Product Innovation Associate

Partner with Aquent to step into a dynamic role where your vision will directly shape the future of everyday consumer products. This is your opportunity to be at the forefront of innovation, transforming groundbreaking ideas into tangible, beloved offerings that captivate and delight customers. By expanding product portfolios and enhancing market presence, you will make a significant, visible impact on the experiences of millions of consumers daily.

About the Organization

Join a forward-thinking organization dedicated to enhancing customer experiences through thoughtful design and strategic development. As a leader in consumer product innovation, this company constantly strives to bring exciting new offerings to market that resonate deeply with consumers. Here, you will contribute to a mission that directly impacts daily consumer experiences, driving the evolution of products that people love and trust, all while partnering with Aquent to support your professional journey.

About the Opportunity

We are seeking a dynamic visionary who thrives on transforming creative concepts into tangible products. In this pivotal role, you will act as a critical cross-functional connector, ensuring product concepts move with speed, accuracy, and consumer-obsessed execution across all stages of development. Supporting the end-to-end development of product programs, you will play a central role in delivering successful products that captivate and delight consumers. This is an unparalleled opportunity to innovate, collaborate, and leave your mark on the products that shape our world.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage the full lifecycle of assigned programs, from concept alignment and design handoff through costing, sampling, testing, packaging, and production readiness.
• Maintain development trackers, timelines, and milestone calendars to ensure products move with speed and discipline, facilitating quick decisions and proactively escalating roadblocks.
• Partner with sourcing to support costing rounds, vendor communication, sample reviews, and feasibility assessments.
• Apply a trend-forward lens to product creation by gathering competitive insights, cultural signals, and category trends.
• Support the development of assortment strategies and line architecture, ensuring a steady pipeline of newness and innovation.
• Translate trend, consumer, and category opportunities into clear briefs and design/packaging inputs.
• Serve as the connective tissue across merchandising, sourcing, product design, packaging, supply chain, quality assurance, and brand marketing.
• Facilitate alignment meetings, track decisions, and ensure partners have what they need to move programs forward.
• Support packaging teams with claims, copy, size/variant lists, and packaging inputs required for brief creation.
• Partner with supply chain to ensure timelines, minimum order quantity considerations, and delivery execution are achievable.
• Collaborate with brand marketing to bring newness to life across digital, social, and store environments.
• Maintain accurate product data, documentation, and item attributes.
• Support testing and compliance processes by coordinating test submissions and tracking results.
• Prepare product samples and information for key meetings, including line reviews, leadership updates, and milestone gates.
• Own smaller process improvements that support speed, quality, and cross-functional clarity.

Must-Have Qualifications

• 3-5 years of experience in Product Development, Product Design, Trend/Fashion Research, Merchandising, or a related consumer product field.
• Demonstrated interest in product design and consumer trends.
• Comfortable with visual tools for presentations and concept development.
• Highly organized, detail-driven, and committed to operational excellence, with the ability to manage multiple workstreams simultaneously.
• Strong and effective communication skills, with the ability to partner seamlessly across creative and operational teams, simplify complexity, and drive alignment.
• Trend-curious, culturally aware, and genuinely excited by product innovation.
• Collaborative, proactive, and skilled at influencing cross-functional partners.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced environment with evolving priorities.

Nice-to-Have Qualifications

• Experience in retail, private label, home, lifestyle, or consumer packaged goods.