Premium Product Line Manager (on site)

About the Opportunity

Join the #1 brand in produce to drive brand differentiation though product innovation.

In this role you will manage strategy through end of life for our premium product segment. This segment includes all premium, high flavor berry genetics including sweetest batch, novel, and other premium offerings. You will be the voice of the premium product segment for Driscoll’s of the Americas, responsible for translating consumer insights into product opportunities and bringing those products to market. This role works across numerous cross functional teams to facilitate the development, execution, improvement, and scaling of new product introductions.
Candidates for this position must have strong leadership, change management, and project management skills to galvanize cross-functional teams on the new product development journey. To successfully lead the premium segment, candidates need to both have a strong sense of markets and the ability to develop, analyze, and present R&D data to help inform and rationalize decision making.
***This position requires the candidate to work four days on-site at our office in Watsonville, California. Please note that we do not offer relocation assistance or remote work options for this role. Applicants should either reside within a commutable distance or be willing to relocate independently***

 Responsibilities

Product Strategy

• Participate in strategic plan development
• Act as the champion for premium consumer needs and evolving marketplace trends, partnering with market insights, brand and shopper marketing, and commercial teams to help define strategies
• Define positioning for all premium products, based on market, competitive landscape, consumer insights, and grower capabilities and author product briefs
• Partner with marketing, sales, finance, operations, QA, sensory, and supply teams to achieve product goals over a multi-year horizon

New Product Development

• Socialize new product launches and stage gate process to create awareness of what we do, how we do it, and what we are launching
• Partner with packaging, supply, and process management team to drive new product development  from initial concepting through go-to-market strategy development, launch, evaluation, on farm execution, and scale-up/expansion
• Participate in the development of new business and operational models as needed to enable new products to be successful

Reporting & Analytics

• Creates, maintains, and socializes premium new product roadmap
• Analyzes and reports on product and financial results
• Develops, maintains, and publishes updated status reports
• Develops and publishes Tableau reports for the team as needed
• Creates post pilot reports to gage the success of new product introductions

Other

• Follow Company policies and practices while representing Driscoll’s in an ethical and business-like manner in all interactions with employees, governmental agencies, growers, customers, etc.
• Ensure the security of Driscoll’s confidential and proprietary information and materials. 

    Candidate Profile

• 5 years’ experience in product management, marketing, and/or new product development in the food or beverage industry, CPG, or other consumer facing product company
• Strong technical interest and aptitude, able to evaluate and interpret data to help inform decision making. Experience with agriculture, breeding, genetic deployment, and sensory evaluation a big plus.   
• Bachelor’s degree in marketing or business administration and/or related degree required; M.B.A. preferred
• Must be courageous and influential, exhibiting the ability to inspire the business to exploit new product and consumption opportunities
• Must have excellent business acumen, enabling problem solving at the stakeholder level. Intellectual curiosity paired with strong analytical, process management, and general planning skills is required.
• Must be creative and a conceptual thinker, able to envision future opportunities and mitigate threats. Must use sound judgment with ability to recognize and act upon good ideas, at times making competent decisions in a fast-paced strategic environment.
• Excellent written and verbal communication with strong presentation skills is also required, able to convey ideas with a strong confident voice
• Must be able to travel up to 20% of time, including domestically and internationally.
• Advanced level of computer skills including use of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel and PowerPoint) required, experience with Tableau a plus

Compensation & Benefits:

The following information is provided in good faith as a general description of the salary range and benefits for the position posted.  The actual compensation offered to the successful candidate is dependent upon experience, skills, education, work location, internal pay equity, and other objective job-related factors.

Salary Range estimated for the Premium, New Product Manager: $102,540 to $140,993 USD.

Driscoll’s is committed to a culture of care and offers an attractive benefits package that includes comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, life insurance, and disability coverage for positions working more than 30 hours per week. Other benefits include:  401(k) with employer match, profit-sharing participation, paid sick time, paid vacation, paid personal and family care leave, and a free Employee Assistance Program (EAP).  More detailed information regarding the benefits package, will be shared during the application process.