Director, Innovation Insights & Exploration

Director, Innovation Insights & Exploration

The Director, Innovation Insights & Exploration is responsible for shaping the Technical Innovation & Supply Chain (TI&SC) innovation agenda by identifying future-focused insights, signals, and opportunities. This role combines data analysis, consumer and user understanding, and external trend sensing to inform evidence-based innovation decisions. The successful candidate will translate complex data and foresight into clear opportunity spaces and strategic narratives. Strong analytical capability, storytelling, and cross-functional partnership are essential. This role plays a critical leadership position in ensuring innovation investments are insight-led and future-ready.

What You'll Do for Us

You will lead insight generation, foresight, and exploration activities that feed a robust and prioritized innovation pipeline for TI&SC. This role is responsible for uncovering unmet needs, emerging trends, and future scenarios using data, research, and analytics. You will partner closely with innovation, digital, and supply chain leaders to translate insights into opportunity areas, support strategic decision-making, and guide early experimentation. You will also build repeatable methodologies and capabilities that embed insight-driven innovation across the organization.

• Identify innovation insights through data analysis, consumer and user understanding, and internal operational data.
• Leverage quantitative analytics, research, and qualitative insights to uncover unmet needs, risks, and future opportunities.
• Lead horizon scanning across emerging technologies, supply chain, operations, and consumer behaviors to identify trends and disruptions.
• Develop future scenarios and foresight perspectives to inform short-, medium-, and long-term innovation strategy.
• Translate insights and foresight into clear opportunity spaces, hypotheses, and problem statements.

• Build and maintain an insight-driven exploration pipeline that feeds innovation strategy and experimentation.
• Prioritize opportunities based on strategic relevance, potential impact, and feasibility in partnership with innovation and business leaders.
• Support early experimentation by identifying high-value exploration areas in collaboration with Innovation Business Model, RtE, GDI, and Equipment teams.
• Provide insight-based inputs to Innovation Committee and Innovation Council discussions through clear narratives, visualizations, and points of view.
• Establish tools, methodologies, and processes for foresight, exploration, and insight sharing across TI&SC.
• Act as a thought leader on data-driven innovation, foresight, and future-focused decision-making.

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Business, Analytics, Data Science, Engineering, Innovation, or a related field.

• 8+ years of experience in innovation strategy, insights, analytics, foresight, technology exploration, or related roles.

• Strong skills in data analysis, research methodologies, and insight synthesis across qualitative and quantitative sources.
• Experience working in or with TI&SC, digital, data, or technology-enabled environments.
• Proven ability to synthesize complex information into clear, actionable insights and strategic recommendations.
• Strong storytelling, visualization, and stakeholder engagement skills, including executive-level communication.
• Demonstrated ability to influence, collaborate, and lead through ambiguity in cross-functional environments.