Senior Manager, Innovation Insights & Strategy

Where Conviviality is at work.

Pernod Ricard is a global premium international champagnes and spirits company. We’re the team behind leading brands such as ABSOLUT® Vodka, Jameson® Irish Whiskey, Malibu®, Kahlúa® Liqueur, The Glenlivet®, Beefeater and Malfy Gins, and a leading portfolio of American whiskey brands including Jefferson’s, Rabbit Hole, TX, Smooth Ambler and Skrewball™ whiskey.

Working at Pernod Ricard is all about igniting conviviality in all that we do. Derived from the French word, convivialité…it means human connection, authenticity, friendly, and jovial. Conviviality is energy and spirit with a splash of je ne sais quoi and is a core philosophy around how we live and work at Pernod Ricard.

Guided by our 4 core values: (1) grounded in the real; (2) fiercely authentic; (3) passion for challenge; and (4) connected beyond borders; we are team players, dream makers, trailblazers, movers and (cocktail) shakers. We have a passion for living life to the fullest, making new friends every day, and realizing our potential as people and as a business!

The salary range for this role, based in New York, is $137,000.00  to $171,200.00. The range may vary if the role outside of this location.  Base salaries are determined during our interview process, by assessing a candidate’s experience, skills against internal peers and against the scope and responsibilities of the position.

Position Summary: 

The Senior Manager, Innovation Insights & Strategy is a leader responsible for driving innovation insights strategy & activation with the Pernod Ricard Global Innovation Marketing team.  This person will proactively identify knowledge gaps, uncover insights, create learning plans, and drive learnings to action with senior marketing partners including the head of global innovation.  The Senior Manager will be a champion of deep consumer, demand moment, and growth terrain understanding and the “so what” for fast action. 

This person will be a key strategic partner to marketing in:

• Establishing consumer centricity at the center of the Global Innovation Marketing ways of working and learning plans
• Bringing to life the vision with both a local focus to take on the US pipeline across a large portfolio of brands, as well as global lens that requires collaboration with other Global Consumer Insights partners, Global Brand Unit marketers / strategists, and executive leadership.
• Supporting the development of a robust 3-year pipeline that drives scaled growth across the Pernod Ricard portfolio, brands, and categories in the US and globally.
• Developing bespoke learning plans using both internal learning frameworks and custom project objectives, that could include but not be limited to: whitespace assessment, foundational learning, idea/concept, liquid, packaging, drink strategy, and size of prize forecasting primary research.

The successful candidate for this role will:

• Have significant experience & expertise leading innovation insights strategy & activation inside a global organization.
• Have experience building innovation insights capabilities, knowledge of best in class methodologies and technology partners, and a passion for teaching others
• Know how to prioritize knowledge gaps, build holistic learning plans, and tell consumer stories
• Know how to quickly drive alignment on learning plans with multiple stakeholders with varying incentives.
• Be insatiably curious about consumers & culture, and creative in exploring new ways to learn
• Have a passion for innovation, uncovering unmet needs, and solving consumer problems
• The ability to develop trusted-relationships with close stakeholders across global business functions beyond CI and Innovation Marketing. 

Major Responsibilities

• Continually refine innovation insight capabilities and best practices via learning playbooks with a validated framework and methods for different types of innovations.
• Establish annual and long-term learning agendas to advance innovation objectives,
• Activate demand segmentation innovation insights, instilling deep empathy on demand moments and growth terrains with business partners
• Build project-specific learning plans from development to validation, driving alignment with US, regional, and global stakeholders
• Identify unmet needs and trial drivers.  Ensure insights are integral to concept, liquid, packaging, and drink strategy, as a key partner in development
• Integrate data, trends, and primary research to illuminate consumer opportunities, with a focus on strong storytelling to drive action 
• Be a thought leader in the innovation and insights communities, including strong relationships with Global Brand Focus Insights and local US CI Team and marketing partners

