Sr. Director, Product Innovation

McKesson•Alpharetta, GA

44d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Sr. Director of Product Innovation serves as the strategic leader for enterprise innovation, responsible for identifying, shaping, and accelerating new growth opportunities across McKesson, with a focus in Customer Operations and PSaS. The Senior Director of Innovation partners with business segment leaders, product teams, and external collaborators to translate emerging trends, customer needs, and internal capabilities into actionable innovation strategies. This role leads a small but highly capable team in cross-functional ideation, incubation, and commercialization efforts, fostering a culture of experimentation and continuous learning. The position is less technical than traditional product roles, with a focus on business model innovation, customer experience, commercializing data and analytics tools, and strategic partnerships.

Requirements

Degree or equivalent experience.
Typically requires 13+ years of professional experience and 6+ years of diversified leadership, planning, communication, organization, and people motivation skills (or equivalent experience).
13+ years of experience in progressively more complex innovation, strategy, product, new venture or business development roles.
6+ years leading cross-functional teams.
4+ years of experience with products having a significant digital presence.
Proven track record of launching new products, services, or business models.
6+ years of experience leading various aspects of innovation or product teams, including demonstrated experience with planning, financial management, communication, stakeholder management, etc.
4+ years proven experience working directly with and influencing senior executives to secure support for, as well as communicate the value of and progress on technical product initiatives.
Strong business acumen with ability to align product strategy with organizational goals.
3+ years demonstrated fluency in managing product finances, including, but not limited to developing product business cases, ability to develop strong cost-benefit analysis, ability to translate soft-benefits into measurable financial metrics, etc.
Demonstrated ability to bring together and work closely with multiple stakeholders, including but not limited to engineering, architecture, data, legal, compliance, business, and other teams to develop and deliver new products and/or functionality within existing products.
Strong strategic thinking and business acumen.
Expertise in innovation methodologies (e.g., design thinking, lean startup).
Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
Ability to navigate ambiguity and drive clarity in complex environments.
Familiarity with emerging technologies and market trends.

Responsibilities

Enterprise Innovation Strategy Develop and maintain a forward-looking innovation strategy aligned with McKesson’s strategic priorities.
Identify whitespace opportunities through market scanning, customer insights, and internal ideation.
Partner with segment leaders to align innovation efforts with business goals.
Define innovation themes and investment areas across the enterprise.
Innovation Pipeline Development & Management Lead the end-to-end innovation lifecycle: ideation, validation, incubation, and scaling.
Manage a portfolio of innovation initiatives, including pilots, partnerships, and internal ventures.
Establish governance and stage-gate processes for innovation pipeline management.
Ensure alignment with enterprise strategy, compliance, and risk management.
Develop business cases for net new initiatives.
Croff-Functional Collaboration & Culture Building Foster a culture of innovation across McKesson through workshops, training, and storytelling.
Facilitate cross-functional collaboration between product, strategy, operations, and external partners.
Champion design thinking, lean experimentation, and agile innovation practices.
Build internal communities of practice around innovation and intrapreneurship.
External Partnerships & Ecosystem Engagement Identify and cultivate strategic partnerships with startups, academia, and industry consortia.
Represent McKesson in innovation forums, conferences, and thought leadership platforms.
Evaluate external technologies, business models, and trends for relevance and fit.
Lead co-development and joint innovation initiatives with internal & external collaborators.
Innovation Metrics & Communication Define and track KPIs for innovation performance, including pipeline health, time-to-value, and ROI.
Communicate innovation progress and impact to senior leadership and stakeholders.
Develop compelling narratives and presentations to advocate for innovation investments.
Ensure transparency and accountability across innovation initiatives.