Nestlé’s Research & Development Center is our regional powerhouse driving innovation in food, beverage, and pharmaceutical science. Backed by our global Nestlé R&D organization, we lead breakthrough discoveries that are both good for consumers and the planet. Our team of experts range from product developers to engineers, working across our portfolio of food, beverage, infant nutrition, and health science to create leading-edge products and services. As part of our organization, you will use your entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to excellence to unlock the power of food and provide premium value.   

This position is not eligible for Visa Sponsorship.

Nestlé Development Center Marysville is one of the longest-standing R&D centers in Nestlé’s worldwide network. Here, we are the home of great coffee innovation - we provide technical development expertise for beverage products, working on well renowned brands Starbuck’s, Coffee-Mate, Nescafe and Blue Bottle.  Whether it is in terms of convenience, health or pleasure, we are committed to creating delicious beverages for our consumers. We make a difference with our passion for coffee.  

The Front-End Innovation Specialist is responsible for leading the recommendation and implementation of relevant business opportunities for the world’s biggest coffee brands, including Starbucks, Nespresso, and Nescafe. The Front-End Innovation Specialist will champion step-change for our brands and fuel the innovation and renovation pipeline with products, services, experiences, and business models.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Act as an innovation business partner between R&D, Strategic Business Units, Global Markets, and external agencies with strong stakeholder management and ownership mindset
• Responsible for the end-to-end process of briefing, planning, executing, and facilitating ideation workshops, identifying the most appropriate approach and tools to deliver the defined success criteria
• Continuously seek improvement opportunities for our innovation approach, methodologies, tools and technologies to create stronger and more compelling consumer-centric concepts
• Understand trends (macro, micro, food & beverage), consumer jobs to be done and insights, attitudes, and habits to incorporate into strategic sessions, ideation workshops, and research activities
• Partner with innovation insights to identify, size, and prioritize opportunity areas, creating holistic and consumer-driven value propositions
• Collaborate with designers to visualize concept ideas
• Partner with innovation insights to conduct qualitative and quantitative consumer research for product design, prototyping development, and fine tuning to final concept validation
• Facilitate early concept evaluation for consumer desirability, technical feasibility, and financial viability
• Act as a translator between the marketing/business and science/technology environments, converting scientific and technical discoveries across R&D into consumer-focused concepts
• Connect, exchange, and build innovation best practices with internal & external networks
• Provide coaching to project teams on the innovation process

Job Qualifications (Minimum Education, Experience, and Knowledge)

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, or related field
• Minimum 3 years of CPG marketing, or brand innovation & renovation, and with concept generation expertise
• Highly entrepreneurial
• Experience in building internal innovation capabilities and helping to shape a culture of creativity, strategic problem solving, and innovative thinking within an organization
• Experience in consumer insights with exposure to a variety of consumer testing techniques, including test and learn and rapid experimentation
• Good knowledge of Human Centered Design Thinking and Innovation Sprints
• Professional oral, written, and interpersonal communication, presentation, and storytelling skills with ability to effectively interact with all levels and functions across the organization; both on the commercial and technical side
• Experience guiding product and packaging design & prototyping
• Ability to lead teams without direct line management
• Strong stakeholder management skills
• Strong project management skills
• Strong facilitation skills
• Strong concept writing skills
• Strong ability to prioritize, multitask and manage various day-to-day activities, working to a timeline as well as being able to work on large-scale projects and accommodating fast-track requests
• Excels in a collaborative global team environment, with the ability to lead and facilitate cross-functional teams. Specific global experience preferred
• Ability to travel 10 - 20%, domestically and internationally (in line with prevailing travel governance).

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It is our business imperative to remain a very inclusive workplace.

To our veterans and separated service members, you're at the forefront of our minds as we recruit top talent to join Nestlé. The skills you've gained while serving our country, such as flexibility, agility, and leadership, are much like the skills that will make you successful in this role. In addition, with our commitment to an inclusive work environment, we recognize the exceptional engagement and innovation displayed by individuals with disabilities. Nestlé seeks such skilled and qualified individuals to share our mission where you’ll join a cohort of others who have chosen to call Nestlé home.

The Nestlé Companies are an equal employment opportunity and affirmative action employer seeking diversity in qualified applicants for employment. All applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, color, gender, gender identity, age, religion, national origin, ancestry, disability, perceived disability, medical condition, genetic information, veteran status, sexual orientation, or any other protected status, as defined by applicable law. Prior to the next step in the recruiting process, we welcome you to inform us confidentially if you may require any special accommodations in order to participate fully in our recruitment experience. Contact us at accommodations@nestle.com or please dial 711 and provide this number to the operator: 1-800-321-6467.

This position is not eligible for Visa Sponsorship. 
 

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