Director, Innovation & Commercialization Operations

AG1

7h • $145,000 - $180,000 • Remote

About The Position

AG1 is seeking an experienced leader to operate and strengthen its enterprise Stage Gate governance and commercialization process as the company expands its innovation portfolio across products, formats, and channels. The role combines governance design and decision discipline with hands-on cross-functional execution, helping move products from concept through development, manufacturing readiness, and launch with greater clarity, speed, and accountability.

Reporting to the Chief Legal & Administrative Officer, the Director will have delegated ownership of the governance model, including recommending and implementing gate standards, decision protocols, performance measures, and process improvements. The Director will work closely with Product Development leadership and functional stakeholders while maintaining an enterprise-wide perspective.

The role leads Stage Gate governance and decision forums; integrates cross-functional plans and launch baselines; coordinates commercialization readiness across product, packaging, sourcing, manufacturing, and channels; and operationalizes process improvements across active launches. It also establishes decision records, change controls, exception frameworks, readiness expectations, and process-effectiveness measures, and supports teams in adopting the resulting practices.

Requirements

• 10+ years in CPG new product development, innovation operations, commercialization, or related cross-functional leadership; ideally including food, beverages, or nutritional products.
• Demonstrated experience owning or materially redesigning a formal Stage Gate or comparable NPD governance framework, beyond participating in gate meetings.
• Experience launching physical consumer products and understanding formulation, regulatory and quality, packaging, supply chain, manufacturing, and commercial interdependencies.
• Strong judgment in setting governance standards without unnecessary bureaucracy.
• Experience leading decision forums and navigating cross-functional trade-offs.
• Ability to influence senior stakeholders without direct authority, implement change, and turn complex workflows into practical operating routines.
• Excellent integrated planning, risk management, facilitation, and executive communication skills.
• Experience facilitating executive gate decisions, setting and tracking conditions of approval, and leading pragmatic change control.

Nice To Haves

• Experience spanning mature CPG processes and high-growth, entrepreneurial environments.
• Experience with beverage or supplement categories and retail, DTC, Amazon, or international launches.
• PMP certification or equivalent formal training in project or program management methodologies.
• Familiarity with PLM, NPD portfolio tools, and process excellence methodologies.

Responsibilities

• Design, operate, and evolve the Stage Gate governance framework with the executive owner, including gate criteria, required evidence, decision rights, and escalation pathways.
• Lead gate reviews focused on decisions and readiness; document approvals, conditions, owners, and formal closure.
• Maintain gate decision records covering evidence, approvals, conditions, open or locked decisions, exceptions, and accountable owners; follow conditional approvals through closure.
• Develop standards for decisions locked at each gate and controls for material changes after approval.
• Apply proportionate gate requirements to product variants, flavors, pack sizes, and claims changes based on risk and complexity.
• Identify decisions requiring executive intervention, frame options and trade-offs, and recommend a path forward.
• Integrate new product development plans across Product Development, Packaging, Procurement, Supply Chain, Quality, Regulatory, Finance, Marketing, Retail, DTC, and International.
• Establish critical-path plans, functional lead times, dependencies, and handoffs, and ensure early functional engagement.
• Maintain integrated launch baselines and forecasts, and make the timing, scope, resource, and risk impacts of upstream delays explicit to decision-makers.
• Provide visibility into project status, timing, risks, competing resource demands, and launch-readiness decisions.
• Partner with accountable product and functional owners to resolve gaps while preserving their technical and commercial decision authority.
• Coordinate requirements across formula and claims decisions, packaging specifications and qualification, artwork and labels, sourcing, master data, production, and channel launch activities.
• Define readiness expectations for manufacturing, inventory, retailer execution, and DTC launches; ensure deviations are evaluated and approved.
• Surface the timing, cost, and execution impacts of proposed late changes.
• Operationalize AG1’s Stage Gate redesign work across active launches, including streamlined tasks, improved sequencing, and redesigned gate meetings.
• Simplify or remove duplicative and legacy requirements while preserving critical controls and decision quality.
• Review briefs, approval points, and handoff artifacts for clear purpose, ownership, and downstream use; retire redundant documentation.
• Create a reliable system of record for current decisions, approved versions, deliverables, owners, milestones, and changes.
• Establish a framework for retailer-specific requests and other exceptions, including incremental cost, capacity, and schedule implications.
• Define process-effectiveness measures, such as on-time gate closure, changes to locked decisions, rework, and launch readiness; train teams and drive adoption.

Benefits

• Competitive compensation and performance-based incentive plans.
• 100% remote working environment, excluding Laboratory positions.
• Paid holidays, company-wide reset and reflect days, and unlimited PTO based on country of residence.
• In-person team meetups for collaboration, team building, and productivity.
• Access to AG1 products and branded swag.
• Monthly telecom stipend to offset some home internet or Wi-Fi costs for eligible team members.
• Benefits and insurance as required by law based on country of residence.
• Competitive mix of base salary, performance bonus, and stock option allocation for eligible roles.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: No Education Listed