Zone Expansions (Innovation) Projects Manager

Who we’re looking for

• Graduate degree in Marketing or Management (preferred).
• Minimum 5 years of successful experience within a leading FMCG or another brand-led organization.
• Experience working in both regional and local roles.
• Experience in brand innovation and brand-building roles.
• Proven track record of leading cross-functional projects.
• Strong analytical skills, with the ability to uncover insights, draw logical conclusions, and recommend business actions, combined with a strong bias for action, personal accountability, and an entrepreneurial mindset.
• Fluent English and fluency in one Central & Eastern European (CEE) language.

What you’ll do

• Define the innovation roadmap for Local Brands within the Zone, aligned with brand strategy, financial plans, and strategic objectives.
• Identify consumer-driven growth opportunities and collaborate with cross-functional teams and external agencies to deliver scalable innovation.
• Facilitate idea generation and concept development to maintain a continuous pipeline of insights and innovation opportunities.
• Own the innovation pipeline through the stage-gate process, including business case development, budget allocation, governance of NPD projects, and achievement of commercial targets.
• Drive portfolio simplification, optimization, renovation, commercial innovation, and sustainability initiatives in collaboration with Manufacturing & Supply and Design-to-Value teams.
• Lead cross-functional collaboration to optimize product, pack, and execution, and coordinate launch plans and post-launch evaluations with Zone Brand Leads.
• Integrate sustainability into innovation activities and operate responsibly from both social and environmental perspectives.

About the position

At Opella, we simplify self-care for real people. As a Zone Expansions (Innovation) Projects Manager, you become part of that mission – turning ideas into products that actually reach hands and homes. This role is where precision, consistency, and accountability come together to support our self-care revolution.

Benefits

• Opella is the self-care challenger with the purest and third-largest portfolio in the Over-The-Counter (OTC) & Vitamins, Minerals & Supplements (VMS) market globally.
• Our mission: to bring health in people’s hands by making self-care as simple as it should be for over half a billion consumers worldwide.
• At the core of this mission is our 100+ loved brands, our 11,000-strong global team, our 13 best-in-class manufacturing sites and four specialized science and innovation development centers.
• Headquartered in France, Opella is the proud maker of many of the world’s most loved brands, including Allegra, Buscopan, Doliprane, Dulcolax, Enterogermina, Essentiale and Mucosolvan.
• B Corp certified in multiple markets, we are active players in the journey towards healthier people and planet.