Requirements:

Education:  Bachelor’s degree required, Master’s degree preferred

Experience / Background: 

• 7+ years of insights & strategy experience, with expertise in innovation insights & design thinking.
• Experience on both the consulting / client-service side of consumer insights, as well as brand-side preferred.
• 5+ years leading primary qualitative & quantitative innovation product and/or packaging research with a deep toolkit of research methodologies and preferred way to infuse AI into research and analytics workflows.
• Proven success in converting insights into winning innovation launches
• Significant experience building holistic learning plans & driving quick alignment
• Experience analyzing syndicated shopper (e.g. Nielsen, IRI, Numerator) and industry-relevant syndicated trends data preferred (Datassentials, Technomic, Mintel, etc.)
• Ability to influence a diverse set of stakeholders at VP+ level.
• Great agility - ability to balance many different projects with competing deadlines at once.
• Experience in spirits, alcohol, food/beverages, or other image-based categories preferred
• Experience driving insights on global brands and working in a global insights community preferred

Working Conditions:

Travel: Occasional

Required Competencies:

Leadership Competencies

Strategic Vision

• Motivates and engages peers and teams to support and facilitate change
• Translates the organization’s vision into clear, specific and achievable plans
• Builds relationships outside and within the organization and maintains strong, long-term relationships
• Incorporates understanding of the connections between areas of the business into decisions

Entrepreneurship

• Challenges the status quo by thinking out of the box and taking educated risks
• Exemplifies a personal commitment and desire to achieve desired obstacles
• Gains commitment by highlighting areas of agreement and focusing efforts on resolving areas of disagreement

Results Oriented

• Measures and tracks key business results and processes to assess performance
• Effectively manages time by identifying and removing “time wasters” for self and teams
• Maintains composure and high performance standards in a challenging environment
• Actively shares lessons learnt from past experiences and knowledge of best practices

Live the Values

• Guarantees the highest professional standards and promotes ethics by notably confronting and addressing inappropriate or unethical behaviors
• Demonstrates commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) priorities by promoting Group and local initiatives
• Establishes a mutual trust environment by communicating in an honest, straightforward and transparent manner with colleagues at all levels
• Recognizes, rewards and celebrates success

People Development

• Serves as a trusted coach or mentor to ensure people can achieve their development and career objectives
• Openly provides ongoing constructive and balanced performance feedback
• Identifies and selects the most qualified Talent for positions

Team Management

• Inspires team members by communicating the shared purpose and holding people accountable for performance
• Empowers team members to make decisions, providing guidance and support where required
• Facilitates team performance by understanding the strengths and weaknesses of team members

Functional Competencies

Brand Leadership

• Persuades colleagues and management of the relevance of brand vision and crusade
• Brings to life the brand vision and crusade across a range of marketing initiatives
• Defines the local brand experience for global brands in smaller markets, working with the brand owner

Brand Strategy & Planning

• Understands the company’s goals and how affiliate strategy will contribute to them
• Understands the role of a brand in the company portfolio and the role of a product in a category
• Understands competitors’ brand positioning and strategy
• Monitors brand KPIs and identifies emerging issues and opportunities
• Develops marketing activities in line with brand compass

Brand Communication

• Understand the creative development and the media buying process, planning and budgeting
• Analyzes direct and indirect competitors’ communication strategy
• Implements the overall communication plan, analyzing its performance annually and on an ongoing basis
• Writes clear briefs to creative / media agencies
• Delivers relevant and structured feedback on creative development / media plans

Brand Activation

• Understands the basic promotional objectives, mechanics of our brands and of our key competitors
• Understands role of promotion in achieving brand objectives
• Implements basic promotion activity on time and as per brand plan
• Optimizes the promotion implementation
• Conducts and shares basic evaluation of promotion performance

