Product Marketing Manager

The Product Marketing Manager drives solutions, process improvements and growth plans for assigned product categories and across assigned functions (category and/or new product development).

Reporting to the Director of Product, this role proactively manages Marketing Strategy and Business Fundamentals for the assigned scope. This position delivers analysis and actions recommendations to drive working strategies, address opportunities and deliver change and growth for the assigned categories. 

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Category Business Strategy and Planning:
  • Own, develop and execute an end-to-end vision and strategy/plan to grow revenue and margin, aligning with overall business objectives.
  • Acquire and socialize knowledge of trends in product families and major customers to inform and influence decision making.
  • Develop and manage Category Strategy, Annual Operating Plan and Strategic Long-Range Plan.
  • Stay connected with industry, customer, and end-user / consumer trends.
  • Proactively develop insightful analysis on critical business opportunities.
• Portfolio and Assortment Management
  • Manage ongoing product lifecycle analysis.
  • Initiate and provide key input on Excess and Obsolete mitigation and management process, slow-moving inventory and SKU rationalization
  • Collaborate cross-functionally regarding incoming product assortment.
  • Contribute to portfolio health via support for demand planning/forecasting, quality solutions, packaging enhancements or other product-related needs that improve commercial performance of existing products.
  • Manage market position, brand architecture and brand positioning for assigned categories.
• Commercial Sales Support
  • Configure projects/opportunities, as needed.
  • Manage cross-channel product conflict to ensure portfolio integrity.
  • Create and optimize product training, as needed, to ensure selling competency within assigned categories.
  • Identify and implement marketing tactics in support of outlined strategies to drive sale revenue in assigned categories (examples: marketing collateral, website content, tradeshow activations, etc)
• Business Input
  • Produce key inputs to Commercial Monthly Operating Reviews, and any other business reporting needs.
  • Lead Category Reviews (currently quarterly), driving an understanding of business results and recommendations for responding or scaling.
  • Conduct regular competitive assessments, providing an external market lens, to guide assortment and growth strategy decisions.
• Product Development Vision & Strategy
  • Develop short-term and long-term category roadmaps, across all categories and inclusive of new product concepts, products, product lines (new and line extensions), to maximize profitable growth.
    • Roadmaps are informed by overarching strategic marketing plans and supported by competitor assessments, industry analysis, consumer and customer trends, design trends, SWOT analyses, category analysis, sales performance.
  • Collaborate with cross-functional teams to evaluate and prioritize concepts that align with the company's growth objectives, meet customer needs and fit withing the current product portfolio and planned assortment.
  • Attend industry events to stay current on competitive landscape, market, and tabletop trends, while capturing new products and sourcing opportunities.
• New Product Development Execution
  • Responsible for product development from ideation and concept creation to design and sample development to production and on-time delivery.
  • Own and drive stage gate process for new product development, ensuring on-time, speedy market launch.
  • Launch viability: Ensure high-quality, timely, and successful product launches that meet portfolio and financial KPIs, while exceeding customer expectations for category growth.
  • Deliver new product launches with strong insight, which communicate a reason-to-believe, compelling selling story for the customers, the channel, and the category.
  • Partner with sourcing team to ensure the development and delivery of production-friendly, on-trend design execution across multiple materials, to optimize price, margin, and sales.
  • Collaborate on new product pricing, configurations and packaging.
  • Forecast new product performance with regards to revenue and margin. 
  • Manage activities for new product development to ensure timeliness of new product launches, marketing collateral, and specific customer executions. 
• New Product Marketing
  • Go-to-market handoff: once commercialization begins, deliver the necessary information for counterparts to complete go-to-market execution. 
  • Support new product marketing launches at foodservice & retail trade events and customer meetings, as needed.
  • Analyze and report new product revenues & analytics (currently - monthly/quarterly).
• Perform additional tasks, as needed, aligning with and supporting the company’s overall vision and strategic goals

REQUIREMENTS & QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree in business administration, marketing, finance, engineering or a related field is required. MBA is preferred.
• 6+ years of experience in Marketing, Sales, Category Marketing, Finance, Category is required. Direct management of marketing professionals is preferred.
• Retail, Food, B2B product experience preferred, but not required.
• Tabletop product experience (Glassware, Dinnerware, Flatware, Serveware) preferred, but not required.
• Experience measuring marketing effectiveness is required.
• Experience managing cross-functional initiatives is required.
• Strong communication and analytical skills and the capability to tailor to a variety of audiences, internally and externally, is required.
• Ability to apply strategic thinking to business situations is required.
• Ability to understand and synthesize financial, analytical and insights to drive action is required.
• History of proven success working independently, meeting project objectives/deadlines and managing multiple tasks simultaneously is required.
• This position requires 10% travel.

COMPETENCIES FOR SUCCESS 

• Take Control: ask for the direction and support you need to attain mastery of your objectives and ownership of your professional development.
• Be Engaged & Committed: lean in to learn, engage, and contribute, resulting in increased performance and personal satisfaction from your work.
• Be Accountable: hold yourself responsible for achieving your goals and successfully executing against the organization's initiatives.
• Continuous Improvement Mindset: Act with curiosity, proactively identifying and implementing changes to enhance work processes and outcomes. Consistently seek opportunities to improve efficiency, quality, and overall effectiveness
• Change Agent: Improves the organization's ability to achieve a higher degree of output. Creates structure and processes where there are none. Challenges status quo and creates a path forward for change and improvement. Creates a vision and rallies others to achieve the vision.
• Collaborative: Communicates clearly and regularly, shares knowledge and skills. Works well with a cross-functional team. Finds shared solutions and brings the team along.
• Flexible, Creative, Adaptable: Embraces change, welcomes new ideas, and works well with a variety of people. Thinks outside the box, envisions the possible and sees beyond the obvious.