Manager Innovation

Department

Universal Robina Corporation - Main

Employee Type

Probationary

Grow Beyond UR Job with URC!

Universal Robina Corporation is looking for an Innovation Manager.

Job Purpose

The Innovation Manager acts as the strategic connector and orchestrator between the Global Innovation Center of Excellence, Global Marketing, & Country Category Teams, and key enabling functions across the region. The role ensures that innovation ideas, new product development (NPDs), and renovation initiatives are strategically prioritized, well-governed, and aligned with the Business OGSM, while maintaining full visibility and engagement across countries.

This position enables end-to-end innovation flow—from early ideation and opportunity shaping to prioritized project execution—by aligning stakeholders, facilitating collaboration, and ensuring disciplined project management that leverage existing products, technologies, and manufacturing capabilities.

Key Responsibilities

• Innovation Governance, Strategy & Prioritization
• Ensure all innovation initiatives are aligned with the Business OGSM, strategic growth priorities, and category roadmaps
• Lead strategic prioritization of innovation projects to balance impact, feasibility, and resource availability
• Support portfolio-level decision-making to focus efforts on high-value opportunities
• Maintain transparency and governance across the innovation funnel, from ideation through development readiness
• R&D, Marketing, & Category Integration
• Serve as the primary interface between the GI Center of Excellence and Regional/Country Marketing, & Category Teams
• Facilitate structured collaboration to ensure consumer relevance, technical feasibility, and business objectives are aligned early
• Ensure R&D capabilities, platforms, and insights are maximized across categories and markets
• Ideation, Brainstorming & External Collaboration
• Drive structured ideation and brainstorming sessions with regional and country stakeholders
• Facilitate collaboration with external partners and suppliers to unlock new technologies, ingredients, processes, and innovation concepts
• Translate external and internal insights into actionable innovation opportunities aligned with business priorities
• Project Management & Cross-Functional Enablement
• Enable end-to-end project coordination by aligning timelines, milestones, and governance checkpoints
• Collaborate with Engineering, Procurement, Finance, Quality, Supply Chain, and Manufacturing as enabling partners
• Support issue resolution, dependency management, and cross-functional alignment without direct ownership of functional execution
• Promote structured ways of working to improve speed, clarity, and decision-making
• Engagement, Visibility & Communication
• Ensure full visibility of innovation priorities, pipelines, and project progress across countries
• Act as the central conduit for country requirements, insights, and opportunities into regional innovation planning
• Enable cross-country learning and sharing of best practices
• Process, Tools & Continuous Improvement
• Support continuous improvement of innovation governance, tools, and processes
• Facilitate portfolio reviews, prioritization forums, and leadership updates
• Prepare high-level innovation summaries and insights for the CTO and regional leadership team
  
  

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Engineering, Business, Marketing, or related field
• 8-10 years of experience in innovation, R&D, project management, or related disciplines
• Experience working in a regional organization
• Exposure to innovation portfolio management, NPD governance, or regional sourcing preferred
  
  

Key Competencies

• Innovation and portfolio management
• Strategic prioritization and analytical thinking
• Project management and cross-functional coordination
• Stakeholder management and influence at senior levels
• Strong facilitation and executive communication skills
  
  

Apply with us today and join us in delighting our employees, customers, consumers, and communities with good food choices!

NOTE: Universal Robina Corporation does not collect fees throughout our recruitment process and does not collaborate with any travel agency or third party to provide accommodation or other services to job applicants. All URC recruitment processes happen in our respective offices or plants. Recruitment processes are only carried out by our Talent Acquisition teams with an official corporate email address.

Experience Range Range (Years)

5 - 8 years

Job posted on

2026-02-12

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