Brand Manager

Brand ManagerThe Brand Manager (BM) is a key participant in the management of brand portfolio. The Brand Manager's primary responsibility is assisting the Director of Marketing in defining business strategies and creating and executing marketing plans to meet short and long-term sales, share and profit goals. As a portfolio manager, the BM helps to define, protect and deliver upon the brand's positioning and equity to achieve financial well-being for their brands. This position requires the ability to work independently to provide analyses of sales and industry trends. It also requires leadership of cross functional teams consisting of members from Sales, Customer Marketing, Operations, R&D and Finance in identifying and innovating solutions to business issues and opportunities. This position has shared responsibility with the Director for $270MM in sales and for managing our consumer investment budget. This role will require ~10% annual travel.Major Duties/Responsibilities/SkillsBusiness Analysis (40%) – Work with marketing director for guidance to create reports and provide analyses of sales trends by brand, SKU and customer. Proactively mine data to anticipate problems, identify opportunities and to understand competitive activity and its impact on the brands. Create situational assessments and go forward recommendations for the brands as a key input into Riviana Food's annual planning process.Marketing Program Development and Execution (40%) – Work with Director to become an expert on the Rice consumer, to include: demographics, purchase behavior, market segmentation, product positioning, current trends and need gaps by reviewing existing marketing research and by participating in the design and execution of new research. Utilize consumer insights in recommending and reviewing marketing programs. Lead the execution of marketing programs including digital, e-commerce, generating quotes, managing timelines, project management oversight to keep moving forward, as well as, handling agency and providing feedback on creative ventures. The BM's role also requires the ability to partner with external suppliers including advertising, social media, digital and PR agencies, graphics and promotion firms. The BM shall also create purchase requisitions and manage payment of invoices for marketing programs.Customer Marketing, Sales and Category Management Liaison (20%) – Partner with marketing Director and Trade Marketing to ensure brand strategies and plans are clearly communicated throughout the sales organization. Lead the creation of sales materials for new items and programs. Create Shopper Marketing programs with meaningful consumer insights and incremental ROI.Minimum Knowledge/Skills/Abilities Required to Successfully Perform Major Duties/Responsibilities:Take brand ownership and provide the vision, mission, goals and strategies.Deploy successful marketing campaigns and own their implementation from ideation to execution.Strong analytical skills to mine data and create analysesIn-depth understanding of the company's current products to help drive future product development.Familiarity with the latest trends, technologies and methodologies in graphic & web design.Strong interpersonal and communication skills to work cross-functionally.Good leadership and project management skills to build effective teams and keep tasks on track.Good strategic thinking skills and ability to recommend focused plans to capitalize on opportunities.General understanding of consumer research methodologies.Build strategic relationships and partner with key industry players, agencies and vendors.General financial acumen to understand P&L statements and ROI analysis.Excellent written and verbal communication skills.Ability to use Microsoft Excel and Powerpoint.Ability to use Nielsen and IRI (or other syndicated data source).Ability to use SAP & One-World Sync preferred.Minimum Education and Experience RequirementsProven working experience as brand manager or senior associate brand manager.Proven ability to develop brand and marketing strategies and effectively communicate recommendations to executive management.Comfortable working with numbers, metrics and spreadsheets.Excellent understanding of the full marketing mix.Preferred experience in consumer promotions, package design and new product projects.Preferred understanding of US retail food trade classes through cross-functional relationships.Accountable, results-oriented, analytical, trustworthy, good leader, persuasive, team player, proactive and innovative.Education:Bachelor's degree in Marketing with MBA (preferred) or other Bachelor's degree with MBA2 - 4 years of marketing-related experience.