Sr Director, Category Strategy and Innovation (RTD Tea)

PepsiCo • Purchase, NY

5d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Ready-to-Drink Iced Tea (RTDT) Category and Innovation Hub Director leads the development and delivery of a Joint Venture Category Vision and plan to deliver incremental growth to the RTDT category, detailing how it will deliver growth ahead of total beverage, over the next 3 to 5 years. It will use insight, data and other analysis including Financial to identify and prioritise the substantive and unique growth drivers and platforms where RTDT has a strong right to win and that will positively influence consumer and shopper behaviour, leading to strong Penetration gains. In doing so, the person in this role will challenge the existing RTDT category definition, examining the broad needs the category satisfies and identifying incremental growth opportunities, white spaces and gaps that seek to step change category performance and influence consumer and shopper behaviour. This will lead to a clear redefinition of what the RTDT 'category' stands for and uncover new avenues of growth and profit. The Ready-to-Drink Iced Tea Category and Innovation Hub Director will also spearhead the development and delivery of long-term (3 to 5 years out) breakthrough innovation Platforms within the RTDT Category, navigating a spectrum of markets at different stages of Category development from Seed to Mature. This role demands a visionary leader who can identify and leverage market trends, consumer insights, and technological advancements to drive significant category growth at scale for our priority brands, Pure Leaf and Lipton.

Requirements

• Minimum of 10 years in global category development and innovation management, product/new business development and within the beverage industry or another relevant FMCG sector.
• Proven success in delivering incremental category growth at scale through breakthrough, category-igniting innovation.
• Strong history of skilfully and proactively managing a complex matrix of stakeholders in a Franchise System.
• Strong organizational skills with experience in managing multiple projects and teams.
• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills to convey complex ideas clearly and persuasively.
• Demonstrated ability to inspire and lead a high-performing and diverse cross-functional and cross-geography team of innovators towards common goals.
• Bachelor’s degree in business, Marketing, Innovation or a related field

Nice To Haves

• MBA or relevant advanced degree preferred.

Responsibilities

• Development and delivery of clear category vision outputs consisting of a range of mutually exclusive quantifiable drivers and actionable strategies that will recruit new shoppers and get them to buy more RTDT on more occasions, thereby securing sustainable value and volume growth for Pepsi Lipton and our GTM and Retail Partners.
• Clearly define the level of change, How to Win, and investment required to activate the Category Vision and Strategy, depending on the category maturity of RTDT at market or regional level and the appetite for fundamental change within the category by the Joint Venture and our GTM and Retail Partners.
• Leverage Insight and data from a myriad of sources in Partnership with the Insights and Analytics team to generate prioritised growth drivers to include new or under-indexed consumer segments, consumer need states, consumer occasions, shopper missions, channels, customer, and geographies.
• Partner with the CCO, insights, marketing, BD leads and GTM Partners in the development of the category vision, strategies and execution plans, fully reflecting the needs and nuances of priority markets.
• Work closely with go-to-market leads to develop tailored execution strategies for specific retailers, ensuring that local insights and preferences are integrated into the planning process.
• Foster strong relationships with franchise partners, retailers, and other stakeholders to drive successful category initiatives.
• Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of category initiatives, principally defined by growth ahead of total Non-Alcoholic Beverage, utilizing data analytics to inform decision-making and optimize category growth strategies and plans.
• Monitor market performance and consumer, shopper and retailer feedback, adjusting strategies as necessary to ensure continued accelerated growth and relevance within total beverage.
• Develop and execute a comprehensive innovation strategy aligned with the RTDT Category Vision, Destination Portfolio, and overall business objectives of Pepsi Lipton. Identify and prioritize breakthrough innovation opportunities across priority platforms and brands (Pure Leaf, and Lipton), focusing on delivering scale across both mature and nascent RTDT markets.
• In partnership with the insights team conduct thorough market research, consumer analysis, leveraging traditional tools and AI, to uncover emerging trends, preferences, and behaviours that inform innovation strategies and big bets for priority platforms.
• Collaborate closely with R&D, marketing, sales, insights and supply chain teams to ensure effective and efficient ways or working, leveraging Agile and Lean Methodologies. Foster a culture of collaboration and innovation across departments to build deep trust and enhance product and new business model development processes. Partner with Bottler partners and retailers to ensure that Category Growth, Shelf-back and System Win thinking are at the forefront of the solutions developed.
• Lead the Long-term innovation pipeline, from ideation to commercialization via strong partnership and hand overs to Global (Lipton) and Regional (Pure Leaf) cross-functional Brand Teams, ensuring projects are delivered on time and within budget. Manage multiple innovation Platforms and Projects simultaneously, balancing short-term needs with long-term vision and platform shaping.
• Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of innovation Platforms and Projects and their impact on category growth. Analyse results and adapt strategies based on performance data to continuously improve innovation outcomes.

Benefits

• Paid parental leave, vacation, sick, and bereavement.
• Medical, Dental, Vision, Disability, Health, and Dependent Care Reimbursement Accounts, Employee Assistance Program (EAP), Insurance (Accident, Group Legal, Life), Defined Contribution Retirement Plan.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director