Director, Innovation Marketing

Company Description

Simple Mills is on a mission to transform the way food is made, creating nourishing products with astounding ingredients and amazing taste. Founded in 2012 by Katlin Smith, our brand has redefined center-aisle grocery by delivering better-for-you products made with unique, nutrient-dense ingredients. Today, we’re a category leader and the #1 natural brand in multiple segments, with distribution in over 30,000 stores nationwide.

Now, as part of Flowers Foods, we’re entering an exciting new phase of growth—expanding our reach, accelerating innovation, and amplifying brand awareness, all while preserving the integrity of what makes Simple Mills special. Our commitment to using simple, high-quality ingredients ensures that every bite is both delicious and nutritious. Whether it’s watermelon seed flour in our cookies or butternut squash in our crackers, we craft our products with innovative, wholesome ingredients that deliver extraordinary taste.

Our work has been recognized by Fast Company as a Brand That Matters and a Most Innovative Company, and has been featured in Vogue, Forbes, Women’s Health, and NPR’s How I Built This. In 2024, Inc. named us one of its Best Workplaces, reflecting our dedication to fostering an inspiring and inclusive environment where passionate individuals can make a difference.

Join us as we shape the future of food. Learn more at www.simplemills.com.

Requirements

• Role Description
• At Simple Mills, innovation is essential to advancing our mission of improving both people and planetary health. The Director, Innovation Marketing will shape the company's growth agenda by identifying emerging consumer needs and market opportunities and translating them into breakthrough platforms, innovation pipelines, and product launches that strengthen our portfolio, create meaningful consumer value, and deliver sustainable growth. This leader will position Simple Mills to win in an increasingly dynamic and competitive better-for-you food landscape.
• Working across the organization, the Director will define where we play and how we win by identifying and prioritizing growth opportunities using consumer, category, and macro insights. They will align senior leaders and cross-functional teams around a shared innovation vision, accelerate ideas from concept to commercialization, and build the capabilities, processes, and culture required to sustain long-term growth and competitive advantage.
• The ideal candidate is a strategic and entrepreneurial innovation leader with a proven track record of driving growth through successful product innovation, leading complex cross-functional initiatives, and building high-performing teams. They bring strong strategic and critical thinking skills, combine commercial acumen with deep consumer curiosity, and share a passion for natural foods, wellness, and the role food plays in improving overall health.
• This position reports to the Head of Innovation & Mission. Key responsibilities include:
• Shape the Growth Agenda
• Define innovation strategy and build multi-year growth pipelines across core, adjacent, and emerging categories.
• Identify and prioritize growth opportunities through consumer insights, market trends, competitive intelligence, and whitespace analysis.
• Partner with Brand Marketing, Consumer Insights, R&D, and Commercial teams to align innovation priorities with business objectives.
• Influence enterprise growth priorities by partnering with executive leaders to evaluate growth opportunities, investment decisions, and portfolio tradeoffs.
• Establish innovation governance and decision-making frameworks that align resources, priorities, and long-term growth objectives.
• Strengthen innovation capabilities, processes, and ways of working to improve speed, quality, and impact.
• Drive portfolio prioritization and investment decisions to maximize growth potential and resource effectiveness.
• Lead Consumer-Centered Innovation
• Translate insights into differentiated concepts, products, and platforms that create meaningful consumer value.
• Leverage research and experimentation to validate opportunities, reduce risk, and strengthen decision-making.
• Synthesize complex information into clear recommendations that influence business strategy and investment decisions.
• Deliver Innovation from Concept to Launch
• Lead cross-functional teams through the end-to-end innovation process, from opportunity identification through commercialization.
• Partner with R&D to develop products that deliver on consumer expectations, business objectives, and brand standards.
• Ensure initiatives achieve financial, strategic, and operational objectives while proactively managing risk and execution.
• Balance long-term innovation ambitions with near-term business priorities and performance goals.
• Drive Commercial Impact
• Build compelling business cases and innovation plans that support growth and profitability objectives.
• Partner with cross-functional leaders to ensure successful commercialization through compelling positioning, sales stories, and go-to-market strategies.
• Establish clear success metrics and post-launch performance tracking to ensure innovation initiatives deliver expected business results.
• Monitor innovation portfolio performance and recommend resource allocation adjustments to maximize growth and profitability.
• Build High-Performing Teams
• Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing Innovation team.
• Foster a culture of curiosity, accountability, and critical thinking.
• Build organizational capability by developing talent, succession plans, and future innovation leaders.
• Performs other projects as assigned
• Position Requirements
• 10-12+ years of progressive experience in food, beverage, wellness, or consumer packaged goods innovation, marketing, strategy, or general management, including significant responsibility for developing and commercializing growth-driving innovation.
• Bachelors Required, MBA strongly preferred.
• Deep passion for natural foods and the connection between food, human health, and planetary wellness. Demonstrated curiosity about emerging food, wellness, and cultural trends. Knowledge of regenerative agriculture and sustainable food systems is a plus.
• Demonstrated experience leading innovation pipelines, portfolio decisions, and cross-functional commercialization efforts at scale.
• Demonstrated success defining innovation strategy, building multi-year growth pipelines, and delivering innovation that drives revenue growth, profitability, and strategic business objectives.
• Experience shaping growth strategies and influencing enterprise-level business decisions.
• Experience working in both large, complex organizations and entrepreneurial, high-growth environments.
• Proven track record leading cross-functional teams to deliver breakthrough, category-shaping, or new-to-the-world innovation from concept through commercialization.
• Deep expertise across the innovation process, including opportunity identification, consumer insights, concept and positioning development, product development, commercialization, business case development, financial analysis, and portfolio management.
• Strong business and financial acumen, with experience evaluating growth opportunities, making investment recommendations, and managing innovation-related investment decisions.
• Strategic and disciplined thinker who can identify opportunities, set direction, and translate ambiguity into focused action. Able to operate seamlessly between long-term vision and executional detail.
• Entrepreneurial leader who thrives in ambiguity, makes sound decisions with incomplete information, and drives progress through influence and accountability.
• Exceptional communication, storytelling, and influencing skills. Able to build alignment, challenge constructively, and confidently engage with leaders at all levels of the organization.
• Proven people leader with experience coaching, developing, and growing high-performing teams.
• An essential function of this role includes tasting and working in the vicinity of various food allergens.