Director, Innovation - Packaging & Equipment (ASEAN & South Pacific)

About the role

This individual contributor role reports to the Senior Director, Innovation - ASEAN & South Pacific Operating Unit and is based in Singapore. It accelerates and champions the end-to-end packaging innovation agenda across the region, pioneering new packaging solutions and platforms that support sustainable, profitable growth and differentiation.

Key responsibilities

• Own and lead the packaging innovation pipeline, co-creating multi-year strategies and long-range plans with Packaging, Country Marketing, Commercial, Global, Technical, Supply Chain, Procurement, Sustainability, R&D and other stakeholders.
• Identify opportunities from consumer, market, regulatory, sustainability, technical and cost insights and turn them into innovation platforms and a healthy pipeline of concepts and projects.
• Manage projects end-to-end, from concept validation to launch and scale across markets, ensuring market readiness, manufacturability, supply chain alignment and regulatory compliance.
• Ensure innovations meet consumer needs, sustainability requirements and cost structures, and build strong business cases with cross-functional reviews and risk management.
• Drive performance accountability, speed to market, post-launch reviews and continuous improvement, and foster a test-and-learn culture.
• Act as a connector between packaging, technical, procurement, commercial and country teams, socialising progress and pipeline updates with leadership and launch teams.

Required profile

• 8-12+ years of experience in FMCG innovation, portfolio/project management and cross-functional leadership, ideally with regional exposure.
• Deep expertise in category strategy, new product development (NPD) and commercialization.
• Experience managing packaging innovation and launches from opportunity identification to concept development and viability assessment.
• Strong command of pipeline management tools, workflow discipline and post-launch analytics.
• Ability to build business cases, deliver ROI, manage budgets and navigate regulatory environments.

Required skills

• Category strategy and NPD
• Project management
• Pipeline management and data-driven decision making
• Business case development and design thinking