Director, Own Brands

Director, Own Brands

The Company is one of North America’s leading sales and marketing agencies specializing in outsourced sales, merchandising, category management and marketing services to manufacturers, suppliers and producers of food products and consumer packaged goods. The Company services a variety of trade channels including grocery, mass merchandise, specialty, convenience, drug, dollar, club, hardware, consumer electronics and home centers. We bridge the gap between manufacturers and retailers, providing consumers access to the best products available in the marketplace today.

Job Duty

Business/Functional Results

• Achieve budgeted goals for area of accountability
• Support account team in the development of sales plans
• Increase Daymon business connectivity with customers
• Effectively negotiate supplier commission rates to grow category or team revenue.

Managing Execution

• Ensure execution of the LAMP framework to identify the most critical initiatives and relationships and work with the team to lay out short and long term plans to achieve relationships at the appropriate level for the account or assigned category business unit
• Allocate resources at the account level or within assigned category business unit
• Demonstrate functional expertise in all facets of Private Brand & Branding via on-the-job development, educational and networking opportunities
• Develop strong supplier relationships by obtaining alignment and developing and delivering on mutually established goals.
• Ensuring appropriate amount of support (time & resource allocation) for our top relationships

Generating Talent

• Attract, develop and retain key talent to enable the execution of the collective goals of the customer and the enterprise
• Assure succession plans are in place for critical roles
• Motivates, directs and inspires team members to deliver on the agreed upon metrics of the customer and suppliers in conjunction with the needed resources/teams across the enterprise
• Identify expected level of decision-making and expected level of risk-taking for team members

Strategic Leadership

• Execute new strategic initiatives for the account or the assigned categories
• Support, provide guidance with customer issues relating to cost/value
• Foster thought leadership within account team
• Demonstrate an understanding of the Private Brand landscape, best practices and where customers currently exist in these areas
• Typically 6+ reports (ABMs, BMs); must develop team members’ roles and responsibilities

Managing Relationships

• Owns director-level relationships with assigned customer and suppliers
• Directs, delegates and empowers effectively

Supervisory Responsibilities

Direct Reports

- Hires, retains, trains, coaches, guides, directs, and develops direct reports using company-wide processes, tools and resources

Indirect Reports

- May delegate work of others and provide guidance, direction and mentoring to indirect reports

Minimum Qualifications

The following are the minimum job-related qualifications which an individual needs in order to successfully perform the essential duties and responsibilities of the job

Education Level: (Required):    Bachelor's Degree or equivalent experience

Field of Study/Area of Experience: Business

8+ Years of experience in building and nurturing brands; private brand management

Skills, Knowledge and Abilities

• Basic Computer Skills, including Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Access, Outlook, & web browsers
• Strong Written & Verbal Communication Skills
• Conflict Management Skills
• Decision Making Skills
• Strong Prioritizing Skills
• Excellent Customer Service Skills
• Track Record of Building & Maintaining Customer/Client Relationships
• Ability to Visualize & Plan Objectives & Goals Strategically
• Team Building Skills

Job Will Remain Open Until Filled

The Company is one of North America’s leading sales and marketing agencies specializing in outsourced sales, merchandising, category management and marketing services to manufacturers, suppliers and producers of food products and consumer packaged goods. The Company services a variety of trade channels including grocery, mass merchandise, specialty, convenience, drug, dollar, club, hardware, consumer electronics and home centers. We bridge the gap between manufacturers and retailers, providing consumers access to the best products available in the marketplace today.

Position Summary: The Director, Operations is responsible for executing overall operational strategy, overseeing the Business Unit P&L and business metrics and driving accountability of back-office teams in support of the Business Unit. The Director, Operations leads performance management, strategic planning, budgeting and forecasting initiatives, in addition to problem solving and process development.  Focus on defining measurable results for the organization that enable and support outstanding program execution for our clients.  Results will be attained through ensuring alignment between the operational capabilities of the organization with the business performance goals.

Essential Job Duties and Responsibilities:

Strategic Leadership:Participate and contribute to all growth components of assigned division. This includes but is not limited to merger and acquisitions diligence, business development opportunities, cross team collaboration opportunities and product development. Responsibilities will include research, validation and optimization of operations data from due diligence during M&A, creation of business development materials, identifying opportunities across clients and being involved in the development of new products within the division (project management, design, product testing, etc.). Will aid in managing annual planning cycles and annual planning meeting to align with growth objectives.

