEO, eCommerce merchandising and digital marketing required
• Superb communication skills, including strong oral and presentation skills with the ability to communicate and interact at all levels
• Computer skills in the following software applications: Microsoft Office Suite, Power BI, Adobe, Google Analytics

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The Hershey Company is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The policy of The Hershey Company is to extend opportunities to qualified applicants and employees on an equal basis regardless of an individual's race, color, gender, age, national origin, religion, citizenship status, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, transgender status, physical or mental disability, protected veteran status, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other categories protected by applicable federal, state or local laws.

The Hershey Company is an Equal Opportunity Employer - Minority/Female/Disabled/Protected Veterans

If you require a reasonable accommodation as part of the application process, please contact the HR Service Center (askhr@hersheys.com).