Portfolio Manager: Innovation at Diageo

Job Description :

To develop, manage and champion all innovation & renovation strategy, planning and delivery in order to deliver the Diageo SA pipeline in service of the business strategy.

The role will be accountable for delivery of the total Diageo innovation agenda in South Africa, working in close partnership with the Diageo Global Innovation team.

Key Accountabilities:

• Lead the development of the Innovation strategy, in partnership with PM’s and Mkt Dir.
• Lead the innovation process of all projects from Gates 3-6 (commercialization and launch) on Global priority brands and Gates 1-6 on Local priority brands.
• Driving the highest standards of execution throughout the innovation process until Gate 6.
• Lead the development of the marketing plans on all projects with input from the relevant category PM’s and global teams.
• Manage workload across the Innovation team to ensure successful delivery of the full Innovation portfolio.
• Work with the cross functional team to ensure there is a robust project plan and comprehensive gate papers in place for all innovation projects.
• Lead the presenting of all gate papers to the Exec in line with the project to obtain sign off.
• Pro-active management of all stakeholders through the stages and gates process, to ensure delivery of projects on time.
• Creating and managing strong working relationships with a broad range of key stakeholders across the business; ie Brand teams, Supply Technical, Finance, Commercial.
• Acting as an escalation point for issues arising during the innovation process; successfully resolving these issues to drive delivery.
• Recruit, develop, retain and lead a team of diverse innovation talent to ensure rich succession cover for all key innovation roles and compliance with the SA code for BBBEE.
• Support the Marketing Director in the leadership and development of the broader Marketing team, as a member of the Marketing Leadership Team.
• Own and drive a culture of compliance in the Marketing team; ensuring full compliance to DMC, GAR and CARM requirements.