Leadership of an End-to-end R&D team & programme for part of a core Segment. Leads a single or multi-site team of developers, accountable for co-creation of strategy, innovation pipeline & end-to-end delivery (concept to production) of the R&D programme and at selected copackers within agreed budget & timescale. Influential business partner with senior colleagues in Marketing, Finance, Supply Chain & Procurement.

Functional Leadership

• Influence & impact on innovation strategy
• Validated innovation pipeline to deliver growth targets for their MWBs &/or GPs
• Regulatory & policy compliance of portfolio
• Pro-active in identifying cost saving & simplification opportunities
• Excellent technical execution & knowledge capture
• Impact & influence re supply chain decisions impacting product attributes & claims
• Effective business partnership
• Continuous improvement

People Leadership

• Builds a performance culture
• Develop future leaders and nurture technical talent
• Maintain & develop relevant expertise
• Builds inclusive and diverse teams
• Drives sustainable engagement in teams
• Strong networks and proven leadership outside RDQ

Governance

• Accurate & informative input to gate documents
• Resource deployment based on priorities
• RDQ input to facilitate manufacturing & sourcing decisions
• Be able to prioritise resource vs business needs

Design Leadership

• Deep understanding of consumer needs (KCA & KPA translation) & preferences across multiple markets
• Good understanding of relevant supply chains & technologies
• Product & pack strategies for key products in their portfolio to ensure they remain relevant and maintain competitive advantage
• Superior products with strong claims & relevant points of difference

Operational Leadership

• On time, in full execution of the technical programme
• Delivery of programme within budget
• Contingency planning to ensure no gap to plan
• Continuous development of RDQ capability & facilities in line with business needs
• Adoption & sharing of best practice within teams

• Technical qualifications degree level, or equivalent
• Experience within FMCG in a technical role
• People and programme leadership with evidence of successful delivery

Based to 45 km from Rome, Italy.