Innovation Manager

About the role:

Barry Callebaut Digital (BC Digital) is on a mission to lead the digital revolution in the chocolate industry, and we're looking for an Innovation Manager, to help us build a foundation to drive and foster innovation across our operations at Barry Callebaut. Reporting to the Head of Innovation, Automation & AI, your focus will lie on scouting and prototyping innovative solutions based on artificial intelligence and other state-of-the-art technologies. While closely collaborating with business stakeholders, you will conduct research, market analysis, and trend monitoring to identify emerging opportunities and disruptive technologies, to unlock customer growth opportunities. 

Key responsibilities:

• Conduct research, market analysis,s and trend scouting/monitoring to identify emerging opportunities and disruptive technologies e.g. Generative AI.
• Support Innovation, Automation & AI activities to build up innovative solutions capabilities with an unconstrained view from ideation to use case selection to prototyping.
• Collaborate with business stakeholders to identify areas of our business to uplift through advanced technology use cases (e.g. GenAI, process automation).
• Collaborate with stakeholders from our operative business functions to understand their business problems and identify innovative solutions to uplift our operative processes.
• Collaborate with BC Digital stakeholders to support the transition of prototypes into production and the subsequent scaling phase.
• Foster a culture of innovation within Barry Callebaut by promoting knowledge sharing and collaboration across teams Manage relationships with external partners, including technology providers, startups, and research institutions.
• Prepare and present reports on innovation activities, findings, and recommendations to senior management.
• Support business initiatives / projects around innovation, automation & AI.

About you:

• Extensive experience in research, market analysis, and trend monitoring in a comparable role, with a minimum of 7 years of experience.
• Good knowledge of Generative AI and ML models.
• Comprehensive understanding of business operations from both a business and digital perspective incl. related digital trends.
• Deep understanding of processes and technologies concerning the newest developments around Innovation, Automation & AI.
• Deep understanding of innovation practices, e.g. design thinking, open innovation, agile etc.
• Skills to create internal and external partnerships/networks across the organization
• Excellent problem-solving skills and structured way of working.
• Creative and strategic thinker, with a passion for driving innovation and continuous improvement.
• Experience in the chocolate or food industry is a plus, but not required.

We offer:

• Employment on a regular basis in the sweetest company in the world.
• Annual bonus based on your work results.
• Lunch card to be used for groceries and restaurants.
• Private medical care in Lux Med (basic package fully financed by BC).
• Fit Profit sports card co-financed by BC.
• PPE: we care about your future, and we save money for your retirement.
• Cafeteria Program as a part of Social Fund.
• Group life insurance.
• Hybrid working model: min. 8 days in the office a month.
• As part of our work-life balance culture, we can start work between 7 am and 10 am.
• Free consultation with a lawyer once a quarter.
• Chocolate! Yes, surprising but we have chocolate in the office, for Christmas, BC’s Birthday, and many other occasions during the year.
• And if chocolate is still not enough, you can join one of our theme clubs, where together with other employees we develop our passions and interests.
• Daily delivery of fresh fruits and veggies to the office.
• You can purchase our sweet products with a special discount.
• Relax zone in the office and plenty of options to choose from: PlayStation 5, football table, pool table, Ping-Pong, library, table games, and massage chairs.
• Sport @work? Sure! We have treadmills and indoor exercise bikes with a laptop station.
• We like to party as much as we like chocolate! We have integration budgets we can use for team events.
• Forever Chocolate and Event Team: you can join them and have a real influence on social life in BC and CSR activities.