Associate Director, Digital R&d

You were made to do this work: designing new technologies, diving into data, optimizing digital experiences, and constantly developing better, faster ways to get results. You want to be part of a performance culture dedicated to building technology for a purpose that matters. You want to work in an environment that promotes sustainability, inclusion, wellbeing, and career development. In this role, you’ll help us deliver better care for billions of people around the world. It starts with YOU.

As the Digital R&D and Innovation Senior Manager, you will be a self-starter, strategic thinker, creative problem solver and driver of results. This approach to disruptive innovation is new within the NA Consumer (B2C) and Professional (B2B) organization so the individual needs to be flexible, have a growth mindset, and be comfortable with ambiguity. This role will require a high level of stakeholder management and collaboration across the entirety of the organization.

Through this comprehensive role, you will have the unique opportunity to make a significant contribution to the business by leading teams, strengthening innovation, and driving a funnel of ideas to value.

Your leadership will not only influence the trajectory across our portfolio but also cultivate innovation across the organization. Your responsibilities will extend beyond managing and being hands-on in projects; you will be a key architect in building a sustainable innovation ecosystem that nurtures creativity, encourages risk-taking, rewards groundbreaking ideas, and monitors the markets trends.

**In this role, you will**:

- Drive R&D and innovation strategy for the NA Consumer, B2B, Thinx $11B+ business through best-in-class Engineering and Application capabilities and products, implement differentiated technologies and support business operations to enable $11B+ NA business growth.
- Lead innovation strategy aligned with business goals. Explore new digital opportunities to disrupt the market and gain a competitive edge.
- Foster a culture of creativity and improvement. Lead innovation hackathons, use design thinking and agile methodologies to validate ideas that meet market needs and business objectives.
- Oversee innovation projects from ideation to commercialization. Define project scopes, timelines, budgets, and deliverables. Ensure effective resource allocation.
- Build and maintain relationships with key internal and external stakeholders. Bridge gaps between areas of expertise to drive collaborative innovation to product teams.
- Monitor technologies, trends, and market dynamics. Use insights to inform innovation strategy. Identify and establish relationships with strategic partners.
- Define and manage a connected R&D data-driven ecosystem integrated across the value chain.

**Key Responsibilities**:

- ** Strategic Innovation Leadership**: Lead the development and execution of the NA disruptive technological innovation strategy, aligning it with overarching business goals. You will spearhead cross-functional teams to explore and validate new digital opportunities that can disrupt the consumer, the market, the industry, business models and provide us with a competitive edge.
- ** Idea Generation & Validation**: Foster a culture of creativity and continuous improvement, encouraging the generation of innovative ideas and concepts. Lead innovation hackathons and utilize design thinking and agile methodologies to validate and bring these ideas to life, ensuring they meet market needs and business objectives.
- ** Portfolio Management & Execution**: Lead the innovative portfolio, from ideation to commercialization (business value delivery). This includes defining project scopes, timelines, budgets, and deliverables, as well as ensuring the effective allocation of resources. This is expected to be done following leveraging the Innovation framework that encompasses an agile mindset.
- ** Collaboration & Stakeholder Engagement**: Build and maintain strong relationships with key internal and external stakeholders, including R&D, marketing, IT (cloud and infrastructure), and external innovation partners. Your role will be crucial in bridging gaps between different areas of expertise to drive collaborative innovation to products teams.
- ** Market Intelligence & Analysis**: Managed watchtower on emerging technologies, industry trends, and market dynamics. Leverage these insights to inform our innovation strategy and ensure our solutions remain at the forefront of digital commercial advancements. Front runner in strategic partners identification and relation establishment.

**Scope/Categories**:
Role will report to the North America CIO. This position has direct reports, it is also expected to be hands-on in projects, leading hackathons, works with startups, Universities, and oversight on external resources.

**Key Interfaces**:
Internal: NA R&E Vice President, NA B2B and Consumer Business President, NA Strategy Vice President, NA Chief Marketing