Associate Brand Manager, Marketing & Innovation

Location: Pittsburgh, PA

Department: Marketing

Chicken of the Sea is an iconic American brand that was founded in 1930. Today, Chicken of the Sea enjoys broad distribution across all major retail channels, with growth opportunities in foodservice and outside the U.S. Chicken of the Sea International (COSI) has been wholly owned since 2000 by Thai Union (TU), the largest global producer of ambient seafood. Chicken of the Sea Frozen Foods is a sister U.S. company that focuses on frozen and chilled seafood sales. Other iconic seafood brands in the TU Global portfolio include John West, Mareblu, and King Oscar. Under the leadership of CEO Thiraphong Chansiri, Thai Union has more than tripled its revenue to over $4 billion annually and has an aggressive growth agenda. Chicken of the Sea International operates under the common corporate vision, mission and values of Thai Union, an industry leader in sustainable fishing practices and manufacturing processes that capture the freshness, nutritional value, and sensorial experience of seafood.

The global organization lives by the 6 deeply held values: Passionate, Humble, Respectful, Responsible, Collaborative, and Innovative. COSI is an organization that is very proud of its heritage. First established as VanCamp seafood company more than 100 years ago (1914), the company celebrates its story as one of the oldest food companies in the country that is still in operation.

The company is currently undergoing a significant business transformation aimed at accelerating business growth.

About the Role:

As the Associate Brand Manager for the Chicken of the Sea brand, you will be at the center of business activity needed to deliver annual financial goals. Your responsibilities will span across branding & product development, packaging, sales enablement, manufacturing and more. You’ll support cross-functional teams of colleagues from innovation, sales, operations, research & development, E-commerce, and QA. You’ll help execute plans to deliver strong results and build a stronger present and future for the brand. This is an exciting time for our North American business. We are building a new brand team with a strong and diverse set of skills and experiences and a highly entrepreneurial spirit.

Responsibilities:

• Brand Management:

• Support annual marketing plan executions and consumer communication initiatives.

• Translate brand strategies into go-to-market plans; oversee implementation of marketing and sales activities to ensure consistency with brand strategy.

• Collaborate with marketing team to assist in such initiatives as: strategy, content development and management for social media/email/website/blogs, packaging reviews, influencer management, recipe production, budget management.

 • Evaluate and execute account specific marketing programs.

 • Measure performance of all marketing efforts and assess against established goals; translate findings into reports for executive and cross-functional teams.

Innovation:

• Partner with innovation team to develop and implement a robust and balanced roadmap and pipeline.

• Assist in the full New Product Development stage-gate process: Opportunity evaluation using data insights, concept screener development, pack design, research management, business case development, sell-in materials and customer launch plan recommendations.

• Evaluate progress to ensure on-track vs. expectations and course correct where necessary.

• Track performance of new product launches to report to upper management.

• Support all key initiatives as well as key trends (category, consumer, competitor, customer).

• Collaborate with Supply Chain, QA, creative agencies, research vendors.

Candidate Experience:

• 2-3 years of experience in CPG brand/product management, preferably in food industry.

• Ideally, prior innovation/new product development experience, new product launches, market research and/or major repositioning of a brand.

• Strong organizational, planning, and project management skills.

• Ability to deliver positive results in a fast-paced, collaborative environment with a diverse group of internal and external teams and agencies • Ability to prioritize and manage multiple tasks simultaneously

• Excellent verbal, presentation, and written communication skills

• Proactivity and foresight to point out opportunities and risks to the business

• Proficient with Excel, Word and PowerPoint Microsoft applications

• Working knowledge of Nielsen or IRI software and syndicated data analysis

• BA/BS Required; MBA preferred