Job Description
The Packaging Innovation Manager is responsible for supporting the development of the Food Business packaging strategy, delivering innovation, safe and legal compliance whilst meeting our sustainability goals and implementing the packaging strategy across the business units. Key to this is driving the value & innovation agenda and ensuring that all our product packaging is appropriate, well sourced and cost effective.
As a Packaging Innovation Manager, you’ll:
- Agree and deliver the plastics & packaging strategy targets and innovative packaging development projects.
- Work closely with the cross functional teams within a business unit and Sainsbury's Own brand and potentially Brand, product and packaging supply base to identify, co-ordinate and report on projects to help deliver our packaging strategy at a category and product level.
- Be the person that takes ownership and delivers on projects that drive value & innovation in alignment with business targets.
- Lead or support with
- Ensure that accurate packaging technical specifications are met as part of the SMART process in delivering safe and legal product packaging and provide the appropriate detail to enable management reporting that is accurate, insightful and informative.
- Create and manage packaging strategy, material standards and reporting for the category teams.
- Implement quality standards competently and challenge the unacceptable.
- Support detailed investigations on packaging related issues to identify root cause and implement clear complaint reduction action plans with all suppliers, category teams.
- Ensure that the commercial aspects of all packaging components are well understood, ensuring our teams are well informed and can therefore negotiate costs effectively.
- Implement risk- based governance for suppliers of both finished packaging and packaging raw materials.
- Keep the business up to date on emerging issues and trends in packaging, materials and print and contribute to formal "horizon scanning" reports.
- Work with the cross-functional teams to support communicating progress against commitments internally & externally.
- Develop appropriate training content, programmes and modules for use across the company and with relevant external groups i.e. suppliers.
- Provide ad-hoc expertise to teams delivering positions, policies approaches & standards when needed.
- Support first to market packaging innovation through supplier/industry/joint ventures and strategic alliances. Work with legal and trading teams to protect first to market positioning through Intellectual Property, legal patents etc...
- Work with industry experts and academia to identify Research and Development opportunities.
Our Packaging & Innovation team would love to see:
- Degree and/or equivalent qualifications in packaging, product design or food technology.
- Significant experience in management of packaging projects across complex supply chains.
- Comfortable with working in a large customer-focused business, delivering results at rapid pace.
- Senior stakeholder management and effectively influencing around an agenda.
- Ability to build and prove effective business case for sustainability initiatives.
- Knowledge and ability to utilise relevant networks and stakeholders and represent the organisation at high-level meetings.
- Capable of training, coaching, and providing on-going support to both internal and external stakeholders.
- Ability to work flexibly around an evolving agenda.
- Line and budget management experience
Why Sainsbury’s?
Work-life balance is important to us, so we offer our colleagues as much flexibility as possible in line with the needs of their role. We trust them to decide how, where and when they work, combining remote and collaborative working with a flexible approach to hours, giving them plenty of time and space for life outside of work whilst delivering against our business goals.
As well as a great work-life balance, lots of on-the-job training and endless opportunities, click here for more detail on our benefits: https://sainsburys.jobs/working-for-us/benefits/
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