Senior Manager, Marketing Insights - Front End Innovation

Overview

Senior Manager, Marketing Insights - Front End Innovation at Dole Packaged Foods. This role identifies opportunity spaces, scans cultural and category trends, identifies consumer needs, assesses appeal and market potential, and crafts business cases to inform the short and long-term innovation pipeline. The role offers a hybrid work arrangement with the Westlake Village, CA office (hybrid is defined as 3 times per week in the office).

Responsibilities

• Track Trends - Lead landscaping, foresight, and trend scanning to uncover cultural, category, and behavioral shifts that fuel the broader innovation strategy, inspire opportunity spaces, and create a strong funnel of innovation ideas and programs.
• Gather Competitive Intelligence - Monitor top-performing brands, new product launches, and potential competitive threats in current and new categories.
• Synthesize Insights – Distill cultural signals, consumer behaviors, and market dynamics into actionable insight, fueling ideation and informing business cases for innovation projects.
• Manage Innovation Pipeline – Gather and track innovation ideas from different sources to generate and refine early concepts, in preparation for screening phase.
• Champion Ideation – Collaborate with internal and external partners to prepare inputs and outputs for ideation workshops.
• Size Business Opportunities - Influence and shape early assumptions for business model development, including volume estimates and forecasts.
• Create Business Cases – Use data to identify opportunities for category expansion, new product introductions, and improvements to product assortment using multiple inputs/sources.
• Build Stories - Translate insights into compelling narratives and presentations that communicate opportunities to business partners and stakeholders.
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

Experience, Knowledge, & Skills You Bring:

• 8+ years of experience in insights, innovation, or business development in the CPG industry, with experience in the food or beverage industry
• Proven ability to translate insights into business model implications, with forecasting fluency
• Proven track record of working successfully cross-functionally (Brand, Marketing, R&D, Finance)
• Strong communication skills, with experience in presenting to key stakeholders and leadership
• Skilled in advocating the intersection of trends, consumer needs, competitive landscape, and opportunities in a meaningful way through business case development
• Strong analytical skills with proficiency in category data and consumer research
• Experience working with cross-functional teams (Brand, Marketing, R&D, Finance)
• Ability to synthesize complex data into clear, actionable insights.

Preferred Skills

• Sales Analytics: Knowledge of retail analytics, pricing strategies, and category management
• Consumer Research: Understanding of qual and quant consumer research methodologies
• Vendor Management: Experience working with external agencies or vendors that specialize in ideation and innovation processes

What You’ll Need to Succeed

• Passionate about a purpose driven career
• Committed to fostering inclusive environments that support employee development/well-being
• Sets clear expectations, encourages innovation, and drives continuous improvement
• Models and coaches towards transparency and integrity in decision-making
• Effectively facilitates cross-team communication and teamwork

Education & Certification

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business, Statistics, or a related field (Master’s degree preferred)

Physical Requirements

• Ability to sit and use the computer for extended periods of time; ability to answer phones and use a variety of office equipment; ability to lift 15 pounds and reach overhead

Travel Requirements

• Occasional travel may be required

All qualified applicants will receive consideration

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, sex, color, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, or on the basis of disability.

Location & Compensation

For Jobs Based In California, Hiring Pay Scale: $135,000 to $165,000. Dole Packaged Foods is committed to paying our Associates fairly and equitably. The pay rate offered will consider a wide range of factors, including experience, education, accomplishments, and location. Pay scales are subject to review periodically.