Innovation Delivery Director, Americas

Campari Group today is a major player in the global branded spirits industry, with a portfolio of over 50 premium and super premium brands, marketed and distributed in over 190 markets around the world, with leading positions in Europe and the Americas.

Headquartered in Milan, Italy, Campari Group owns 25 plants worldwide and has its own distribution network in 26 countries, and employs approximately 4,700 people.

Shares of the parent company Davide Campari - Milano N.V. are listed on the Italian Stock Exchange since 2001. Campari Group is today the sixth-largest player worldwide in the premium spirits industry.

About the role

The Innovation Delivery Director, Americas owns the in-market delivery of innovation & Renovation projects, jointly working with House of brands partners and leveraging on project-based Supply Chain resources. 

Mission/Objectives

Deliver new product development projects, ensure competitive and reliable time-to-market. Manage a global team of project managers and foster new innovation delivery continuous improvement. 

Be the go-to person for projects delivery status, decisions and escalation; provide credible feedback and quickly act to address delivery needs. Stimulate a healthy new product development project portfolio composition and optimize delivery resources allocation. 

Prepare Springboard agenda and content together with marketing partner, lead program discussion along the meeting. 

Key Responsibilities and Activities 

New Product Delivery (NPD): 

• Own product delivery integrated plans throughout all the stages, from concept approval to post-launch. 
• Guide delivery project managers in setting up project team and integrated plans. I.e. define required resources; outline project timeline, scenarios and milestone; identify risk and related mitigation plan. 
• Be trusted partner for HoB senior team, proving meaningful communication on project updates. Steer decisions when needed to meet project targets. 
• Ensure consistent and high-quality data and information on projects managed into tracking tools. 
• Guarantee product launch tasks completion (e.g. all SKUs in scope have been created and forecasted by markets, first productions are successfully completed…). 
• Performs project closing meeting with project team to capture lessons learned. 
• Jointly lead, with marketing partner, preparation of SC data to support post launch evaluation. 

Project Portfolio Management: 

• Optimize Innovation Delivery Project Managers allocation among the project portfolio, maximising delivery impact on NS, GM. 
• Identify potential opportunities, issues or bottlenecks in the portfolio (e.g. resources overload) and identify actions to capture, solve or escalate them. 
• New project approval: asses and (challenge if needed) scope and value delivered with marketing partner, assess supply chain feasibility, impacts and risks. 
• Ensure overall portfolio delivery in line with key metrics managed (Resource optimization, NPD budget/cost management, NPD time to market, NPD timing reliability). 

Stage and Gate (Springboard) 

• Actively attend NPD Springboard, addressing all key discussion open along the meeting 
• Ensure the timely and exhaustive preparation of pre-reads, identify risks/issues and alert in advance stakeholders before Springboard 
• Address all actions agreed along springboard discussions.

Team and stakeholder management 

• Develop PM teams via feedback, coaching and defining proper training programs to improve team performance 
• Educate and engage functions (SC, Marketing, Commercial and Support Functions) on innovation and renovation processes and governance 
• Cooperate with regional teams in providing, where needed, updates on innovation and renovation pipeline 
• Steer and deploy continuous improvement plans with transformation teams.

Key Relationships 

Internal:  

• Innovation Delivery and Portfolio Management Sr. Dir.  
• Regional Supply Chain Senior Director and teams 
• House of Brands teams and marketing project partners 
• Regional Springboard Gatekeepers: CMO, Head of SC, Group Finance  
• All Functions involved in Innovation Process (e.g. Marketing, Engineering, Procurement, R&D,

Quality, Finance, Planning, Operations, Legal). 

External:  

• Suppliers involved in Innovation Process (e.g. co-packers, packaging and ingredients suppliers, agencies, …).

Leadership and managerial skills 

• 6/8 years experience in NPD area (Pack R&D, or beverage industry is a plus) 
• Leadership presence, ability to quickly build trust 
• Planning/scenario planning 
• Prioritization 
• Clear oral and written communication 
• Agile mindset  

 Technical and professional skills: 

• Project Management, integrated team management 
• Commercial & Financial Acumen 
• Conflict resolution and ability to manage senior stakeholders with potential conflictual interests 
• Fundamentals of Process R&D and Manufacturing.

Background, education and other requirements

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in business administration (marketing/production/management engineering) 
• Fluency in English 
• MS Office tools user (Excel, Project and PowerPoint); 
• SAP experience (is a plus) 
• Project Management certifications (is a plus) 

Our commitment to Diversity & Inclusion:

At Campari Group we believe in building more value together, thus we see diversity in all forms as a source of enrichment. Our employment policies and practices ensure that we are committed to providing equal employment opportunities in all aspects of employment without regard to any individual’s race, religion, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or characteristics or expression, political affiliation or activity, age, veteran status, citizenship, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Campari Group believes that fair compensation and equal opportunities are crucial for employees’ well-being, empowerment, and engagement.  Our efforts to ensure fair pay have earned us the Fair Pay Certification by Fair Pay Workplace, an independent organization dedicated to dismantling pay disparities based on gender, race and their intersection.

Note to applicants:

Your application will be assessed based on your abilities, expertise, general knowledge and experience, not because of any confidential, proprietary or trade secret information you may possess. You must not disclose to Campari Group any such information. In the event that you are asked a question that cannot be answered without disclosure of any confidential, proprietary or trade secret information (including from a current or prior employer or their vendors or customers), you must decline to answer the question.

Notice to third party agencies:

Please refrain from cold-calling or emailing our executive leadership team or the HR community directly. The Talent Acquisition department manages centralized recruiting operations globally, including the selection and management of external suppliers. Currently, our preferred supplier list is at full capacity. To ensure we have your information on file for future consideration, we kindly request that you complete the online form provided here.