Johannesburg: Marketing Contractor posted by OttoBauthentic

The Marketing Contractor will lead the creation and management of an 18-month rolling innovation pipeline, driving a steady flow of new, consumer-validated product opportunities across key menu categories. This role will translate consumer insights and food trends into commercially viable concepts, aligning cross-functional teams to bring innovations from early idea to launch readiness.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

Lead Innovation Pipeline Development through Concept Creation & Ideation:

• Build and manage an 18-month rolling innovation pipeline aligned with brand strategy and business priorities, ensuring a steady flow of high-potential product concepts
• Translate consumer insights and food trends into new product concepts across key menu categories, driving creative ideation and early-stage concept development

Cross-Functional Collaboration:

• Partner closely with NPD, Supply Chain, Finance, Consumer Insights, and Operations teams to evaluate feasibility, cost, and scalability and consumer validation of innovation ideas

Reporting & Pipeline Governance:

• Maintain documentation and communicate progress on the innovation pipeline, ensuring visibility of key milestones and decision points to leadership

COMPETENTIES/ABILITIES:

• Translate consumer insights and market trends into commercially viable product concepts, often navigating ambiguous or incomplete information
• Balance creativity with analytical rigor by assessing feasibility, cost, and scalability across multiple business functions
• Develop and adapt new processes or frameworks for innovation where existing approaches are limited, ensuring effective cross-functional alignment and decision-making
• Identify and prioritizes new product opportunities, recommending concepts for advancement based on consumer validation, feasibility, and strategic fit
• Owns day-to-day decisions on innovation pipeline management, including which ideas progress through early-stage development, ensuring a balanced and forward-looking innovation flow
• Have innovation:
  • This role has direct responsibility for developing new product concepts and contributing to the end-to-end innovation processfrom idea generation to consumer validation and commercialization readiness
  • It also plays a key role in refining and establishing new systems and frameworks for managing the innovation pipeline, ensuring a more consistent and efficient approach to bringing new products to market

EDUCATION / REQUIREMENTS:

• The role is a 1-year contract with possibilities of extended to permanent
• Postgraduate qualification with major in Marketing/Business related discipline
• 8 + years in marketing space within retail but preferably QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) / hospitality industry