Innovation & Commercialization Manager

Who We Are:

nutpods manufactures plant based, dairy-free coffee creamers and adjacent products for coffee lovers nationwide. Now the #2 plant-based creamer brand nationwide across retail and online channels, nutpods has fostered a cult following and has exciting plans for growth in the coming years. With a small and mighty team of 35 people, nutpods is looking for eager, enthusiastic, and experienced candidates for this important role. 

Company Culture:

Our culture is of huge importance to the owners and team at nutpods. We are looking for people who will be a great addition to our culture. We are:

• Kind: We treat each other with kindness and mutual respect.
• Dynamic: We are full of energy and defined by constant progress, collaboration, and new ideas.
• Relentless: We relentlessly pursue a crazy good product, business, and team.
• Empowered: We empower each other to fail forward with trust, transparency, and the opportunity to learn and grow.
• Passionate: We take immense pride in what we make, how we work together, the impact we have, and how we treat people.

We strive to do what’s right for our team, customers, and quality, even when no one is looking.

Position Summary:

The Innovation & Commercialization Manager, reporting to the CFO, will play a critical role in our innovation product pipeline. This position will manage the end-to-end operations process of getting new products to market. The Innovation & Commercialization Manager will collaborate heavily with R&D, Quality, Supply Chain, Sales, Marketing, and Finance as well as external partners such as contract manufacturers, to deliver innovative, high-quality products on time, while optimizing cost and efficiency.

Essential Functions:

• Accountable for ensuring new products meet all launch success criteria and get to market on time and within budget.
• Project Management: Build (In collaboration with above-listed teams) the success criteria scorecard for each launch, and project manage each launch to meet the metrics and milestones in the scorecard.
• Identify risks and capability gaps in innovation and manage internal & external resources to create solutions and contingent plans to deliver a superior product, on time and within budget.
• Work with Innovation team to align on best packaging formats for new products and understand all manufacturing and product requirements needed to execute.
• Work with Supply Chain and Quality teams to identify and expedite approval of new contract manufacturers and qualify sourcing of new ingredients, to facilitate superior innovation process.
• Provide clear direction to leadership on launch status, by creating and managing product criteria dashboards, effectively communicating progress to ensure a successful launch.
• Understand cost parameters for new products and work with R&D, Supply Chain and contract manufacturers to meet or exceed margin requirements.

• BA/BS in related field with 7-10 years of industry experience In Food & Beverage Operations.
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex projects, including scaling products from concept to commercialization.
• Relevant experience in food & beverage manufacturing and the ideal candidate will have low acid beverage experience.
• Understanding of all functions of operations (R&D, Quality, Supply Chain, & Manufacturing).
• Action-oriented, results-focused individual who holds people accountable to the process, with a "can-do" attitude.
• Experience with low-acid, dairy, or plant-based beverage processing.

Additional competencies for success at nutpods:

• CUSTOMER SERVICE DEDICATION - Dedicated to listening and understanding customers, anticipating their needs, and giving top priority to customer satisfaction.
• COLLABORATION - Working effectively within the organization to accomplish the mission, understand the values and vision, and integrate into all functional areas of the business.
• TEAM INFLUENCE - Using appropriate interpersonal styles and methods to inspire and guide individuals toward goal achievement; modifying behaviors to accommodate the tasks, situations, and people involved.
• DEVELOPMENT – Willing and able to develop skills and competencies to support current and future jobs.
• INDIVIDUAL LEADERSHIP (INFLUENCE) - Using appropriate interpersonal styles and methods to inspire and guide individuals (customers, peers, and superiors) toward goal achievement; modifying behavior to accommodate tasks, situations, and individuals involved. 
• MAXIMIZING PERFORMANCE - Goal ownership oriented and open to coaching to optimize individual and company performance.
• STRONG TEAM MEMBER -Focused on organizational goals, understands the importance of blending into teams and supporting strong morale and sense of purpose within the team. Understands why groups do what they do. Picks up intentions, needs, positions, values and motivational triggers of fellow team members.
• FLEXIBILITY / ADAPTABILITY - The ability to readily modify, respond to, and integrate change with minimal personal resistance.
• RESOURCEFUL - The ability to find quick and clever ways to overcome difficulties.

• Base salary range: $90-110k
• Annual bonus potential
• Health Care Plan (Medical, Dental & Vision)
• 401k Retirement Plan with company match
• Life Insurance
• Paid Time Off – 20 days annually
• New Parent Leave
• Long Term Disability Insurance
• Wellness Resources – monthly health and cell phone expense reimbursement