Brand Manager

Job Title: Brand Manager

Classification: Exempt; Full-time

Department: Marketing

Location: Reno, Nevada

Reports to: VP Marketing and Business Development

Date: 01/23/2024

Position Overview

The Brand Manager is a skilled marketer accountable for driving business planning and marketing execution for Mary’s Gone Cracker’s North America and International territories. The successful candidate will drive sustainable growth with a clear foundation of consumer insights, brand positioning and innovation and consumer-inspired marketing plans that result in sales, profit, share and equity gain. As a Brand Manager, you will focus on the consumer and put them at the center of everything you do. You will thrive in a dynamic, fast-paced environment. Your passion for the snack industry and your ability to navigate complexity will be the driving force behind your success.

Essential Functions

• Brand Strategy: Develop a strategic framework for the brand’s growth plans ensuring a sufficient pipeline of products and initiatives. Continuously evolve and refine the brand’s foundations to stay relevant and competitive.
• Brand Activation: Act as a liaison between the brand, integrated marketing teams and external agencies. Lead development and execution of marketing plans to support key products with strong digital, social and shopper marketing mindset. Define campaign Key Performance Indicators and corresponding tactics that align with the brand positioning and target consumer.

• Portfolio Management: Analyze product performance, consumer feedback, research, and market trends to make informed decisions and recommendations about product positioning, messaging, pricing, packaging, formula renovation, SKU prioritization/rationalization, and new item introductions within existing product lines.

• Business Planning: Work closely with the innovation team to create a pipeline of new products that align with the brand’s strategic direction. Lead cross-functional teams to deliver projects on time and within budget. Communicate project status, issues, and opportunities to the broader organization.
• Market and Competitor Analysis: Become an expert on the brand and its competitors, continuously monitoring the market landscape and identifying trends and opportunities to guide future plans.
• Data Synthesis and Decision-making: Gather and synthesize data from multiple sources to make informed decisions and recommendations for brand strategy and marketing initiatives.
• Work closely with the Sales team to create compelling selling strategies and build strong plans to secure incremental distribution and drive velocities at key retailers.
• Deliver projects on time and within budget.

Other Duties and Responsibilities

• Strategic Vision: With a keen eye on industry trends and customer insights, you will develop and execute comprehensive marketing strategies that align with our long-term business goals.
• Project Management: Our fast-paced environment demands effective project management skills to oversee multiple marketing projects concurrently. You will play a key role in ensuring projects adhere to aggressive timelines.
• Team Leadership and Collaboration: You will be proficient at inspiring and influencing cross-functional teams, fostering collaboration, and ensuring a cohesive approach to marketing initiatives with internal and external stakeholders.
• Results-Driven Performance: Ownership of business results is at the core of this role. You will diligently track key indicators, analyze data, and draw actionable insights to optimize marketing strategies. You will proactively recommend and implement adjustments to plans to maximize success.
• Other duties as assigned.

Supervisory Responsibility

This position will be an individual contributor.

Travel

Occasional overnight travel (up to 20%) by land and/or air

Mental and Physical Demands

• Light physical activity performing non-strenuous daily activities of an administrative nature
• Manual dexterity sufficient to reach and handle items
• Ability to have clear vision at 20 inches or less, or 20 feet or more
• Ability to identify and distinguish colors
• Ability to adjust focus to bring an object into sharp focus

Physical Demands

% of time

Stand

10%

Walk

10%

Sit

80%

Talk

50%

Hearing/Listening

50%

Use hands to finger, handle, or feel

70%

Reach with hands and arms

20%

Stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl

1%

Taste or Smell

1%

Lift up to 10 pounds

60%

Lift up to 25 pounds

1%

Lift up to 50 pounds

0%

Work Environment

• Well-lighted, heated and/or air-conditioned indoor office setting with adequate ventilation
• Atmosphere with moderate noise

Required Education, Experience, Certifications, and licenses

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business Administration, or a related field (MBA preferred).
• 4-6 years of proven experience in brand management or strategic marketing. Relevant industry experience in food and/or consumer goods is strongly preferred.
• Strong creative thinking with demonstrated ability to build programs with creative, digital, social, public relations, and agency partners.
• Strong communication, presentation, and negotiation skills with an ability to influence and collaborate cross functionally across multiple leadership levels and external agencies.
• Analytical thinking & problem solving: The ability to analyze complex data to identify key insights and barriers to growth with the purpose of proposing solutions and action plans to grow the business.
• Ability to effectively prioritize and execute tasks within tight timeframes and deadlines in a dynamic ever-changing working environment.
• Entrepreneur can-do attitude to find ways to break down growth barriers and navigate and perform in changing circumstances.
• Demonstrated positive energy to effectively represent brand internally and externally.

Core Competencies

• Ability to read, analyze, and interpret common scientific and technical journals, financial reports, and legal documents. Ability to respond to common inquires or complaints from customers, regulatory agencies, or members of the business community. Ability to write speeches and articles for publication that conforms to prescribed style and format. Ability to effectively present information to top management, public groups, and/or boards of directors.
• Ability to work with mathematical concepts such as probability and statistical inference, and fundamentals of plant and solid geometry and trigonometry. Ability to apply concepts such as fractions, percentages, ratios, and proportions to practical situations.
• Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions. Ability to interpret an extensive variety of technical instructions in mathematical or diagram form and deal with several abstract and concrete variables
• Proficient personal computer skills including electronic mail, record keeping, routine database activity, word processing, spreadsheet, graphics, etc.

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.