Business Operations and Commercial Strategy Manager

Want to help us bring happiness to the world? Want to join an ambitious and fast growing global biscuits and confectionery business investing heavily in iconic global brands, infrastructure and people? Then this is the place for you.

As proud bakers and chocolatiers and custodians of iconic global brands, we don’t compromise on the quality of ingredients in our products or on the people we hire. We are looking for entrepreneurial spirits who share our passion for bringing happiness to our consumers and who embody our Winning Traits.

To succeed at pladis you need to be purpose-led, resilient and positive to succeed here because we expect pace and agility, we insist on collaboration and demand accountability. If that is your thing, then pladis offers global ambition, a clear Vision and roadmap for success, challenge, and unrivalled opportunities to learn and make an impact

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PURPOSE:

The individual that would be successful in this role will need to be a passionate, result-driven, Business Operations and Commercial Strategy Manager with a proven track record of driving growth across brands, customers, and channels.  This role will be responsible for executing our “Go to Market” strategy, delivering consumers insights and data-driven recommendations to drive business growth, collaborating with cross-functional partners, and showing high commitment to winning.  
 

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES AND DELIVERABLES:

Deliver consumers insights to drive growth

• Use a combination of data sources (IRI/Nielsen POS data, Numerator, Kantar, POS data and others) to get a deep understanding of our brands, consumers, shoppers, competition, categories, and market dynamics

• Uncover growth opportunities and challenges by customer and channel and do data-driven recommendations

• Support brand growth initiatives 

Execute Go To Market Strategy

• Execution of regional, channel & customer Go To Market strategies

• Track KPI’s on prioritized customers, channels, and regions to make sure we achieve our goals

Help creating Best in Class Selling Stories & Category Line Review Decks

• Use a wide array of data sources to help creating compelling Selling Stories, as well as Category Line Review decks

• Work collaboratively with Marketing to add any Market Research data point supporting our selling stories. 

New Products In-Store Execution

• Champion new product market entry and execution

• Do a 4Ps assessment on new items, checking product, price, placement / distribution, and promotion

• Make sure new items are added in all stores they are supposed to get added checking weekly ACV. Review in store inventory levels and track shelf placement

• Check consumption trends to detect early issues.

• Track promotional activity to make sure we are driving trial

Track our brands & items performance at key retailers 

• Create scorecards and track performance vs KPI’s

• Run frequent Item ranks, velocities, RP analysis, promotional activity (us vs key competitive items / brands)

• Identify growth opportunities (are we underdeveloped and deserve more items per store based on our velocities / performance?)

Responsible for organizing and executing sales materials to include: 

• Godiva sales samples:  both managing our agency and occasionally physically interacting with product at the Reading plant.  Responsible for the Godiva sample budget.

• Customer communications:  i.e. sell sheets and item discontinuation letters

• Customer portal management (i.e. ReposiTrak)

• Item set-up support for the Convenience Channel (other as needed)

• Maintain Broker Management contacts and territory assignments

• ERP item set-up (i.e. DIMS, gross weight)

• Trade Show support

• Support for Sales presentations (i.e. syndicated data extracts and analysis)

• Other duties as assigned

SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

• B.S./B.A. (required) Marketing, Business, Social Sciences, or related field. Master’s degree is a plus

• +5 years of experience in CPG, preferably in Confectionary industry, in Trade Marketing, Commercial Strategy, Consumer Marketing, Consumer Insights or related areas

• Strong business acumen & strategic thinking. Proven record of growing brands across prioritized retailers and channels. 

• Experience working with IRI data analytics.

• Passionate about transforming data into compelling selling stories to grow our business. Must possess excellent computer skills with proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint

• Proactive (high sense of urgency) and committed to delivering results in a fast paced, demanding work environment. Ability to support multiple needs simultaneously while prioritizing

• Effective presentation and communication skills with experience presenting to key stakeholders

• Strong interpersonal/collaboration skills

• Able to travel 33%

QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED

Basic Qualifications

• B.S./B.A. (required) Marketing, Business, Social Sciences, or related field. Master’s degree is a plus

Desirable Criteria

• Strong business acumen & strategic thinking. Proven record of growing brands across prioritized retailers and channels. 

• Experience working with IRI data analytics.

• Passionate about transforming data into compelling selling stories to grow our business. Must possess excellent computer skills with proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint

• Proactive (high sense of urgency) and committed to delivering results in a fast paced, demanding work environment. Ability to support multiple needs simultaneously while prioritizing

• Effective presentation and communication skills with experience presenting to key stakeholders

• Strong interpersonal/collaboration skills

• Able to travel 33%

pladis is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to hiring a diverse workforce. All openings will be filled based on qualifications without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, marital status, veteran status, disability, age, religion or any other classification protected by law.

We operate a strict Preferred Supplier List. If you are a recruitment agency and wish to submit candidate to be considered for this vacancy, you must have agreed to, and signed, our terms of business.
We will not accept CVs from any other sources other than those currently on our PSL. We will not pay a fee for any candidate that has not been represented by a provider on our PSL.