Tactical Leadership:Harness the operational capabilities of the organization to drive programs and processes while driving budgetary discipline; lead contract management; establish asset management capabilities within teams; provide monthly support to team through forecast and client invoicing process; act as liaison between division teams and back-office functions (TA, Finance, IS&T, etc.).

Operational Leadership:Build processes and infrastructure to enable scalable, measurable and profitable growth; set expectations and interface closely with all stakeholders in the division on performance against execution goals; lead, track and manage a monthly performance scorecard for each team. Capture and manage data for teams around forecasting, financials actuals, employee retention, revenue per employee, YOY financials and operational trending and customer satisfaction.

Optimization:Make adjustments and optimize service quality to maximize our one-to-one consumer interactions; work closely with other business leaders (i.e. Talent Acquisition, Finance, Legal, etc) to maximize processes; identify gaps and best practices in operational support to improve overall performance. 

Supervisory Responsibilities:

Direct Reports- Hires, retains, trains, coaches, guides, directs, and develops direct reports using company-wide processes, tools and resources

Indirect Reports- May delegate work of others and provide guidance, direction and mentoring to indirect reports

Travel and/or Driving Requirements

- Travel and Driving are not essential duties or functions of this job 

Minimum Qualifications:

The following are the minimum job-related qualifications which an individual needs in order to successfully perform the essential duties and responsibilities of the job

Education Level: (Required): Bachelor's Degree or equivalent experience                           (Preferred):  Master's Degree or equivalent experience           

Field of Study/Area of Experience: 

• 8+ years of general/leadership experience in an operations environment, including P&L responsibility (budgeting, forecasting, etc.)
• Previous experience managing 10+ direct reports
• Experience working with major retail chains, and/or experience in consumer package goods industry.

Skills, Knowledge and Abilities:

• Expert level influencing skills – ability to manage internal and external boundaries, set expectations, and build alignment at varying management levels/client interface
• Expert level execution skills - ability to coordinate mutually agreed expectations of what is promised to the customer into measurable business results
• Expert level credibility skills – ability to use personal effectiveness to link relationships, processes, and business methodologies with cost-saving activities
• Excellent strategic thinking and process development skills
• Excellent organizational and problem-solving skills
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
• Must be able to effectively handle multiple tasks and projects simultaneously in a highly complex environment
• Team player with good people skills
• Ability to manage and develop a team of 10 or more employees, including direct and indirect reports

Environmental & Physical Requirements:

Office / Sedentary Requirements:Incumbent must be able to perform the essential functions of the job.  Work is performed primarily in an office environment. Typically requires the ability to sit for extended periods of time (66%+ each day), ability to hear the telephone, ability to enter data on a computer and may also require the ability to lift up to 10 pounds.

Additional Information Regarding The Company Job Duties and Job Descriptions  Job duties include additional responsibilities as assigned by one’s supervisor or other manager related to the position/department. This job description is meant to describe the general nature and level of work being performed; it is not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required for the position. The Company reserves the right at any time with or without notice to alter or change job responsibilities, reassign or transfer job position or assign additional job responsibilities, subject to applicable law.  The Company shall provide reasonable accommodations of known disabilities to enable a qualified applicant or employee to apply for employment, perform the essential functions of the job, or enjoy the benefits and privileges of employment as required by the law.

Any estimate, schedule, or guideline provided to associates in this job description or elsewhere in connection with their jobs is only intended to help describe job duties and for planning purposes.  Regardless of any such estimate, schedule, or guideline, associates must always record all time worked for our company (which includes but is not limited to on-site work time in an assigned store, office, or other work location; required waiting time; administrative time; and work-related travel time).

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this position. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required of associates so classified.

The Company is committed to providing equal opportunity in all employment practices without regard to age, race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, religion, physical or mental disability, or any other category protected by law. As part of this commitment, the Company shall provide reasonable accommodations of known disabilities to enable an applicant or employee to apply for employment, perform the essential functions of the job, or enjoy the benefits and privileges of employment as required by the law.