(Senior) Manager Medical Innovations (m/f/d)

Drive the ideation and development of impactful, evidence-based innovations in Medical Nutrition. Identify medical scientific trends, unmet medical and clinical needs, translate insights into executable product and concept strategies, and lead cross-functional initiatives. Ensure scientific rigor, regulatory alignment, and commercial relevance to deliver high-quality solutions that improve patient outcomes and strengthen the organization’s leadership in medical nutrition therapy. Foster collaboration with internal stakeholders and external partners to accelerate innovation and shape the future Medical Nutrition portfolio.

Your main tasks:

• Innovation Management:
  Enlarge pipeline for Medical Nutrition products across the spectrum (oral up to parenteral), from early ideation and concept design through product concept generation, nutrition profiles, preclinical validation, clinical substantiation, and implementation.
• Due Diligence & Strategic Assessment:
  Contribute to scientific and strategic due diligence activities, including the evaluation of external innovation opportunities, partnerships, and technologies. Provide structured assessments aligned with clinical, regulatory, and commercial criteria.
• Translation of Innovation into Viable Clinical Products:
  Transform scientific and clinical insights into practical, evidence-based solutions with therapeutic value. Ensure concepts are technically feasible, clinically meaningful, and commercially viable in collaboration with internal stakeholders.
• Scientific Rationale & Evidence Generation:
  Develop robust scientific rationales that support product design, guide development priorities, and form the basis for regulatory dossiers, marketing claims, and clinical communications.
• Nutritional Profile Definition:
  Define therapeutic nutritional profiles based on scientific evidence and refine them through preclinical studies and iterative collaboration with R&D to ensure ingredient compatibility and matrix stability.
• Preclinical Strategy & Integration:
  Co-develop and execute preclinical strategies with scientific teams to assess safety, efficacy, and viability of concepts, supporting transition into clinical development.
• Cross-functional and Stakeholder Collaboration:
  Partner effectively across R&D, Clinical, Regulatory, Medical Affairs, Market Access, and Commercial teams. Foster a proactive and constructive dialogue to challenge assumptions and overcome ideation and development hurdles.
• Strategic Intelligence & Competitive Monitoring:
  In close collaboration with Medical Study Development, IITs, and Intelligence teams, monitor scientific and clinical trends, regulatory developments, and competitive activity to inform innovation planning.
• External Engagement & Expert Network Development:
  Build and maintain relationships with external experts, academic centers, and KOLs. Attend key congresses to identify emerging trends and opportunities, and to expand the external innovation network.
• Ideation Workshops & Best Practice Sharing:
  Organize and facilitate ideation and refinement workshops across functions. Promote internal knowledge transfer and cross-geography best practice exchange to accelerate innovation and learning.
• Publication & Communication Strategy:
  Contribute to and help shape the external scientific narrative through publications, congress presentations, and other medical-scientific communications. Develop a publication strategy to influence the HCP community and support successful launch and adoption of future innovations. Act as subject matter expert to provide scientific content for internal training and external education activities led by the Education & Training team.
• Evidence Planning & Clinical Interface:
  Support the development of clinical evidence plans with Clinical and Regulatory teams to ensure data generation aligns with product positioning and regulatory expectations.
• Innovation Governance & Execution:
  Ensure robust project management, governance adherence, and timely execution of innovation projects in line with organizational goals, business processes and compliance standards

Your profile:

• You have an advanced degree (PhD, MD, PharmD, or MSc) in Life Sciences, Nutrition, Medicine, food chemistry or a related field, with strong scientific grounding in clinical nutrition and human health or relevant therapy area.
• You bring a minimum of 5 years of professional experience in medical innovation, R&D, or medical affairs in the pharmaceutical, biotech, or medical nutrition industry, with a proven track record of translating early concepts into viable clinical products.
• You have an in-depth understanding of preclinical and clinical development, regulatory frameworks, and nutritional science across the nutrition spectrum.
• You have strong cross-functional leadership, stakeholder management, and scientific communication skills; experience with external expert engagement, publication strategy, and congress participation.
• You are hands-on, a creative innovator with the ability to adept at driving collaboration, facilitating ideation, influencing key stakeholders – ultimately aligning science with business and patient care goals.
• You are known for your strong strategic and analytical mindset with the ability to translate scientific and clinical insights into innovative strategies and commercial value.
• You have a proven experience navigating cross-functional project teams through complex, matrixed environments.
• You have excellent communication and collaboration skills to engage internal stakeholders and external experts effectively.
• You have the ability to navigate preclinical, clinical, regulatory, and commercial interfaces with a solution-oriented, structured approach.
• You are fluent in English (spoken and written).
• You are willing to travel regularly for expert engagement, cross-functional meetings, and congress participation.