Lead Director - Product Development

CVS Health; Woonsocket (RI); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

CVS Health is seeking a Lead Director, Product Development for General Merchandise & Consumables (GMC). You will lead a team responsible for end-to-end development of physical, consumer packaged goods across a broad portfolio, translating shopper insights and market trends into compelling category strategies and roadmaps.

The role requires senior leadership, strong retail math, and the ability to partner with multiple cross-functional teams to ensure launch success and ongoing portfolio

Qualifications

• 7+ years in category management, retail business/assortment management, and/or CPG product development (MBA counts toward years).
• Deep expertise in category mgmt and retail math with P&L/margin analysis.
• Strong knowledge of the CPG product lifecycle and whitespace opportunities.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end product strategy and roadmap for a multi-brand portfolio across 20+ categories with hundreds of SKUs.
• Build data-driven business cases and defend them with retail math to guide investments and prioritize whitespace.
• Lead cross-functional collaboration with QA/Regulatory, Packaging, Sourcing, Supply Chain, and senior leadership.

Skills

Leadership

Category Management

Retail Math

Cross-functional Influence

People Leadership

Strategic Thinking

Executive Communication

Education

MBA (beneficial)

Job description

We’re building a world of health around every individual — shaping a more connected, convenient and compassionate health experience. At CVS Health®, you’ll be surrounded by passionate colleagues who care deeply, innovate with purpose, hold ourselvesaccountable and prioritize safety and quality in everything we do. Join us and be part of something bigger – helping to simplify health care one person, one family and one community at a time.

If you're driven to build and lead the strategy behind CVS’ Own Brands physical product portfolio — from household essentials to consumables — this is where your leadership shapes real, tangible outcomes for millions of shoppers. As the Lead Director, Product Development for General Merchandise & Consumables (GMC), you will lead a team accountable for the end-to-end development of physical, consumer packaged goods (CPG) across a broad portfolio spanning multiple brands, 20+ product categories, and hundreds of items generating over $0.5B in annual revenue. You will translate shopper insights, market trends, competitive intelligence, and CVS’ internal total business strategies into compelling, data-driven category strategies and product roadmaps, and ensure your team's tactical execution ladders directly to those strategic priorities. Reporting to the Executive Director of Store Brands Product Development, you will lead, coach, and grow a high-performing team of Product Development Managers, serve as a credible and influential cross-functional partner across the organization, and operate as a general manager of your portfolio — equally comfortable navigating granular retail math and executive-level storytelling.

Please note: this role is focused on the development and management of physical, Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) — such as food, beverage, candy, bath tissue, paper towels, household cleaners, and other general merchandise products. This is not a Digital, Web, or App product management role, and candidates whose experience is limited to software, digital, or app-based product development will not meet the qualifications for this position.

The Lead Director of Product Development collaborates cross-functionally and holds key accountability in the following areas:

• Category Management & Business Performance: Act as the general manager of your portfolio and the principle partner of your cross-functional colleagues driving effective day-to-day operations, vendor management and negotiations, business case development, and aligning product development with Own Brand, Category, and Planogram strategy.
• Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) Product Lifecycle: Lead strategic decision-making across the full product lifecycle — discovery, concept, development, launch, in-market management, and discontinuation — while identifying whitespace opportunities within each brand.
• Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs: Partner closely with these CVS teams to ensure product, formulation, and factory compliance with internal standards and external regulations.
• Packaging, Brand, Business, and Consumer Experience Teams: Collaborate closely & frequently with cross-functional Own Brand teams throughout the product lifecycle to ensure success within product, packaging, price, and placement.
• Supplier Management: Develop, set, and oversee the strategy for an effective vendor portfolio, vendor selection and relationship management, with strategic negotiations as a core responsibility.
• Inventory and Supply Chain: Serve as an escalation point to maintain consistent product availability and resolve complex supply-related challenges.
• People Leadership: Build, lead, and develop a high-performing team of Product Development Managers, creating the conditions for their continued growth and success.
  Primary Job Duties & Responsibilities:
  

Strategic Leadership & Category Business Ownership – 40%

• Owns the end-to-end product strategy and roadmap for a portfolio spanning multiple brands, 20+ product categories, and hundreds of SKUs generating $0.5B+ in annual revenue, translating shopper insights, market trends, and competitive intelligence into a compelling and successful strategic framework
• Builds and defends data-driven business cases rooted in retail math (P&L, margin analysis, pricing tiers, penetration rates, market share, etc…) to prioritize whitespace opportunities, guide investment decisions, and secure leadership alignment.
• Partners with Category Management to align product development priorities with assortment and category strategy across the portfolio.
• Establishes and continually refines quality, formulation, consumer experience, and packaging standards to ensure products meet brand positioning, regulatory requirements, and customer expectations.
• Connects strategic priorities to the team's day-to-day tactical execution, ensuring the roadmap translates into clear, prioritized work for Product Development Managers and their teams.
• Monitors key performance indicators (sales, market share, profitability, customer feedback) across the portfolio and adjusts strategy in response to performance and market shifts.
  

Team Leadership & Talent Development – 25%

• Leads, mentors, and develops a team of Product Development Managers (and, through them, Assistant Product Development Managers), setting clear performance goals and fostering a collaborative, high-performing team culture.
• Builds organizational capability by coaching direct reports on strategic thinking, retail math, negotiation, and executive communication.
• Recruits, retains, and develops talent to support a growing and increasingly complex portfolio.
• Fosters an environment of continuous improvement, agility, and accountability across the team.
  

Cross-Functional Influence & Stakeholder Management – 25%

• Serves as a credible, influential partner — with and without direct authority — across Quality Assurance/Regulatory, Packaging, Brand, Sourcing, Supply Chain, Category Management, and executive leadership.
• Negotiates favorable terms and pricing with vendors and suppliers to protect margin, supply, improve our competitive market position and strengthen the assortment.
• Guides their team’s preparation and delivery of materials and presentations for key milestone meetings (e.g., Planogram Reviews, Product Pipeline Reviews, New Item Presentations, Category
  

Process Governance & Continuous Improvement – 10%

• Enforces and influences development of policies, procedures, and quality/compliance standards that promote ethical behavior and best practices across the product lifecycle.
• Identifies and leads process improvements that make product development faster, more scalable, and more effective across the category portfolio.
• Acts as an escalation point for complex, novel problems without historical precedent, applying structured problem-solving to reach sound resolutions.
  

Essential Qualifications, Essential Functions & Preferred Qualifications:

The successful candidate will have a strong work ethic, an entrepreneurial mindset, business savvy, high level of curiosity, and the ability to be highly productive in a dynamic, fast-paced, collaborative environment. The ideal candidate will have the following knowledge, skills, and abilities:

• 7+ years of relevant experience in category management, retail business/assortment management, and/or Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) product development (an MBA will be counted toward equivalent years of experience).
• Deep expertise in category management and/or retail business management of physical products, merchandising and assortments, with strong command of business case development and retail math (P&L, margin analysis, pricing tiers, penetration rates, market share, etc.)
• Strong knowledge of the Consumer-Packaged Goods (CPG) product lifecycle — from discovery, concept, development, launch, in-market management, to discontinuation — and the ability to strategically build the right products within a brand and identify whitespace opportunities.
• Demonstrated ability to develop strategic priorities rooted in data and insights, and to connect and prioritize a team's tactical work against those priorities.
• Proven track record leading, developing, and retaining high-performing teams.
• Proven ability to solve complex problems, often without historical precedent, and to influence and impact cross-functional stakeholders at multiple levels of the organization, with excellent written and verbal communication skills up to the executive level.
• Experience directly negotiating