Senior Director of Innovation

Senior Director Innovation

Uxbridge | Hybrid Working | EMEA Scope

The Advocate Group is proud to be representing Monster Energy in the search for an exceptional Senior Director of Innovation to join their EMEA Operations leadership team.

This is a rare opportunity to shape the future innovation agenda of one of the world's most recognisable and fastest-growing beverage brands. Reporting directly to the VP of NPD EMEA, this senior leadership role will be responsible for defining and delivering the regional innovation strategy, ensuring a robust pipeline of commercially successful product and packaging innovations across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

About Monster Energy

Monster Energy is one of the world's leading energy drink brands, operating across approximately 141 countries and territories. Since its launch in 2002, Monster has become a category-defining business, driven by a culture of innovation, bold thinking and entrepreneurial spirit.

The Opportunity

As Senior Director of Innovation, you will own the EMEA technical innovation agenda, translating commercial ambitions into a clear, executable innovation roadmap. Working at the intersection of strategy, technology and execution, you will collaborate closely with Commercial, Marketing, Global Innovation, R&D and Operations teams to develop and deliver a market-leading innovation pipeline.

This position requires a highly commercial innovation leader with deep technical expertise and the ability to influence at executive level across a complex, international FMCG environment.

Key Responsibilities

Innovation Strategy & Portfolio Leadership

• Define and lead the 2–3-year EMEA innovation pipeline aligned to business growth objectives and consumer trends.
• Drive annual portfolio planning and innovation roadmap development.
• Recommend innovation priorities, investment decisions and technical direction to maximise business value.

Innovation Opportunity Assessment

• Identify and evaluate new innovation opportunities across products, ingredients, formulations and packaging.
• Provide strategic recommendations through a commercial, technical, regulatory and supply chain lens.
• Shape business cases by assessing revenue, volume and margin opportunities.
• Challenge assumptions and drive innovation excellence, speed and value creation.

Programme Governance & Delivery

• Own and continuously improve the regional innovation process and governance framework.
• Lead early-stage innovation development and progression through key milestones.
• Manage complex, multi-market innovation programmes across the EMEA region.
• Ensure projects are appropriately scoped, resourced and positioned for successful commercialisation.
• Proactively manage risks, remove barriers and drive effective decision-making.

Performance & Commercialisation

• Establish and monitor innovation success metrics.
• Analyse performance data to improve future innovation outcomes.
• Deliver clear executive reporting on pipeline progress, risks and opportunities.
• Capture learnings and best practices from innovation launches across the organisation.

Leadership & Stakeholder Management

• Partner with senior leaders across Commercial, Marketing, Supply Chain, Regulatory, Finance and Global Innovation functions.
• Influence and align stakeholders across multiple regions and business units.
• Lead change initiatives that enhance innovation capability and ways of working.
• Contribute as a key member of the EMEA NPD leadership team.

About You

• Degree qualified in Business, Engineering, Supply Chain or a related discipline. A Master's degree would be advantageous.
• Proven senior leadership experience (12+ years) within Innovation, Portfolio Management or New Product Development in a multinational FMCG environment.
• Strong understanding of the end-to-end innovation and NPD lifecycle from concept through to commercialisation.
• Deep technical expertise across formulation, ingredient functionality, processing, packaging, regulatory and scale-up activities.
• Additional exposure to commercial, marketing, strategy or finance functions would be highly beneficial.
• Outstanding stakeholder management and executive influencing capabilities.
• Strategic thinker with a strong bias for action and delivery.
• Comfortable operating in ambiguity and making high-impact decisions.
• Exceptional communication and presentation skills.

Additional Information

• Travel: Approximately 30%

If you're an experienced innovation leader looking to make a significant impact within a globally recognised FMCG business, we'd love to hear from you.

📧 [email protected]

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