Brand Manager, Portfolio Innovation

Post Consumer Brands

At Post Consumer Brands, we are driven by a single mission: Make Better Happen. This mission is multi-faceted and applies to the consumers we serve, the customers we partner with, and the shareholder value that we create. We are committed to safe, delicious breakfast cereal that is safely produced and responsibly marketed. We are a growth-minded food company that believes deeply in the power of teamwork…and we are looking for our next member of the team.

With more than 85% of households in the United States buying cereal, our brands (Malt-o-Meal, Honey Bunches of Oats, Pebbles, Great Grains, Honeycomb, Grape Nuts, Alpha bits, and more) have been honored to compete in a large category and fill an important space in our consumers’ cupboards for more than 100 years and counting!

In an effort to Make Better Happen, we are hiring a Brand Manager of Portfolio Innovation!

https://www.postconsumerbrands.com/

Position Details

Brand Manager, Portfolio Innovation
Job
Full-time
2/10/2021
Twin Cities Metro
Lakeville, MN

The Brand Manager of portfolio innovation is a key, critical leader in the management of our innovation pipeline across all brands within RTE cereal and snacking, a $2B business within Post Consumer Brands. Unlocking growth potential for our company, this position is responsible for driving growth while delivering profitability targets of branded innovation items. The incumbent will align the organization to the key strategies that fuel the innovation plan, as well as the scope and scale of innovation to be pursued. This marketing opportunity will require the ability to thrive in an entrepreneurial environment, multi-task, and keep various projects on track simultaneously.

Specific accountabilities include:

  • Develop and oversee execution of a 36-month innovation pipeline for the ready to eat cereal and snacking portfolio, taking into account key competitive activity, unmet consumer needs, and key opportunity areas for key brands; responsibilities include idea generation, commercialization, launch and post launch management where applicable
  • Collaborate closely with R&D on near in and further out technologies available and how/when to scale for our brands
  • Partner with cross-functional team members to ensure proper leverage of the PCB commercialization process and capabilities
  • Work with Insights and Analytics team to identify learning agendas to drive stronger understanding of the consumer and jobs to be done
  • Engage with Sales and Category Leadership teams to optimize new items sales materials and communications timeline
  • Establish a “best practice” playbook for the successful launch of sustaining innovation
  • Establish and trace critical KPIs for each new item launch, incorporating measurement into an innovation continuous improvement model
  • Identify necessary support plans for key innovation launches and collaborate with brand and customer marketing teams to ensure a successful launch and post launch optimization
  • Develop annual budgets, pricing guidelines and profitability targets for branded innovation launches
  • In partnership with Demand Planning and Sales, align to monthly consumption and demand forecasts
  • Develop the skills and abilities in a direct report while galvanizing and inspiring a broad cross functional group to deliver on innovation targets

Key Leadership Traits:

  • Agility: Knows how to appropriately apply rigor of research and analysis to the level of risk anticipated in any endeavor. Able to move with purposeful urgency and shift gears seamlessly, when needed. Contingency planning and objective analysis are critical.
  • Focus: Builds a robust pipeline of opportunities, yet able to focus an organization on the critical few things that must be achieved. Knows when to ideate and when to execute – and ensures the organization is clear on work plans and launch cadence.
  • Accountability: Self-assured with ego in check. Hunger to identify what is working and improve that which is not. Dedicated to keeping the organization abreast of critical initiatives and performs effective post launch analysis without triggering defensiveness in others.

Job Complexity:

The Brand Manager role within Post Consumer Brands offers an exciting opportunity to hone business and marketing skills to drive volume growth by identifying and delivering on compelling consumer and customer needs. This role may develop into a longer-term marketing career of increasing responsibility or it could also lead to new and exciting experiences within a number of work functions within Post Consumer Brands.

  • Internal: Contact with all functional areas in corporate office and operations facilities to develop systems and plans to drive business. Plan and execute based on an understanding of sales and manufacturing systems, plans and complexities. Contact with legal counsel on intellectual property and contract issues.
  • External: Primary external contact is with the Customer and third party vendors, such as advertising agencies and packaging graphics partners. Contact with professional peers to stay current on market trends.

Other Important Characteristics:

  • Knowledge of consumer retail marketing, advertising, sales, trade and consumer promotion, market analysis, market research, budgeting, financial analysis, and pricing, innovation are all needed in order to be effective in this role 
  • Fluid understanding of a P&L and the ability to drive actions that balance top and bottom line performance 
  • A “can do” attitude and approach to leading with a strong bias for action and results

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