Sr. Innovation Manager

Background

The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a non-profit organization founded in 1876 and chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS is committed to improving all lives through the transforming power of chemistry. Our mission is to advance scientific knowledge, empower a global community, and champion scientific integrity. Our vision is a world built on science.

There are two major operating locations with approximately 1,850 employees. In addition, the ACS has a representative foreign office in China and several field representatives throughout Europe and Asia who promote the use of ACS programs, products, and services. A dozen field offices in the United States and abroad also serve as news gathering centers for Chemical & Engineering News, the monthly ACS magazine. Global operations are managed through ACSI, Ltd. The Society's annual operating revenue is approximately $800M.

The Society's membership is composed of individuals of widely diversified interests and objectives, ranging from undergraduate students in the chemical sciences to the highly experienced chemical professionals in industry, academia, government and elsewhere. The Society has over 180 local sections and over thirty technical divisions as well as student chapters and international chapters.

Position Summary

Under the Society's Business Strategy and Operations (BSO) unit, the Research and Innovation (R&I) department serves as stewards of the Society's research and innovation efforts across functional areas such as Membership, Education and Career Development, Science, Research & Sustainability, and Meetings & Expositions, among others. The R&I department advises on defining what we want to learn or solve; gathers relevant data from internal systems, new research, or external sources; and uses qualitative and quantitative data analysis to generate insights that drive and validate decisions and identify trends. The department also leads the Society Units' innovation governance, strategy, and implementation.

Reporting to the R&I Director, the Senior Innovation Manager will lead the execution of innovation initiatives aligned with ACS's strategic priorities and mission. This role is pivotal to developing and maintaining innovation governance frameworks, advising and supporting pilot programs, and guiding the Society Units' on when and how to scale programs, products, and services for optimal impact. This role will design, implement, and enhance innovation governance frameworks to assess, prioritize, and manage initiatives across ACS portfolios.

Position Responsibilities

• Establish clear decision rights and processes to ensure alignment between innovation efforts, ACS strategy, and stakeholder needs.
• Facilitate portfolio reviews and stage gates, setting and tracking metrics (e.g., desirability, feasibility, viability, impact) to guide go/no-go decisions.
• Cultivate a culture of continuous innovation, championing high-impact opportunities and embedding best practices across teams.
• Guide the development, launch, and evaluation of pilot programs, ensuring pilots are structured to generate meaningful insights and business value.
• Run cross-functional experimentation cycles (hypothesis setting, test design, customer research, prototype/MVP builds, learning reviews) to de-risk before scale.
• Collect and synthesize customer and member feedback with partners to refine initiatives pre-scale.
• Develop scale-up playbooks (business cases, operational readiness, change management, resourcing plans, and KPIs) to guide transitions from pilot to execution.
• Advise executive stakeholders on investment priorities, risk management, and expected outcomes; prepare materials for governance bodies and senior leadership.
• Track and report innovation portfolio performance, including learning outcomes, impact metrics, and recommendations to start, stop, or scale.

This role is based in our Washington, D.C. office. A reasonable rate of compensation for this position is between $112,000-$130,000 per year.

ACS currently provides the following benefits for this position: paid vacation leave, paid sick leave, paid holidays, health insurance, flexible spending account or health care savings account, dental insurance, life insurance, vision insurance, retirement benefits, short- and long-term disability, and 4-week work from anywhere; each benefit is subject to the terms of the applicable program. Additional benefits may apply based on skills, experience, and location.

Any actual offer of employment, reflecting the total compensation package and benefits, will be made in the sole discretion of ACS. ACS reserves the right to amend or modify its employment benefits and compensation structure at any time.

Bachelors of Design (required)

Proven experience building innovation governance frameworks and running stage-gated or portfolio-managed initiatives. (required)
Demonstrated success leading pilots/MVPs end-to-end: discovery, design, testing, evaluation, and scale-up. (required)
Strong cross-functional leadership skills with the ability to influence without formal authority and work effectively across multiple functional areas. (required)
Proficiency with experimental methods (e.g., hypothesis-driven design, qualitative/quantitative research, A/B testing, cohort analysis) and performance measurement (OKRs/KPIs). (required)
Exceptional communication skills (written, visual, and verbal), including executive-ready briefing and storytelling. (required)
Strong analytical and financial acumen to develop business cases, model pilots/scale scenarios, and recommend investment priorities. (required)
Project/program management expertise with the ability to manage multiple initiatives simultaneously and meet deadlines. (required)
Experience in professional societies, higher education, membership organizations, or nonprofit contexts. (preferred)
Hands-on familiarity with design thinking, lean experimentation, agile delivery, and portfolio management tools/methods. (preferred)
Experience with pricing, packaging, and membership models (e.g., tiering, lifetime value, institutional agreements). (preferred)
Competence with data/insight tools (e.g., dashboards, survey platforms, product analytics); ability to translate insights into decisions.
(preferred)
Background in change management and organizational enablement (training, playbooks, communities of practice).
(preferred)