Role Summary

The role supports the innovation portfolio by progressing prioritized opportunities from concept to pilot readiness and scale-up. Reporting to the Innovation Portfolio Director, the role partners closely with the Senior Specialist for Scouting & Open Innovation to translate external ecosystem insights into qualified use cases and works in parallel with the Senior Specialist for Opportunities & Market Competitiveness to ensure alignment with business priorities, value drivers, and competitive positioning.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage assigned opportunities through the portfolio stage-gate (qualification → concept → business case → pilot → scale recommendation).


• Translate scouting insights into structured use cases: define problem statements, hypotheses, stakeholders, and value drivers.


• Conduct market and technology research, benchmarking, and vendor/startup engagement in coordination with the Senior Specialist (Scouting & Open Innovation).


• Develop business cases including ROI, risks, dependencies, resourcing, and implementation roadmap.


• Design and manage PoCs/pilots: scope, success criteria, KPIs, data plan, and governance.


• Coordinate cross-functional execution with BUs, Technology Enablement, Finance, Procurement, Legal, and HSSE.


• Prepare executive-ready materials (portfolio updates, decision memos, and presentations) for the Innovation Portfolio Director and governance forums.


• Track benefits realization, capture lessons learned, and support change management and adoption post-implementation.


• Partner with technology and business units (Aluminum, Phosphate, Gold) to embed validated innovations into Maaden’s technology and operational landscape


• Develop mechanisms for tracking performance, adoption, and realized business value across the innovation portfolio

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  Innovation management and portfolio governance
  


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  Partnership development and stakeholder engagement
  


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  Technology scouting and R&D collaboration
  


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  Program management and pilot-to-scale execution
  


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  Strategic communication and influence
  

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  Bachelor’s or Master’s in Engineering, Business, or Innovation Management (advanced degree preferred)
  


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  5+ years’ experience managing innovation portfolios within large-scale industrial or digital environments
  


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  Proven success in translating pilots into scaled, production-ready solutions with measurable outcomes
  


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  Strong network across industry, startups, academia, and R&D ecosystems
  


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  Ability to link emerging technologies with Maaden’s strategic and operational priorities