IPRO Lead – South Africa at Danone

About the job

• The CBU IPRO Lead  SA strategically recommends the prioritization of the CBU Innovation (and productivity if applicable) pipeline of projects and proposes resource allocation priorities, working closely with CBU CODI and teams, governance forums and project teams.
• Leads the pipeline prioritisation process based on strategic criteria aligned with the key stakeholders involved
• Contributes to defining the Innovation and Productivity mandate for the CBU.
• Leads the resourcing exercise for the prioritized pipeline and proposes corrective actions when needed.
• Leads the implementation, maintenance, population of wedbased pipeline and project management systems and processes to manage the CBU’s pipeline of Innovation and Productivity programs (and Artwork projects in One Flow if applicable).
• In addition, the IPRO Lead  SA is responsible for pipeline health check reporting, analysis and communication working closely with Finance and other CBU leaders. Ensures the prioritized pipeline is in line with the CBU strategic mandate and proposes corrective actions if needed. Ensures the pipeline delivers against the Innovation & Productivity mandate and recommends corrective actions when needed.
• The IPRO Lead  SA leads and facilitates the innovation (and productivity) governance in the CBU to enable fast and effective decisionmaking.
• The IPRO Lead  SA is responsible for ensuring that the Danone innovation process and Productivity process (if applicable) and governance led by the IPRO Lead  SA are adhered to by all teams involved in the CBU. If needed, the IPRO Lead  SA is responsible for recommending corrective actions to he relevant senior functional stakeholder
• The CBU IPRO Lead  SA oversees the seamless execution of all CBU prioritized projects (Innovation, productivity, Artwork if applicable) to deliver as per mandate, on time, on budget. To this end, the I(P)RO Leader directs, leads and develops a team of CBU project managers and activity managers (if applicable) who lead the commercialization process, ensuring all launch and business criteria/parameters are achieved on multiple projects simultaneously, including project scope, market timing, cost, quality, multiple stakeholder expectations, and other defined and undefined requirements.

About you
Required experience/background:

• Bachelor’s degree, master’s degree a plus
• 8+ years’ experience in a related field.
• 5+ years in team management with a solid track record of people development and delivery
• Strong technical background (dairy ingredients, fermentation, processing, long shelf life), complex industrial trials experience
• Knowledge of and ability to apply food science and/or processing principles to product development.
• Project management skills and ability to lead projects through all phases from select to closure
• Solid dairy science knowledge and working experience required for this role
• Knowledge in the use of sensory and consumer testing for qualification of concepts for innovation/renovation.