Director of Innovation & New Product Development -US

TRIP•Los Angeles, CA

About The Position

TRIP's mission is to create calm in the everyday chaos for our community, offering next-generation wellness products to power their lifestyle and nurture mental wellbeing. As our first dedicated US innovation hire, you will own the process end-to-end: spotting the trends, shaping the concepts, briefing suppliers, and seeing products through to launch alongside our Technical Project Manager and Director of Compliance. You will be the US market's voice in our global NPD process, bridging the energy of American wellness culture with TRIP's distinct brand identity. You'll work closely with our UK-based product and brand teams, as well as US retail partners, trend agencies, and flavor houses to bring ideas to life and then follow through until they're on the shelf.

Requirements

8 years+ of hands-on NPD experience in food & beverage, wellness, or consumer goods, you've briefed suppliers, reviewed prototypes, and seen products through to launch.
Comfortable with the detail: writing briefs, and keeping the pipeline moving from brief to launch.
Excellent Project Management skills - you can create a critical path and stick to timelines.
A deep, genuine passion for US wellness trends, you know what's hitting shelves at Whole Foods, what's blowing up on TikTok, and what's next.
Strong cross-functional collaboration skills, comfortable influencing without authority, especially across time zones.
Clear, confident communicator who can distill complex information into a compelling story for any audience.
Experience working with supplement or functional beverage categories.
Excited by the opportunity to build something, someone who sees early-stage as an advantage

Nice To Haves

Experience at a high-growth DTC or omnichannel wellness brand, or a start-up
Familiarity with US supplement regulations (DSHEA) and FDA labelling requirements.
Existing relationships with US flavour houses, co-manufacturers, or ingredient suppliers.
Experience managing or mentoring junior team members.

Responsibilities

Get into the field yourself, visit retailers, talk to buyers, and spend time where US wellness consumers actually shop.
Monitor emerging US consumer trends across functional beverages, wellness supplements, and adjacent lifestyle categories and work with our category team in the US to build these into NPD briefs
Attend key US trade shows (Expo West, SupplySide, NACS, etc.) to spot white space and competitive moves early.
Build and maintain a living US trend radar to keep TRIP one step ahead.
Manage the prioritized US NPD pipeline across drinks and supplements, aligned to commercial and brand strategy.
Create best-in-class briefs for our flavour houses and ingredient suppliers, evaluate samples hands-on, and iterate until the product is right.
Lead development sessions with our US suppliers to format and format architecture, within commercial spec.
Partner with US R&D and US co-manufacturers to develop and iterate prototypes, working closely with our US Project Technical Manager
Own gate reviews and stage-gate documentation, ensuring ideas are commercially sound before they move forward.
Coordinate US regulatory considerations (FDA, supplement labelling, health claims) with our US Director of compliance.
Act as the connective tissue between the US market and TRIP's UK-based product, brand, and commercial teams.
Brief and work closely with brand and design to ensure new products land authentically within the TRIP world.
Support the US commercial team with innovation sell-in materials for key retail partners.
Report clearly and concisely on pipeline status, risks, and opportunities to senior leadership.
Work closely with our UK NPD Managers to ensure consistency of product globally