Associate Marketing Manager - Product & Project Management

Associate Marketing Manager – Product & Project Management

Chicago, IL (near Midway Airport) | Onsite – 5 days/week

We're partnering with a well-established, iconic consumer products company with a portfolio of nationally recognized brands to identify an Associate Marketing Manager to join its Chicago-based team.

This is a great opportunity for someone who combines strong project management skills with experience working on a physical product . While a traditional marketing background is welcome, we're intentionally open to candidates coming from Product Management, Project Management, or other cross-functional product-focused roles .

The key requirement: strong project management experience + experience working on a product.

This is not a fit for candidates whose experience has been exclusively in services . We're looking for someone who has managed products, product development, commercialization, packaging, launches, seasonal programs, or other product-related initiatives.

Why This Role Stands Out

• Work on new product development and commercialization for iconic consumer products
• Manage complex projects involving Marketing, Sales, Purchasing, Design, and other cross-functional partners
• Own timelines, calendars, deliverables, and multiple projects simultaneously
• Gain broad exposure to product management, marketing, sales support, and business analytics
• Work in a collaborative environment where strong organization and follow-through are highly valued

What You'll Do

Product Development & Commercialization

• Support new product development from concept through commercialization
• Help shepherd products through the commercialization process, including product specifications and costings
• Partner with design agencies on new product imagery, comps, and artwork
• Coordinate approvals and keep projects moving against established timelines

Key Account & Sales Support

• Support customer-specific product and merchandising needs
• Partner with Sales and Purchasing on customer-specific seasonal programs and packaging
• Maintain key account calendars, including seasonal sales appointments and planogram resets
• Coordinate samples, product comps, and item imagery for Sales and broker partners

Seasonal Program Management

• Oversee development and execution of multiple seasonal programs throughout the year
• Manage calendars and timelines across current and future seasonal programs
• Develop and coordinate selling materials, product information, price lists, and sales sample kits
• Partner with Marketing and Category Management on seasonal selling stories

Business Analysis

• Create and analyze shipment and syndicated retail data to support business decisions
• Use Circana/IRI data to evaluate prior performance and help inform future planning
• Conduct competitive analysis using retail audits, store visits, and customer data
• Compile information from multiple sources into clear, actionable presentations

***What We're Looking For****

We're intentionally open to diverse professional backgrounds , including:

• Project Managers who have managed physical products or product development
• Product Managers
• Associate Brand/Marketing Managers
• Product Marketing professionals
• CPG professionals with strong project management experience
• Other cross-functional professionals who have successfully managed complex product-related initiatives

Required:

• Strong project management and organizational skills
• Demonstrated experience working on a physical product — not exclusively a service
• Ability to manage multiple projects, stakeholders, and timelines simultaneously
• Ideal but not required: Experience extracting and/or analyzing Nielsen or Circana (IRI) retail scanning data
• Strong Excel, PowerPoint, and Microsoft Word skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication
• Bachelor's degree

CPG experience, particularly marketing experience, is preferred , but we're willing to consider candidates from adjacent product-focused environments. Experience with Oracle, SAP, or other trade management systems is a plus.

The Ideal Candidate

You're an organized, proactive project leader who knows how to get things done.

You don't necessarily need to have followed a traditional brand management career path. What matters most is that you've worked on a real product , understand how to move projects from idea to execution, and have the planning, communication, and follow-through skills to keep multiple cross-functional initiatives on track.

You’re comfortable working with Marketing, Sales, Purchasing, Design, and other teams, and you take pride in making sure the details don't fall through the cracks.