Sr. Manager, Product & Digital Innovation

Crayola has inspired children to express their creativity since 1903. Crayolians take pride in fulfilling our mission of helping parents and educators raise creatively alive children around the world. Join our team and be part of an iconic brand that develops quality art products and experiences that are loved by families and preferred by teachers. Our company culture is mission focused, and encourages fun, collaboration, transparency, and helping others. Crayola believes our workforce benefits from a broad spectrum of diverse ideas and perspectives which enables us to understand our consumers better.

Sr. Manager, Product & Digital Innovation, Easton, PA

GENERAL SUMMARY:

An innovation leader who bridges physical and digital experiences-owning the full lifecycle from insight to in-market execution. This role combines traditional toy/product marketing rigor with emerging technology fluency to build scalable, retail-ready, and future-forward play experiences. This role exists to uncover unmet consumer needs, create digital solutions, and generate new revenue streams through innovative digital applications that extend Crayola's physical products into digital and hybrid play experiences. The role serves as a cross-functional connector across digital, product marketing, sales, and technology teams to ensure concepts are commercially viable, brand-right, and scalable.

PRINCIPAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Serves as an internal thought leader and catalyst for digital innovation, AI applications, and hybrid play experiences across the organization.
• Owns end-to-end product innovation from concept to commercialization across both physical and digital experiences-leading discovery, development, and launch of hybrid products that integrate seamlessly within Crayola's portfolio.
• Identify, validate, and scale new revenue streams-including physical products, connected experiences, applications, tools, subscriptions, or hybrid offerings-ensuring strong consumer willingness to pay and retail viability.
• Lead consumer-first product strategy by uncovering unmet needs across physical play, digital engagement, and AI-enabled creativity-translating insights into differentiated, commercially viable product platforms.
• Develop integrated physical + digital play systems (O2O / D2P) that extend Crayola's core "color, create, and customize" behaviors-ensuring innovations enhance core play patterns rather than fragment them.
• Drive physical product development in partnership with PD & Engineering-ensuring digital features, AI layers, and connected experiences are purpose-built to enhance the core product, manufacturable at scale, and cost-aligned with margin targets.
• Own the commercialization process for new products including:
  
  
  
  • Product briefs and positioning
  • Pricing strategy and margin architecture
  • Packaging and merchandising strategy
  • Retail sell-in storytelling and channel strategy
  • Demand creation inputs (digital, social, platform marketing)
  
  
  
  
• Collaborate cross-functionally (Product Development, Engineering, Digital, Platform Marketing, Sales, and Creative) to ensure feasibility, scalability, and cohesive execution across both physical and digital ecosystems,
• Assess emerging technologies, AI capabilities, and digital trends through a product lens-identifying where they can create meaningful, manufacturable, and retail-ready consumer value.
• Build robust business cases, prototypes, and pilot programs to validate:
• Consumer desirability (qual + quant)
• Price elasticity and purchase intent
• Retailer acceptance and shelf fit
• Long-term platform and franchise potential
• Ensure seamless integration into Crayola's retail and DTC channels, balancing innovation with operational realities (cost of goods, supply chain, packaging constraints, and merchandising requirements).
• Act as a self-driven business owner / GM of new concepts-independently advancing initiatives while aligning with cross-functional partners to bring products from idea to shelf.
• Serve as a thought leader for hybrid play and innovation-championing the intersection of physical products, digital engagement, and AI to unlock future growth platforms for the brand.

JOB SPECIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor's degree required; degree in business, marketing, technology, or related field preferred.
• 5+ years of experience in digital product development, platform leadership, innovation, or technology-enabled consumer experiences. Strong work experience with outside digital suppliers.
• Proven experience developing and launching digital products, applications, or platforms with clear monetization models.
• Strong understanding of AI, emerging technologies, and digital ecosystems as they relate to consumer products and experiences.
• Demonstrated ability to translate consumer insights into scalable digital solutions and business opportunities.
• Experience working cross-functionally with product development, marketing, technology, and sales organizations.
• Strategic thinker with strong business acumen and the ability to build compelling business cases.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to influence senior leadership and cross-functional partners.
• Comfortable operating in ambiguity and leading discovery-driven innovation initiatives.
• Results-driven, entrepreneurial mindset with a balance of creativity and analytical skills.

PHYSICAL CONDITIONS:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to sit, talk, hear, and use hands and fingers to operate, handle, or feel objects, tools, or controls; and reach with hands and arms. The employee is occasionally required to walk. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 15 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision and the ability to adjust focus.

DISCLAIMER: The preceding job description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities and qualifications required of employees assigned to this job.

WHY CRAYOLA?

• Kid Inspired Culture
• Free Admission to Crayola Experience for Employees
• Community Volunteerism Opportunities
• Annual Bonus Potential for all Full-Time Employees
• Company Matched 401k & Employee Value Sharing Plan
• Comprehensive Healthcare Benefits for Eligible Employees
• Education Assistance Program
• Wellness Programs
• Employee Resource Groups
• Generous Product Discounts Onsite & Online
• Company Sponsored Employee Events
• Discounts on a wide variety of products and services - automotive, electronics, fitness, travel and entertainment

Green is our favorite color! Crayola cares about the environment and responsibly makes the products you love. Learn more about Crayola's creative solutions for greener tomorrows: https://www.crayola.com/about-us/sustainability

Crayola is committed to providing competitive market compensation. Our pay ranges are established using reliable market data and consider factors such as job responsibilities, industry benchmarks, and geographic location.

Individual starting pay is determined by a candidate's skills, experience and qualifications. This role is eligible to participate in an annual incentive plan as per plan guidelines. For a full list of Crayola benefits, please visit https://www.crayola.com/company/employee-benefits.

No phone calls please.

Search Firm Representatives - Please Read Carefully:
Crayola LLC is not seeking assistance or accepting unsolicited resumes from search firms for this employment opportunity. Regardless of past practice, all resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at Crayola LLC via e-mail, the Internet, or directly to hiring managers at Crayola LLC in any form without valid written search agreement in place for that position will be deemed the sole property of Crayola LLC, and no fee will be paid in the event the candidate is hired by Crayola LLC as a result of the referral or through other means.

Search firms are essential to the recruitment and staffing efforts at Crayola LLC, and we value the partnerships we have built with our vendors. For this reason, Crayola LLC has established and regularly maintains a preferred vendor list. Please note that even preferred vendors need to have a written search agreement signed by Human Resources at Crayola LLC in place for the specific position in order for a fee to be paid for any candidate referrals.