Operations Lead

Operations Lead

The ideal candidate will alternate days working from either our River Falls facility (it's closer to the Twin Cities metro area than you think! Only 17 miles over the MN/WI border) OR from Arden Hills, MN.

Job Description

Land O'Lakes is expanding its Research and Development group to accelerate the path from insight to enterprise impact.

As the agricultural landscape evolves-driven by rapid technological advancements, shifting market demands, sustainability imperatives, and new business segments.

The Innovation Portfolio and Digital Operations Lead will play a pivotal role in helping the organization navigate and thrive amid these shifts by modernizing critical innovation pipeline and By WinField United Process (BWUP) and support the expanded efforts that are moving into the process.

The Innovation Portfolio & Digital Operations Lead will be responsible for shaping, strengthening, and scaling how innovation strategy, pipeline design, and digital enablement operate across Research & Development and the Innovation Center.

Working alongside the By WinField United Process (BWUP) owner, this role helps evolve innovation strategy and portfolio structure as the business expands into Global development, Seed priorities, and new market initiatives.

This role leads the design and implementation of improved innovation pipeline approaches, translating complex strategy into practical, scalable operating models that others can execute.

The position also builds critical bench strength and shared knowledge of BWUP, reducing organizational risk while supporting digital transformation and innovation operations.

Responsibilities:

Innovation Strategy & Pipeline Evolution (30%):

Leads the evolution of innovation strategy and pipeline design to support growth, complexity, and new markets.

Analyzes complex, multi‑dimensional challenges to identify underlying issues and implement new approaches to portfolio structure, prioritization, and flow.

Introduces new concepts and frameworks that improve decision quality, clarity, and scalability across the innovation portfolio.

BWUP Enablement, Knowledge Transfer & Governance Sustainability (30%):

Builds deep working knowledge of BWUP and partners with the process owner to strengthen sustainability, shared ownership, and governance effectiveness.

Leads pipeline enhancements that enable consistent execution while reducing organizational risk tied to single‑threaded expertise.

Supports leadership decision‑making through clear governance artifacts, insights, and evaluation of portfolio progress.

Digital Transformation & Innovation Operations Enablement (30%):

Enables digital transformation efforts that improve innovation execution, visibility, and scalability.

Partners closely with the Senior Manager, Data & Insights as both collaborator and owner across defined workstreams.

Translates digital capabilities into repeatable innovation processes and facilitates cross‑functional collaboration to d...