Sr Associate Brand Manager

Hometown Food Company is looking for a detail-oriented Sr. Associate Brand Manager to ensure executional excellence on critical brand initiatives. This person will lead the commercialization of multiple key growth projects and evaluate several innovation and marketing opportunities for investment. The person in this role will be responsible for leading day-to-day activities including, but not limited to launching innovation, portfolio management, sales support, agency relationships, and market activations. A successful candidate is one who thrives in a fast-paced environment, is agile and can pivot quickly based on changing customer or consumer needs, communicates effectively and works well with cross-functional teams.

This role is in office 5 days/wk at 500 W. Madison Ave., Chicago, IL

Key Responsibilities:

• Business Management: Responsible for driving short and long-term growth for the business portfolio including budget management & recommendation, financial delivery of business P&L.
• Product Portfolio Management: Use syndicated data to analyze item performance in the context of category & competitive trends to understand key market dynamics and recommend strategies to optimize long-term brand growth.
• Innovation and Renovation: Work with the R&D function to lead and manage innovation pipeline and commercialize new SKUs as well as update artwork and packaging on existing portfolio.
• Strategic Planning: Create comprehensive data-backed annual planning for brands within managed portfolio. Execute plans and track & optimize existing strategies to help achieve brand goals.
• Activation and Engagement: Lead and manage agency partners to execute in-market consumer communication across different forms of media and marketing.
• Category Management: Analyze consumer insights to help shape decisions related to product placement, pricing, and marketing campaigns.

Skills & Qualifications:

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in marketing, business, or a related field (MBA is a plus).
• Experience: 3 years in a relevant CPG marketing role (food-specific experience is a plus).
• Syndicated Data: Comfortable pulling and analyzing IRI and/or Nielsen data.
• Project Management: Experience commercializing & launching new items to market.
• Agency Management: Able to work with agencies and deliver clear briefs & communication.
• Strong Communication: Ability to present findings clearly to leadership and cross-functional teams.
• Can-Do Attitude: Self-motivated with a proactive approach to problem-solving, should be adaptable and willing to learn new processes and tackle new challenges.
• Financial Acumen: Solid foundation in financial analysis & comfortable with P&Ls.
• Detail-Oriented & Process-Driven: Focused on operational efficiency & driving business growth.