Brand Manager

Job Category: Brand Marketing
Job Type: Full Time
Job Location: Chicago - IL

Bel

Bel, makers of iconic brands including Babybel, The Laughing Cow, Boursin, and GoGo Squeez, and more, is a growing global company that values your contributions, strives to create a sense of belonging for everyone and offers career growth and development opportunities, as well as competitive total compensation and meaningful well-being benefits from day one. For All, For Good, our company signature, reflects Bel’s commitment to sustainability and healthier and responsible food for all. Bel Brands USA has been named Chicago’s “101 Best and Brightest Companies to Work For” for 10 years in a row. The company has headquarters in Chicago for our Bel Cheese business and in New York City for GoGo Squeez. Bel operates five manufacturing plants in Little Chute, WI, Leitchfield, KY, and Brookings, SD, Nampa, ID, and Traverse City, MI.

Job Description Summary

The Brand Manager is a key role in driving sustainable growth for one of Bel’s core brands. Working closely with the Brand Director, this person will help define core strategies and rally the organization to achieve them, working in a fast-paced, cross-functional environment, leading to accelerated share and profit growth through holistic marketing plans. This person is responsible for enrolling and aligning leaders at all levels in the plans and is expected to work closely with Strategic Insights, RID, Finance, Sales, Global Marketing team, Industrial and Agency partners. This is a hybrid role based in Chicago.

Essential Duties And Responsibilities

  • Brand Strategy Leadership: develops local Brand Strategy as part global Brand Strategy, inclusive of overall growth plan, local positioning, tactical plans, price/value proposition, strategic target activation, and new product strategies.
  • Communications Leadership: leads agency partner relationship to ensure maximum efficiency and breakthrough marketing activations, including annual integrated marketing planning.
  • Business Management and Tracking: actively manages P&L variances to attain annual and long-range financial objectives. Consistently evaluates business progress against plan and recommends corrective action as needed.
  • Go-To-Market Strategist: deep understanding of Customer channels and product route to market; ability to partner with Sales and Supply Chain through the S&OP and Innovation process.
  • Program Evaluation: analyzes program results and marketplace dynamics to provide on-going marketing mix recommendations.
  • New Product Management: identifies opportunities with Innovation team and works with Innovation team to implement plans for line extensions and new product introductions, ensuring effective and on-time route to market.
  • People Management: supports evolution of internal brand management organization through effective recruitment, management, and development of team.

Qualifications And Competencies

  • Minimum Bachelor’s degree required, MBA preferred
  • 4+ years of progressive CPG Brand Marketing experience

Specific Competencies Required

  • Ability to enroll and align leaders at all levels through effective storytelling and clearly articulated (verbal and visual PowerPoint) strategic thinking.
  • Must have experience managing multiple projects at once in a fast paced, matrix management environment.
  • Must be an independent and proactive contributor that can excel in changing and ambiguous situations.
  • Must have expertise in data analysis (Nielsen/IRI preferred); translating data into insights, demonstrate strong leadership, teamwork and strategic thinking skills.
  • Ability to communicate (both verbally and in writing) concisely and effectively within function and with direct reports, cross-functional team, and agency partners.
  • Ability to motivate and develop associate talent.

Performance Expectations

  • Takes full ownership mindset towards applicable business lines, strategy, and associated performance.
  • Gains trust and respect of management, direct reports, coworkers, vendors, and agency partners. Maintains the integrity of confidential business and product information.
  • Makes decisions in a complex environment without having all the information at hand.
  • Gives and can receive ongoing, straightforward, and constructive feedback.
  • Develops trustful relationships and engages teams towards common objectives.
  • Can be trusted to contribute key deliverables on-time with the utmost quality and accuracy.

Working Conditions: Work is performed largely in a hybrid office environment (2-3 days per week on our Chicago office). Hours of work will generally be during regular business hours with at least 40 hours a week. At times there will be some variation in work hours due to special projects, deadlines and other concerns. Occasional travel may be required.

 

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