Innovation Specialist - Global Innovation Center
About The Position
The Innovation Specialist supports Global Innovation Center (GIC) initiatives by applying core expertise and collaborating with ecosystem partners and other domain experts to reimagine how eye care and eyewear are delivered. The role contributes to innovation projects and programs across the GIC and helps clarify complex topics for team members. With guidance from senior team members, the Innovation Specialist focuses on learning, execution, and collaboration. The position assists with designing and executing projects that explore and scale concepts in assigned domains. It contributes to technology evaluation, business model innovation, prototyping, proof-of-concept activities, and experimentation. The specialist monitors assigned domains and develops an understanding of their potential, maturity, and business impact, while building awareness of related technologies, business models, markets, and consumer trends. The role also supports problem and opportunity identification, hypothesis development, testing and validation, and product or business model evaluation using established criteria. The Innovation Specialist develops and pitches project ideas, helps present findings across the enterprise, and collaborates with internal and external partners to deepen knowledge of emerging markets.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field or equivalent experience.
- Minimum 4 years of experience in relevant areas such as innovation, emerging technology, research and development, product design, or related topics.
- Expertise in a relevant subject-matter domain and a developing understanding of adjacent areas in healthcare, business models, and technology.
- Experience contributing to projects and adapting to changing requirements.
- Creative problem-solving skills and adaptability.
- Strong presentation and communication skills, including the ability to contribute to research briefs and PowerPoint presentations.
- Ability to explain technical concepts to non-technical people and describe their relevance to their work or business.
- Interest in developing and sharing project pitches.
- Skill in providing and receiving thoughtful, constructive feedback.
- For remote or hybrid roles, ability to remain highly engaged in virtual environments, including maintaining camera presence during meetings.
Nice To Haves
- Industry experience in healthcare, manufacturing, retail, or technology.
- Experience working in creative cultures in consulting or large corporate environments.
Responsibilities
- Assist in designing and executing projects that explore and scale concepts related to assigned domain areas.
- Contribute to technology evaluation, business model innovation, prototyping, and proof-of-concept activities.
- Monitor assigned domain areas and build an understanding of their potential, maturity, and impact on the business.
- Build awareness of adjacent technologies, business models, markets, and consumer trends.
- Apply concept testing, validation, user research, or other experimentation methodologies under senior team members’ guidance.
- Support product or business model evaluation using established scorecards and criteria.
- Support identification and definition of problems and opportunity areas, develop hypotheses, and contribute to testing and validation of assumptions.
- Develop and pitch new project ideas and opportunities.
- Contribute to presenting project findings to all levels of the enterprise.
- Collaborate with internal and external partners to deepen current and future knowledge between the company and emerging markets.
Benefits
- The role may include eligible bonuses and commissions.
- VSP Vision benefits are referenced, but specific benefits are not listed.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Mid Level