Consumer Insight

• Understands major characteristics of consumer / shopper typologies, motivations and behavior in his / her area and category, and knows the levers PR uses to address them (promotion, merchandising, animation, etc.)
• Builds consumer understanding through regular market visits to targeted touchpoints (POP, POC), observing and discussing with consumers and key trade stakeholders (consumers, bartenders…)
• Keeps updated on consumers / shoppers needs and expectations by analyzing basic related research (quanti & quail)

Innovation

• Identifies consumer insights and business opportunities for innovation and assesses their relevance in regard of brand strategy
• Evaluates products / packaging performance, recommends detailed solutions to improve them and conducts renovation projects
• Develops innovation concepts to address specific insights, business opportunities and competitive environment
• Coordinates cross-departmental and agency work to deliver innovation projects
• Analyzes potential ROI of innovation projects and analyzes performance once launched, recommending corrective actions if needed

Creativity

• Explores a wide variety of creative sources to identify opportunities for improvement or change
• Encourages creativity by using creative methods / techniques to resolve a problem or generate new ideas
• Champions new ideas and brings them to life by taking risks and learning from both successes and mistakes

​Analytical Skills

• Analyzes multiple information sources, filters and summarizes them and outlines key issues for the business
• Makes multiple recommendations, weighing pros and cons of different alternatives
• Anticipates and assesses consequences of several alternative options

Project Management

• Sets up organization for small project / sub-projects (project plan: set clear objectives, resources, planning and budget)
• Identifies resources and skills requirements to achieve project goals, and allocates / prioritizes roles and responsibilities
• Identifies project opportunities and sells them in to the organization
• Organizes and coordinates day to day work efforts of the project team, establishing work plans (timing, process, tasks, meetings)
• Monitors project KPIs and implements corrective action plans as required
• Reports project progress to sponsors and stakeholders

Business Acumen

• Demonstrates and overall understanding of business environment, company’s vision, objectives, priorities and CSR
• Demonstrates understanding of basic PR financial terms (P&L from COGS to Contributive Margin CAAP) and their implications
• Monitors forecast and results against KPIs (e.g. volumes, market shares, categories…)
• Manages A&P budget efficiently

Relationship Building

• Develops influential relationships with management through sharing constructive ideas in a clear and convincing way
• Speaks confidently in meetings and public forums, facilitating open dialogue
• Develops quality relationships with external contacts (providers, key influencers…)
• Gains respect and credibility in relationships within the business by delivering with consistent excellence
• Takes into account other people’s perspectives and culture, in order to build trusting relationships and resolves conflicts

Job Posting End Date:

Target Hire Date:

When you join Pernod Ricard, you’ll experience a workplace that is rich in heritage, driven by our iconic brands and a long-standing commitment to sustainability, safety, and giving back to the people and communities where we work. We know that happiness at work starts with that feeling of belonging you get from an inclusive culture where being uniquely you is celebrated. Our values are lived, they drive our behaviors, and it’s what brings our culture to life.

Our work philosophy celebrates the magic of human connection with the flexibility needed to provide one's most meaningful contribution. We offer a flexible work policy, with most of our positions offering a a hybrid option with flexibility to work remotely 2 days a week. As a global employer, we understand that not everyone’s working hours are the same, and we empower our employees to work the hours that make the most sense for them and their team’s schedules.

We offer employees great benefits and perks to toast to a life filled with support. Check out PRUSABenefits.com for details.

This recruitment process uses artificial intelligence (AI) tools to match applicant skills with role requirements and qualifications.

Pernod Ricard USA is an Equal Opportunity Employer. It employs qualified individuals based solely on ability, training, and experience, and does not and will not, discriminate for or against any employee or applicant for employment or promotion based upon actual or perceived race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, national origin, citizenship, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, military service or any other classification protected by law. Offers will be subject to United States local terms.

Pernod Ricard USA is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, Pernod Ricard USA will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations for the hiring process. To request reasonable accommodation during the application process, contact us at [email protected].