· Lead innovation-focused learning plans grounded in business priorities, portfolio strategy, and brand ambitions.
· Design, manage, and synthesize qualitative and quantitative research to support early-stage exploration, concept development, product optimization, packaging, and go-to-market decisions.
· Identify unmet consumer needs, tensions, motivations, and emerging behaviors that can unlock new product, format, flavor, occasion, and experience opportunities.
· Translate insights from primary research, syndicated data, cultural and category trends, and internal learning into clear, story-driven recommendations.
· Partner closely with Innovation, Brand Marketing, R&D, Strategy, and cross-functional teams to shape innovation territories, briefs, concepts, and prioritization decisions.
· Help define and evaluate whitespace opportunities and future-forward platforms that support long-term portfolio growth.
· Bring a strong external perspective by staying current on category trends, consumer shifts, culture, and innovation best practices.
· Influence stakeholders by clearly articulating what the business should do, not just what the research says.
· Ensure insights work is connected across projects and shared in ways that build organizational learning and stronger decision-making.
· Manage multiple projects and external vendor partners with strong attention to quality, timing, budgets, and business impact.
· Contribute to research best practices and help the team stay ahead of the evolving research landscape, including the thoughtful application of AI-enabled tools and approaches.