Brand Manager

*** This is not a job at ForceBrands***

***Candidates MUST be in office in Walnut Creek, CA 4 days a week***

*** Candidates must be classically trained in Brand Management - including P&L Management, syndicated data reporting, and new product innovation***

We are seeking an experienced Brand Manager who is passionate about being part of a team of hard-working people focused on bringing the future of flavor to consumers everywhere.

We are a fast-growing company working hard to bring amazing flavor solutions that are as exciting and delicious as they are simple to use to our consumers whether they are experienced cooks or first-timers in the kitchen. We are obsessed with quality and are 100% committed to being the most innovative company in any market we serve. Our mission is to bring awesome flavor to consumers whenever and wherever they are looking for it and whatever for they are looking for it in (seasonings, sauces, gravy, marinades, or anything else we can come up with). We have experienced tremendous growth over the last 5 years, but think we're just getting started. We love our consumers and are fired up to be part of their flavor journey. And we need more great folks to help us continue to raise the bar for what they think is even possible in their own kitchens.

Today, we have over 100 products sold nationwide at retailers including Costco, Walmart, Sam’s Club, Whole Foods, Sprouts, Kroger, Safeway and many more. While we have been around for over 75 years, we have experienced explosive growth in the last 5 years and are now a top 5 brand in the U.S. in multiple flavor categories including seasoning blends, BBQ sauce, and wing sauce.To keep our momentum rolling, we need more passionate flavor advocates and builders to come and join our team and help us reach every kitchen across the U.S. and maybe even the world.

How you'll have an impact:

The Brand Manager will be responsible for portfolio strategy, performance tracking & reporting, and innovation planning to drive brand performance of this high-growth flavor brand. You will partner with the Director of Brand Management and the EVP of Marketing to build an amazing, sustainable product engine to fuel continued high-growth for the company by creating exciting, delicious, and effortless solutions for consumers across all touchpoints with the brand.

What are the Key Responsibilities of this Role

Business Planning and Strategy

Develop short and long-term business plans, identifying objectives, strategies, key initiatives and performance measurements.

Provide ongoing business analysis to identify opportunities by utilizing data-driven insights.

Become expert in your business through ongoing analysis, trends, insights, and knowledge of category dynamics and competition.

Support pricing strategy by providing regular competitive benchmarks analysis and proposals for price adjustments.

Marketing Planning

Develop brand-building marketing plans to support the annual business plan, including seasonal strategy & activations, starting with the agency briefs (e.g. content, packaging, merchandising, media, consumer promotions, etc.) through to execution and KPI measurement.

Partner with Sales team to develop and deliver highly effective marketing tactics and strategies to spur growth across channels (club, convenience, food/drug/mass, eCommerce).

Product and Portfolio Management

Drive holistic and detailed understanding of portfolio product assortment in context of the consumer, the category, our customers, and our company to make strategic recommendations for innovation, renovation, activation, or rationalization.

Drive category innovation planning including insight development, concept positioning, pricing, analyzing and forecasting size of prize, and incrementality /cannibalization analysis.

Build innovation launch plans, from strategy (e.g. positioning, pricing) to execution (i.e. integrated marketing planning).

Cross-Functional Partnership

Partner with a cross-functional team to overcome executional and logistical hurdles to meet aggressive in-market timing and coordinate product and packaging solutions that lead the market.

Lead alignment on the brand initiatives with key functions, including Product Development, Finance, Operations and Sales

Development and presentation of activities and strategies to senior management

What You Bring to the Table

Education / Experience

Bachelor's Degree required, MBA preferred

4-8+ years relevant work experience in traditional CPG brand management. Innovation and/or product development experience is a plus

Proven strategic thinker excited by a dynamic category and channel

Strong analytical & quantitative acumen with deep knowledge of key syndicated data (IRI preferred) and experience developing business cases

Strong project management skills and understanding of new product development process from ideation to execution

Track record in agile creative thinking, generation of new marketing ideas, and working with internal and external creative partners

Personal Characteristics

Business builder who owns and drives results

Growth mindset with an excitement to learn (and teach)

Thrive in a dynamic, lean, and agile environment with a proven record of completing projects on time in full through excellent cross-functional team management, leadership, communication and influence

Self-starter who takes initiative and speaks their mind

Excited to be part of a fast-moving team with the ability to be a leader and a follower

Enjoy making decisions and finding ways to say ‘yes’ as often as possible to impactful and important priorities

Things About the Way We Work

No two days here are the same

We try to be good team members and good communicators, but we don’t live by hierarchy and structure – everyone is a difference-maker here

We make a lot of decisions in the face of incomplete information – our team embraces ambiguity and tries to make good decisions fast rather than great decisions slow

We believe our job is to take smart risk, not to eliminate risk

We believe in growing our skills and becoming a better company with more managerial expertise, but we are an entrepreneurial company at heart

We aren’t trying to be average – we want to do exceptional things and we are willing to work hard to achieve them