Associate Brand Manager

Description

The Associate Brand Manager is responsible for supporting strategic execution across the Sun-Maid brand portfolio. This role supports strategic planning, product management, project management, and integrated marketing while partnering closely with Sales, Insights, R&D, Supply Chain, and Finance to deliver results.

This role will focus on disciplined portfolio management, commercial execution, and resourceful marketing execution, while identifying future growth. The Associate Brand Manager will operate with an entrepreneurial spirit, and balance project management and creative thinking with strong financial and business acumen.

Serving as a key project-management and business-analysis resource, this role will maintain the reporting, timelines, cross-functional coordination, and performance tracking required to advance brand, portfolio, innovation, and activation priorities.

Success in this role requires a self-starter who thrives in ambiguity, prioritizes well, and is motivated by the opportunity to protect and grow brands in challenging markets.

Essential Job Duties:

(Essential functions are the reason a position exists and encompass the fundamental tasks an employee must be capable of executing, whether or not reasonable adjustments are needed. When determining the importance of a function, consider factors such as; whether the function aligns with the primary purpose of the position, and the level of expertise or skill necessary to execute the function.)

Responsibilities

Brand and Portfolio Management

· Support development of annual brand and portfolio plans by providing volume, revenue, margin, competitive, and A&M investment recommendations. 

· Lead cross-functional execution of renovation and lean initiative projects from concept through launch, including business cases, timeline management, and tracking. 

· Lead project management and tracking to deliver portfolio goals and timelines. 

· Support product and packaging improvements by leading updates to formula, claims, package design, sizing, and merchandising.

· Support brand P&L management in partnership with Finance, including pricing, trade investments, volume, revenue, margin, and A&M spending.

· Manage licensing relationships, packaging approvals, and royalty reporting.

· Maintain cross-functional timelines, trackers, and deliverables; proactively identify and escalate risks to keep innovation, renovation, and activation initiatives on track.

· Identify continuous improvement opportunities and apply lessons learned to strengthen processes and protocols.

Innovation and Commercialization

· Support innovation and renovation business cases by coordinating financial, consumer, customer, operational, and competitive inputs. 

· Coordinate Stage-Gate materials, meetings, decisions, and follow-up actions in partnership with cross-functional stakeholders.

· Maintain innovation project trackers and support commercialization projects from concept through launch.

· Track launch readiness across product, packaging, operations, sales, marketing, and customer deliverables, escalating risks and issues as appropriate.

· Track post-launch innovation performance and provide reporting to support corrective-action and portfolio decisions.

· Support the development of innovation sell-in stories and business review materials.

Reporting & Performance Tracking 

· Analyze and report brand performance and competitive dynamics; recommend course corrections based on data and insights.

· Manage Brand Marketing budget including monthly monitoring and reporting.

· Compile recurring brand and business reporting, including KPI scorecards, portfolio and SKU performance, category and competitive activity, and business review inputs. 

· Manage assigned portions of the budget and track spending accuracy.

· Evaluate marketing investment effectiveness and recommend optimizations.

· Maintain new product, post launch, category, and competitive performance tracking. 

· Support pricing, channel and portfolio analysis as needed to inform annual planning and day-to-day business decisions. 

· Maintain consumer incentive programs, shopper activation and program-performance trackers, compiling results, and inputs for the activation owner. 

Customer and Shopper Marketing 

· Partner with Sales and Insights to support go-to market strategy and strengthen key customer plans. 

· Create and execute promotional calendars and support the execution of seasonal activation plans.

· Coordinate the development and execution of in-store displays, merchandising programs, and point-of-sale materials in partnership with Sales and cross-functional stakeholders.

· Support alignment of marketing initiatives with shopper insights, retailer objectives, brand priorities, distribution, and inventory considerations

· Compile shopper, retail media, coupon, consumer incentive and customer program performance data to support effectiveness analysis and optimization recommendations. 

Integrated Marketing 

· Translate consumer and shopper insights into actionable executional recommendations that support trial, repeat, and loyalty.

· Support the execution of digital marketing, shopper marketing, and coupon plans to enable efficient, ROI-driven brand activations. 

· Coordinate assigned integrated marketing deliverables across internal teams, agencies, Sales and customer stakeholders.

Requirements

· 3+ years of experience in brand management with strong product marketing and P&L management background within CPG food business. 

• Brand Strategy: Strong ability to translate brand and      portfolio strategies into disciplined execution and prioritize initiatives      with the greatest business impact.
• Consumer & Shopper Insights: Proven capability translating      data into actionable strategies and executional recommendations that drive      trial, repeat, and loyalty. 
• Business & Financial Acumen: Strong understanding of      P&L drivers, pricing, trade, and margin management with the ability to      support financial analysis and investment recommendations.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Ability to influence without      authority across Sales, Finance, R&D, and Operations. 
• Product Management: Experience coordinating Stage-Gate      innovation processes and managing projects from idea to commercialization      and post launch measurement.
• Analytical Thinking: Comfort using syndicated data (Circana is      a plus), financial models, and performance metrics to guide decisions.
• Project Management: Strong planning, prioritization, and      execution skills in fast-moving environments. 
• Communication & Influence: Clear, compelling communicator      who can align stakeholders across multiple organizational levels. 

· Entrepreneurial Mindset: Comfort operating in ambiguity with a bias toward action creativity and resourcefulness.

• Valid Driver’s License

• Travel Requirements: Up to 20% travel, including customer meetings, innovation work sessions, agency meetings, and company meetings.