Brand Manager, Innovation

Baltimore, MD
December 16, 2024
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Job Description

Company Description

Who Are We Looking For…

The Brand Manager, Innovation is responsible for the creation and delivery of a product innovation pipeline that supports the marketing strategy to increase household penetration and strengthen Perfect Snacks’ position as the leader of the fresh snacking movement. This role will identify opportunities through a deep consumer understanding & will prioritize through their commercial & brand strategy foundations.

Who Is Perfect Snacks…

Based in sunny San Diego, Perfect Snacks is the company behind The Original Refrigerated Protein Bar. Offering a line of products that boast whole food ingredients and clean food credentials, Perfect Snacks is sold online and in more than 35,000 retailers nationwide. Now more than a decade since its inception, the brand has experienced rapid growth in the last few years, as consumers flock to the fridge for fresher options. Our success is attributed to the people behind the brand, who share in our family’s mission: ‘To nourish worldkind with a hug, good vibes and a delicious dose of fresh whole food nutrition. To us, that’s the recipe to make life a little more, well, perfect.’

Job Description

  • Support the development of brand innovation strategy, in partnership with the Director, to develop a multi-year innovation pipeline that aligns with the brand growth strategy and is sufficient to deliver financial targets.
    • Ability to work with various agencies to develop consumer centric innovation bundles.
    • Using consumer research, syndicated data, and market trends, translate unmet consumer needs into winning concepts that fuel the brand’s growth ambition and enhance our brand equity.
    • Concept validation
    • Ongoing management of the brand 4:2:1 plans (i.e. pipelines)
  • Delivery & execution of the multi-year innovation pipeline from concept to launch; collaborating closely with the cross functional team to ensure flawless execution. Includes both new food projects as well as PPA.
    • Marketing leadership through innovation stage gate process
    • Collaborates with cross functional team (R&D, Consumer Insights, Sales, Operations, and others) through feasibility, commercialization & launch of the innovation
    • Partnership with Sales to develop channel and customer level understanding to inform packaging, pricing, placement approach for innovation.
    • Work in close partnership with R&D to ensure product development brief is clear and product exceeds consumer expectations during internal and external prototyping and testing phases
    • Brief Creative team/external agencies on all innovation-related design needs, using defined RAPID roles to manage process and garner appropriate feedback/approvals as needed
    • Works closely with Sales, Consumer insights & Finance to develop new item forecasts and projections that align with our financial hurdles and mitigate waste potential. Collaborate with Sales to maximize opportunities. 
    • Partner with Sales to create internal and external sell-in stories for innovation, articulating the strategic business rationale, consumer problem to be solved, and rationale/excitement for a successful innovation
    • Post launch tracking and integration of learnings into pipeline innovation development
  • Innovation team support: data hygiene, budget management, and other potential needs.
  • Adapt to shifting organizational priorities by taking ownership of new duties and regularly owning a roll-up-your-sleeves mindset

Qualifications

  • 6-8 years of experience in CPG marketing for food manufacturing. Experience and passion for the Natural Products industry is preferred.
  • Bachelor of Science/Arts degree
  • Understanding of Nielsen Data, both POS and Panel
  • Excellent strategic, analytical, and decision-making skills
  • Knowledge and experience of managing a P&L
  • Passion for consumer insights and innovation curiosity
  • Performance mindset; bias for setting and measuring KPIs on an ongoing basis
  • Strong interpersonal skills and communication skills; able to foster open communication and engage/influence others, including cross functionals and function leadership
  • Excellent written and oral communication skills (including strong presentation skills), analytical ability, independent decision making and business vision
  • Knowledge and understanding of Stage Gate process for innovation initiative management
  • Strong project management skills and the ability to prioritize and multi-task against several complex projects at one time
  • Ability to be entrepreneurial and methodical
  • Results-oriented, with high expectations of self and team
  • Collaborative mindset with strength in effectively receiving and communicating feedback
  • Passion for the health and wellness lifestyle space

Additional Information

Compensation: $100k- $110k/ Year DOE 
Bonus / Benefits / Vacation / 401k Eligible

Must live in the US and be able to work in the US without sponsorship.

Got what it takes to join the Perfect Snacks family? We want to hear from you!

We will only consider candidates who provide a resume and answer the below questions:

1. Why do you want to join the Perfect Snacks family/brand?
2. What excites you about this role?
3. Where are you located?