Product Innovation Associate

Partner with Aquent to join a pioneering organization where your vision will directly shape the future of consumer products. This is your chance to be at the forefront of innovation, transforming groundbreaking ideas into tangible offerings that captivate and delight customers. You will be instrumental in expanding product portfolios and enhancing market presence, making a significant, visible impact on what consumers experience every day.

About the Organization

Join a forward-thinking organization dedicated to enhancing customer experiences through thoughtful design and strategic development. This company is a leader in consumer product innovation, constantly striving to bring exciting new offerings to market that resonate deeply with consumers. Here, you'll contribute to a mission that directly impacts daily consumer experiences, driving the evolution of products that people love and trust.

About the Opportunity

Are you a visionary who thrives on transforming ideas into tangible products? We are seeking a dynamic individual to drive the future of product development. 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. As a key contributor, you will support the end-to-end development of product programs, playing a central role in delivering successful products that captivate and delight consumers. Your work will directly contribute to the expansion of product portfolios and enhancement of market presence, making a significant and visible impact on what consumers experience every day. 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 (line reviews, leadership updates, milestone gates, etc.).
• Own smaller process improvements that support speed, quality, and cross-functional clarity.

Must-Have Qualifications

• 3-5 years 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.
• A strong and effective communicator, able 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.