Director, Technology & Innovation Development

About Us

Americold is a global provider of temperature-controlled infrastructure.

We partner with farmers and food producers to ensure their perishable and frozen product reaches foods suppliers, restaurants, and your local grocery store without spoilage.

Our customers, which include some of the most respected brands in the food industry, rely on our expertise and commitment to safety in order to deliver on their commitments.

What you'll Do

This position will strategically lead the new technology deployment process, which includes owning and executing Americold's cross-functional innovation plans from ideation, qualification through prototyping and preparation for scaling.

This key role will work closely with leadership to track ideas, prioritize, and seek approvals for investments.

The role will develop relationships with suppliers and internal stakeholders to create innovative, proven solutions that drive bottom-line warehousing improvements and enhance customer experience through the use of cutting-edge technology in temperature-controlled climates.

This role will establish ROI/business case financial metrics, including labor savings, and track real benefits recognized.

Essential Functions:

Strategic Innovation Process & Pipeline:



* Build and own processes, methodology and "ways of working" for the Technology Innovation team, working with a cross-functional group of engineering, supply chain solutions and IT/software team members


* Adhere to a defined process workflow through a structured meeting cadence with the core working team, driving toward a presentation of prioritized technology projects to leadership


* Identify technologies and applications that have the largest impact on operational performance for new and existing sites and/or meet customer innovation requirements
+ Seek inputs from all stakeholders including internal teams and customers for key problems or solutions to solve larger supply chain challenges
+ Work with Supply Chain Solutions team to identify opportunities and applications for technology solutions
+ Review warehouse P&L and operational data and analytics to understand service and OPEX challenges


* Source and manage a pipeline of small and large innovative ideas to drive growth and improve customer service
+ Facilitate assessing and prioritizing ideas through a portal or repository


* Provide supporting data analysis based on potential impact, feasibility, and alignment with strategic objectives


* Log, track and prioritize all ideas in the system including status, cost, expected payback, and progress of initiatives; create views and outputs to share with cross-functional team leaders

Technology Assessment & Design:



* Identify and vet technologies that work in a variety of cold storage environments


* Identify potential suppliers, evaluate through score-carding and validate all the sub-components, reliability metrics and live instal...