Innovation & Commercialisation Manager

About the position

📍 Crows Nest, Sydney 📍 Hands-On, Cross Functional Project Management At Real Pet Food, we’re building the future of pet nutrition. We’re passionate about creating high-quality nutrition for pets, and here you’ll work on some of Australia’s most loved and trusted pet food brands, including Ivory Coat, Fussy Cat, VIP, Billy & Margot, Nature’s Gift, Love ‘Em, Trilogy and Stockman & Paddock . We are excited to look to the market for a hands-on, high-impact Project Manager to help bring our innovation pipeline to life. This is not a role for spectators. We’re looking for someone who leans in, takes ownership, and makes things happen —someone who can rally cross-functional teams, cut through complexity, and deliver outcomes . The Opportunity The Innovation Commercialisation Manager plays a critical role in shaping our future growth by leading a diverse portfolio of complex innovation, renovation, and supply projects from concept through to launch. This is not a role where you will manage your own team - you will manage your projects. You’ll act as the central integrator across the business , ensuring alignment, momentum, and delivery excellence across Marketing, R&D, Operations, Technical, Procurement, Finance, Regulatory, and external manufacturing partners. This role is pivotal in strengthening governance, reducing launch risk, and improving the predictability of our innovation pipeline. What You’ll Be Responsible For End-to-End Project Delivery Drive projects from initiation through to delivery, ensuring they land on time, in full, and within scope Own execution—this is a hands-on role , not just oversight Stage Gate Governance Lead and coordinate the Stage Gate process across innovation, renovation, and supply projects Ensure strong governance discipline, clear decision-making, and accountability at every stage Critical Path & Programme Management Build and actively manage critical paths across multiple projects Identify bottlenecks early and drive solutions at pace Cross-Functional Leadership Align diverse stakeholder groups and keep everyone moving in the same direction Influence without authority and bring teams with you Portfolio & Resource Visibility Provide clarity on priorities, capacity, and trade-offs across the innovation portfolio Support smarter, data-informed decision making Risk & Issue Management Proactively identify risks and dependencies Navigate complexity and ambiguity with confidence and resilience Reporting & Communication Deliver clear, concise updates to senior stakeholders Bring visibility, not noise KPI & Performance Management Track and improve delivery performance across the innovation portfolio Drive continuous improvement in how we execute What We’re Looking For This role will suit someone who is: A doer, not a passenger – you take ownership and follow through Resilient and focused – you stay on track even when things get busy A natural influencer – you build trust quickly and bring people with you Highly organised and commercially minded – you see the bigger picture but manage the detail Credible across functions – you can sit comfortably with technical, operational, and commercial teams Energising to work with – you like people, and people like you Your Experience Proven experience delivering complex projects in FMCG or food manufacturing Strong exposure to working within a Stage Gate or structured innovation process Demonstrated ability to manage cross-functional stakeholders across multiple sites Track record of improving delivery discipline, governance, and execution outcomes Experience working across end-to-end product development and commercialisation Why This Role Matters This role will help build a more capability-led, strategically aligned Innovation function —with stronger governance, clearer ownership, and better delivery outcomes. You’ll have real impact on how we bring products to market—and how we win. Our Values At Real Pet Food, we live by our values: Work as a Pack Make Your Mark Lead with Passion Change the Game If you’re someone who gets things done, thrives in complexity, and wants to lead meaningful innovation work , we’d love to hear from you. What we’re about Welcome to RPF, where we believe in keeping it Real. Since 1994, we have been Australia and New Zealand’s pioneers in fresher dog and cat nutrition. Our story is one of passion for a better way to care for pets, a belief in fresher nutrition, and an unwavering commitment to delivering this to pet parents and pets worldwide. We're dedicated to fostering authentic partnerships, encouraging real ambition, and providing real career opportunities for our employees to make a difference. Real means fresher ingredients and fresher methods. We'll never stop expanding, innovating, and trying new things. We compete in every pet category and channel, creating favourite brands such as Ivory Coat, Nature’s Gift, V.I.P. Petfoods, and Love ‘Em & Fussy Cat! Since the establishment of RPF, we have grown to over 900 people across Australia and New Zealand, China, Southeast Asia and Europe. With the pet industry growing rapidly (a $15 billion industry!) and pets becoming increasingly important in our lives and homes, this is a unique opportunity to be a part of our remarkable growth story and advance your career. Why join us? Do work that matters. We’re pioneering in a new area of pet food, always striving for fresher. We’re restless, creating a better life for our pets. Make an impact and change the game. You won’t be another ‘cog in the wheel’ here. We give full trust and autonomy for you to do your best work – and to make a real difference. Do you have a great idea for a new product or system improvement? We’re all ears! Growing and global. We’re growing fast! We now have global presence across APAC, and Europe regions and we’re only getting started! Work with a pack of awesome, genuine people who are passionate about what they do. Grow your career with us. We’re big believers in lifelong learning. You’ll be given access to LinkedIn Learning, plus opportunities for internal mobility and leadership training to fast-track your career. Pets our part of our family : bring your pet to our Crows Nest office, access our Pawrental leave when you adopt a new cat or dog, pet carer and compassionate leave. Generous perks including day off for your anniversary, product discounts, volunteering days to help the community, novated leases, a rewards program and parental leave. What’s next? If you're ready to unleash your potential and make a real difference in the booming pet industry, then we want to hear from you! Next steps will include: An initial telephone interview followed by 2 face to face interviews including a case study 2 work references A psychometric test (depending on the job grade) We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. Diversity’s not a buzzword here, it’s in our DNA. Diverse perspectives shape our culture and make our work better. That’s why we’re committed to building inclusive teams that represent a variety of backgrounds and skills. If you need any reasonable adjustments, accessibility assistance or would like to note which pronouns you use at any stage of our hiring process, just contact us at accommodations: people&culture@realpetfoodco.com.au. We look forward to hearing from you. Please note: NO agencies will be considered during this process. We encourage you to refrain from submitting unsolicited profiles

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