Senior Specialist Innovation Portfolio II

Ma’aden; Saudi Arabia; On-site; SAR 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading innovation-driven company in Saudi Arabia is seeking an experienced professional to manage its innovation portfolio. This role involves managing opportunities through various stages, developing business cases, and engaging cross-functional teams to translate insights into actionable projects. Candidates should have over 5 years of experience, a strong educational background in engineering or business, and the ability to connect emerging technologies with strategic priorities. Join a dynamic team to drive impactful innovations.

Qualifications

• 5+ years' experience managing innovation portfolios within large-scale industrial or digital environments.
• Proven success in translating pilots into scaled, production-ready solutions with measurable outcomes.
• Strong network across industry, startups, academia, and R&D ecosystems.

Responsibilities

• Manage opportunities through the portfolio stage-gate process.
• Translate scouting insights into structured use cases.
• Conduct market and technology research and vendor engagement.
• Develop business cases including ROI and implementation roadmap.
• Design and manage PoCs/pilots with success criteria.
• Coordinate execution with cross-functional teams.
• Prepare executive-ready materials for governance forums.
• Track benefits realization and support change management.
• Partner with business units to embed validated innovations.
• Develop mechanisms for tracking performance and value.

Skills

Innovation management

Stakeholder engagement

Technology scouting

Program management

Strategic communication

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in Engineering, Business, or Innovation Management

Job description

Role Summary

The role supports the innovation portfolio by progressing prioritized opportunities from concept to pilot readiness and scale-up. Reporting to the Innovation Portfolio Director, the role partners closely with the Senior Specialist for Scouting & Open Innovation to translate external ecosystem insights into qualified use cases and works in parallel with the Senior Specialist for Opportunities & Market Competitiveness to ensure alignment with business priorities, value drivers, and competitive positioning.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage assigned opportunities through the portfolio stage-gate (qualification → concept → business case → pilot → scale recommendation).
• Translate scouting insights into structured use cases: define problem statements, hypotheses, stakeholders, and value drivers.
• Conduct market and technology research, benchmarking, and vendor/startup engagement in coordination with the Senior Specialist (Scouting & Open Innovation).
• Develop business cases including ROI, risks, dependencies, resourcing, and implementation roadmap.
• Design and manage PoCs/pilots: scope, success criteria, KPIs, data plan, and governance.
• Coordinate cross-functional execution with BUs, Technology Enablement, Finance, Procurement, Legal, and HSSE.
• Prepare executive-ready materials (portfolio updates, decision memos, and presentations) for the Innovation Portfolio Director and governance forums.
• Track benefits realization, capture lessons learned, and support change management and adoption post-implementation.
• Partner with technology and business units (Aluminum, Phosphate, Gold) to embed validated innovations into Maaden’s technology and operational landscape.
• Develop mechanisms for tracking performance, adoption, and realized business value across the innovation portfolio.

Core Competencies

• Innovation management and portfolio governance
• Partnership development and stakeholder engagement
• Technology scouting and R&D collaboration
• Program management and pilot-to-scale execution
• Strategic communication and influence

Qualification

• Bachelor’s or Master’s in Engineering, Business, or Innovation Management (advanced degree preferred)
• 5+ years’ experience managing innovation portfolios within large-scale industrial or digital environments
• Proven success in translating pilots into scaled, production-ready solutions with measurable outcomes
• Strong network across industry, startups, academia, and R&D ecosystems
• Ability to link emerging technologies with Maaden’s strategic and operational priorities