Innovation Manager

Shaw Industries•Dalton, GA

12d

About The Position

Shaw’s corporate innovation team is a center of excellence that exists to help accelerate innovation at Shaw to create value for the business. We partner with all three business units, taking a future-focused, customer-centric, market-driven approach to creating differentiated products and services. The Innovation Manager will be tasked with solving complex strategic challenges and providing innovation leadership to all three business units. This role is responsible for informing and influencing key business partners to advance innovation efforts at Shaw, while translating complex technical issues into simple terms. They will execute Shaw’s innovation strategy through ownership of the innovation process – from idea scouting, ideation, and concepting through test & learn collaboration, validation, and commercialization. They will translate insights into action, prioritize resources, make go/no go decisions, and deliver value to the organization. This role will report to the Senior Director of Innovation.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Design, Business, or a related field; advanced technical training preferred.
5+ years of manufacturing, innovation, business, technical, engineering, design, marketing, or equivalent experience
Ability to travel (domestic and international – 15%)
Forward-looking, adaptive thinker with a strong, critical mindset
Exceptional oral and written communication skills, including refined presentation skills
Strong business acumen
Demonstrated ability to maintain confidential business information
Ability to understand major enterprise and business issues and challenges
Ability to lead and influence a team of cross-divisional internal leaders

Responsibilities

Build strong, collaborative relationships with business leaders to identify high-impact innovation opportunities and influence strategic decisions.
Gather and share market and customer insights to uncover trends and identify growth opportunities.
Champion customer-centricity by ensuring all innovation decisions prioritize the needs of Shaw’s customers.
Own and continuously improve the Corporate Innovation Stage-Gate process: a seven-step framework that ensures accountability, value creation, and growth.
Lead process and project management to drive efficient decision-making across the Corporate Innovation Team.
Collaborate with and guide technical innovation teams across the organization to accelerate commercialization of key business initiatives.
Develop and influence the creation of opportunity assessments, project briefs, and business cases that clearly document milestones and outcomes within the Stage-Gate process.
Maintain comprehensive documentation of all Stage-Gate phases, including assumptions, test results, presentations, and action plans.
Cultivate and promote a culture of innovation at Shaw by championing and embedding innovation best practices throughout the organization.
Create compelling communications and presentations that showcase new ideas, project progress, and commitments to senior leaders and stakeholders.
Partner with the corporate sustainability team to align product innovations and material choices with sustainability goals and health & wellbeing commitments.
Mentor and influence technical team members to strengthen long-term innovation capabilities and leadership competencies.
Support intellectual property efforts in alignment with Shaw’s overall IP strategy.
Represent Shaw at strategic market events and conferences to expand networks, gain insights, and stay ahead of innovation trends.
Scout and evaluate partnership opportunities with suppliers and technology vendors, articulate business value, and secure leadership buy-in.