Overview
As a senior innovation leader at Merkle, you will own and scale the CE Innovation funnel and Centre for Enablement (C4E), driving rapid experimentation and cross‑geography value. You’ll lead a small team, shape strategy, and deliver measurable impact from POCs to scaled deployments, with a focus on AI and emerging tech. You will align business, technical, and creative teams, remove silos, and build repeatable playbooks for rapid adoption. This role offers influence across geographies, a data‑driven mindset, and tangible business outcomes within a global, collaborative culture.
Leistungen / Benefits
- Premium private health insurance
- Flexible/hybrid working
- 25 days of vacation
- Fully covered certifications (Salesforce, Adobe, Microsoft)
- Dentsu Academy access
- Wellbeing and mental health support
Verantwortungsbereiche
- Curate and manage the CE Innovation funnel and C4E; identify opportunities, run POCs, scale winners, and remove silos across geographies
- Lead a 2–8 person team; oversee strategy, intake-to-scale delivery, enablement, and impact celebration
- Own the innovation funnel from emerging tech assessment to pitch process and investment criteria; manage POC-to-scale cycles
- Drive strategic technology enablement initiatives (AI, automation, data intelligence, martech, CX) from concept to scalable adoption
- Foster cross‑capability collaboration to unblock pilots and align delivery across geographies and practices
- Build and grow C4E playbooks, tools, training, and support structures for consistent delivery
- Own quarterly innovation roadmaps and sprint delivery; prioritize by business impact and CE strategy
- Define, track, and communicate metrics (adoption, productivity, ROI, time-to-deploy) to C‑suite
- Manage budget, licensing, compliance (AI annexes, data privacy), vendor contracts, and regulatory barriers; negotiate with legal/procurement
- Design repeatable playbooks and scaling strategies for rapid rollout across use cases, verticals, and geographies
- Own the innovation recognition program (e.g., Innovation Champion of the Month) to build momentum and attract talent
- Build and coach a team of 2–8; develop capability and growth opportunities
Zentrale Anforderungen
- 7+ years leading programs or technology initiatives in enterprise or consulting
- 5+ years of line management in innovation or delivery
- 3+ years of C-level stakeholder management in complex, matrixed organizations
- 3+ years managing operational budgets (500K–2M+), vendor negotiations, and ROI forecasting
- Proven success driving adoption of new tools or processes across large organizations
- Track record of delivering MVP-level outcomes in 4–8 weeks
- Experience scaling initiatives across geographies or large user bases
- Experience managing innovation intake funnels and prioritizing at portfolio level
- Strong facilitation skills and ability to align cross-functional teams
- Broad familiarity with martech, data platforms, AI/automation, and customer experience
- Fluent English; German is a plus
- strong facilitation
- cross-functional collaboration
- change management
- AI
- automation
- data platforms
Senior Innovation Manager in Zürich Arbeitgeber: Merkle
Merkle ist ein hervorragender Arbeitgeber, der Innovation und Zusammenarbeit in den Mittelpunkt seiner Unternehmenskultur stellt. Mit umfangreichen Weiterbildungs- und Entwicklungsmöglichkeiten sowie einem starken Fokus auf mentale Gesundheit und soziale Verantwortung bietet Merkle seinen Mitarbeitenden nicht nur ein inspirierendes Arbeitsumfeld, sondern auch die Chance, an bedeutungsvollen internationalen Projekten zu arbeiten. Die Kombination aus globaler Präsenz und lokalem Know-how ermöglicht es dir, maßgeschneiderte Lösungen zu entwickeln und dabei einen positiven Einfluss auf die Customer Experience zu haben.
