Agile Innovation Manager

TekWissen•Chicago, IL

11h•Hybrid

About The Position

TekWissen is a global workforce management provider headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan that offers strategic talent solutions to our clients world-wide. Our client is an American food company formed by the merger of client Food and the third-largest food and beverage company in North America. We're seeking a highly collaborative and proactive Agile Innovation Manager to join our cross-functional agile pod focused on driving innovation and growth in the Disruptive Innovation team. In this role, you'll be responsible for enabling fit-for-purpose agile ways of working, removing barriers to progress, building timelines, and ensuring continuous delivery of high-impact solutions that are right-sized for our global innovation team. This role will be embedded within a tight-knit team of R&D, Packaging, Supply Chain, Marketing, Finance, and Strategy leads, all working together to bring the next big thing on innovation to the market—faster and smarter. This role is ideal for a project leader with experience in physical product innovation, commercialization, manufacturing readiness, packaging changes, and cross-functional program management within the Food & Beverage industry.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Business, Engineering, or related.
5+ years of project management, agile leadership, or scrum master experience within the Food & Beverage industry.
Experience with physical product innovation in Food & Beverage with packaging projects, aligned with operations & manufacturing side: engineering, changing of machines, alignment with supply chain, etc.
Strong knowledge of Agile/Scrum methodologies or proven experience in product development and commercialization.
Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional teams in a fast-paced, ambiguous environment.
Strong experience in building timelines for projects with uncertainty, that demands a lot of changes multiple times throughout the project.
Excellent communication, facilitation, and conflict-resolution skills.
Experience supporting test-and-learn innovation cycles or commercialization processes.
Passion for team empowerment, iterative learning, and removing barriers to execution.
Open to work flexible hours since part of the team is located in AMS – start 7am Chicago time when needed.
Food industry experience (non-negotiable).
NOT DIGITAL, physical product commercialization.
Physical Product Development focused innovation project management background.
Experience in supply chain development, factory engineering, or packaging related innovation delivery.
Physical Product Commercialization process knowledge.
Understand packaging changes, formula changes, feasibility constraints, machinery timelines.
Agile project management experience.
2-3+ years of experience leading agile ceremonies and managing projects through sprint-based delivery models.
Comfortable facilitating sprint events and creating review materials.
Self-driven, proactive working style.
Able to identify stakeholders, processes, and solutions independently.
Strong communication & relationship building skills.
Must navigate between technical and non-technical teams, translating needs in both directions.

Responsibilities

Lead sprint planning, daily stand-ups, retrospectives, sprint reviews, and other agile rituals to keep the team focused, aligned, and on track.
Partner with Project Owner and Marketing Lead to manage end-to-end innovation & commercialization process, from initial concept to successful market launch.
Build and manage timeline of the project and product development.
Align POD members on their commitments with the timelines to ensure on time delivery.
Coach the pod on agile principles, flex when needed and helping the team balance speed and structure while adapting quickly to feedback and new insights.
Identify and resolve impediments that hinder progress—whether operational, organizational, or resource-related—to keep the initiatives moving forward.
Tracking key agile metrics such as CSat, Maturity, Capacity of the team, reporting progress, and making adjustments as needed to ensure project success.
Maintain clear documentation of sprint goals, backlog items, decisions, and velocity.
Ensure the team and stakeholders have visibility into progress, risks, and timelines.
Guide the team in retrospectives to continuously improve delivery and collaboration.
Ensure alignment across all pod members, including R&D, Supply Chain, Finance, and Marketing, while fostering an environment of shared ownership and rapid iteration.
Tailor agile workflows to reflect the unique physical product innovation characteristics — helping the team move quickly from insight to execution while navigating pack simplification, retail constraints, and test-and-learn launches.
Help the team align on the highest-impact initiatives by working closely with the Pod Lead and cross-functional partners to manage and refine the product backlog.