Innovation Manager

The Christman Company•Detroit, MI

2d•Onsite

About The Position

The Innovation Manager is a critical position contributing to the execution of Christman’s corporate-wide Innovation strategy. This role oversees the daily execution of the Opportunity Mapping mechanism and the operation of the Innovation Programs within Christman’s Innovation Studio. They act as the coordination link between governance, field teams, and execution groups. This role ensures the program runs smoothly and captures learning to promote ongoing system improvement.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in business administration or a related field.
Minimum five (5) years of experience in a leadership role reflecting progressive leadership responsibilities.
OR Equivalent combination of the above education, training, and experience.
Advanced understanding of innovation methodologies, creative brainstorming, and workshop facilitation.
Ability to manage time, plan, schedule, organize, and prioritize responsibilities to consistently meet deadlines.
Strong hypothesis and risk mapping skills: ability to systematically decompose complex business ideas into testable, prioritized leap-of-faith assumptions. Ability to challenge senior stakeholders, resist organizational "solution-bias," and advocate for process integrity without alienating project teams.
Entrepreneurial focus and the ability to see the big picture while simultaneously focusing on details and timelines.
Must be able to write and communicate clearly and quickly to a variety of audiences.
Ability to perform under pressure or opposition and handle stress in a manner that is acceptable to others and to the organization.
Must be able to lead, work well with others, and build relationships with the Innovation project teams, resolving conflicts or jobsite issues as they arise.
Have excellent problem solving and ability to communicate solutions.
Have a passion for team-based planning and problem-solving and wholehearted commitment to building strong partnerships to support project goals.
Proficient in Microsoft 365 including Word, Excel, and Outlook.

Nice To Haves

Expertise in Lean Startup and Customer Development: Deep, practical knowledge of Steve Blank’s Customer Development framework, Lean Innovation principles, and the Build-Measure-Learn feedback loop.
Advanced framework certifications: Professional certification or formal training in Design Thinking (e.g., IDEO, Stanford d.school), Lean Startup, Agile, or Scrum methodologies.

Responsibilities

Execute the Opportunity Mapping mechanism.
Execute Innovation programs aligned with governance goals.
Drive deadlines to ensure timely completion of desired outcomes.
Facilitate collaboration across Innovation Project Teams, Liaisons, and the Innovation Studio.
Provide leadership, motivation, supervision and guidance to regional Innovation Liaisons and innovation teams and maintain a positive work environment.
Enforce process discipline across project teams: Actively prevent teams from advancing to the solution phase before they have achieved a verified, evidence-backed understanding of the core customer problem.
Lead rapid hypothesis and assumption mapping: Guide teams to rigorously surface, document, and prioritize leap-of-faith assumptions before any development or building begins.
Design and oversee iterative testing cycles: Mandate and facilitate mid-way experimentation and minimum viable product (MVP) testing to validate concepts with real users long before a pilot is launched.
Maintain a centralized performance dashboard to track timelines, KPI’s and outcomes, reporting these to the Innovation Director and Senior Vice President of Planning & Innovation.
Implement operational changes and improved processes based on feedback from the Innovation Director.
Take a leadership position in communicating and coordinating with external partners and vendors.
Oversee timely and accurate processing of all innovation project information documents.
Participate / co-lead regional innovation strategic planning sessions.
Support execution of the post-pilot handoff protocol, including transfer to regional operations.
Completes assigned and required training for this role.