Innovation Strategist, Emerging Products

Us Bank; Minneapolis (MN); Hybrid; USD 105,000 - 124,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare (medical, dental, vision)

401(k) retirement plan

Paid vacation

Sick and Safe Leave

Job summary

U.S. Bank is seeking an Innovation Specialist to drive opportunities from discovery through commercialization readiness.

You will blend customer insight, product management, venture-building, and financial analysis to identify what is next and help leadership decide where to invest. The role requires conducting customer research, building prototypes, designing experiments, and translating insights into actionable recommendations across the enterprise.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience.
• 4+ years of experience in product management, innovation, strategy, venture development, consulting, research, product marketing, or related fields.
• Experience leading initiatives from concept through implementation or commercialization.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and business case development capabilities.
• Experience conducting customer research and translating insights into action.
• Excellent written, verbal, facilitation, and presentation skills.
• Ability to influence outcomes across complex stakeholder environments.
• Demonstrated ability to operate effectively in ambiguity and uncertainty.

Responsibilities

• Identify unmet customer needs, emerging trends, regulatory shifts, market disruptions, and technology opportunities.
• Conduct customer research, interviews, market analysis, and competitive assessments.
• Lead opportunities through the Emerging Products lifecycle (Explore Backlog, Discovery, Validate, Accelerate).
• Build Learning Plans and evidence-based validation strategies.
• Design experiments to test desirability, feasibility, viability, and operational readiness.
• Develop value propositions, business models, pricing strategies, and commercialization approaches.
• Determine when opportunities should advance, pivot, pause, or stop based on evidence.

Skills

Customer research

Executive facilitation

Stakeholder influence

Analytical thinking

Presentation skills

Ambiguity handling

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Job description

U.S. Bank is seeking an Innovation Specialist to drive opportunities from discovery through commercialization readiness.

You will blend customer insight, product management, venture-building, and financial analysis to identify what is next and help leadership decide where to invest. The role requires conducting customer research, building prototypes, designing experiments, and translating insights into actionable recommendations across the enterprise.