COMPANY OVERVIEW
Walker & Company Brands, the maker of BEVEL, is a fast-growing consumer packaged goods (CPG) company that exists to make health and beauty simple for people of color. We do this by designing, developing, and testing products and services specifically tailored to our community’s needs and delivering on the promise of great customer service and an easy, practical shopping experience.
POSITION SUMMARY
As an Innovation Manager for Walker and Company, you'll be a key partner in creating exciting new products across the Men's grooming category. You'll lead brainstorming sessions and collaborate across teams to develop disruptive innovation with a strong business case, and you'll see them through from prototype to successful launch in the market. You’ll deep-dive into grooming trends, consumer behaviors, and cultural influences to weave these insights into strategic plans. With your ability to understand what customers want and where trends are heading, you'll turn data into strategy and strategy into new items, cementing BEVEL’s reputation as a leader in male grooming innovation.
PERSONAL QUALIFICATIONS
The candidate selected for this position will be a driven, ambitious thinker who is intellectually curious and has a healthy appetite for trying new things. This individual must be self-motivated, entrepreneurial, and adept in operating in a fast-growing, performance-driven environment. The candidate must also be accustomed to working on multiple tasks in parallel and should be a self-starter who excels in finding ways to get things done. The candidate’s core competency must be in execution with speed and excellence.
Key Responsibilities
- Discover and develop novel grooming products that solve for unmet consumer needs, elevate the brand portfolio, build customer loyalty, and drive new household growth
- Lead the formula research and development and prototyping process to bring innovative concepts to life, working with manufacturers to formulate and develop new products and guiding new items through successful product commercialization to deliver tangible results in the form of incremental sales
- Align innovation strategy with marketing plans and business objectives
- Consult functional strategy managers on new product development for assigned categories as an SME and voice of the customer
- Influence the team as a definitive subject matter expert on consumer behavior and emerging trends, translating insights into recommendations
- Build a culture of innovation by shaping cross-departmental consumer knowledge through insights into grooming trends, consumer behavior, cultural influences, and ethnic and category-specific trends
- Follow established programs, policies and practices to produce safe, quality products that meet regulatory and company requirements, accountable to established safety and quality principles
Minimum Qualifications
- Six (6) years of experience in beauty/grooming, consumer packaged goods, or innovation industry
- Bachelor's Degree in data analytics, marketing, anthropology, sensory science, or other relevant field
- Passion for grooming with a deep understanding of industry trends and best practices
- Demonstrated ability to translate consumer trends into new product concepts aligned with business goals
- Product development and commercialization experience in grooming, beauty and/or personal care
- Proficient product development technical and packaging background
- Strong data analytics skills, including familiarity with analyzing sales data, primary research, and consumer trend insights
- Willingness to foster a culture of innovation by challenging convention with strong interpersonal and influencing skills
- Highly proficient in Microsoft Office
- Comfort working with ambiguity and managing complex innovation projects with adaptability and minimal direction.
- Consumer-first mindset with a knack for understanding consumer behavior and motivations
Desired Qualifications
- 8+ years of experience in grooming/personal care, consumer packaged goods, or the innovation industry
- Any grooming/personal care brand management, category management, consumer insights, or manufacturing experience
- Experience in sensory evaluation and describing product attributes
- Experience leading brainstorming sessions or moderating focus groups
