Brand Manager

We are currently recruiting for Brand Manager on behalf of one of Britain’s biggest listed food companies, employing over?4,000 colleagues at 15 manufacturing?sites and offices up and down the country. This position is to be based at the Head Office in Hertfordshireand offers hybrid working.

**Job Overview**:
We are looking for a talented individual to play a key role in the marketing and innovation plans in their Foodservice business. This is an exciting and multi-faceted role within the company; the Foodservice Marketing roles have broad scope across the company’siconic brands and categories including Flavours and Seasonings, Desserts, Cooking Sauces and Quick Meals.

The client is a well-established player in the Foodservice sector today with a stronghold in Healthcare & Education and emerging strengths in HORECA (Hotels, Restaurants, etc.) and Vending sectors. You will play a key role in bringing the company’s growthplans to life, landing a pipeline of Big Bet innovation and ensuring they have strong plans to sustain the core.

This role would be perfect for somebody with a high level of personal ownership and accountability, strong leadership and strategic thinking skills, a passion for innovation, commercial awareness, ability to analyse data from different sources and draw clearconclusions, strength in influencing and building relationships with a diverse set of stakeholders. Prior experience of the Foodservice channel is a bonus but not essential

**What you'll be doing**:

- Working alongside the Marketing & Innovation Manager, take accountability for P&L, Innovation, and market share delivery across company brands within the Foodservice channel.
- Input into the long-term strategic growth plan for Company’s brands in each key Foodservice category.
- Fully own the development and execution of a strong Foodservice Innovation pipeline in at least 2-3 key categories
- Lead renovation of the Core ranges where necessary via product enhancements, upgrades & extensions - with a particular focus on ensuring our range meets allergen and ESG expectations of the channels we serve.
- Play a key role in business reviews with senior management, including recurring business performance reviews, quarterly strategic reviews, and annual business planning.
- Form strong connections cross-functionally within the business, in particular with the Foodservice Sales team, R&D, Commercial Planning.
- You’ll be part of the wider Foodservice channel team, reporting to a Marketing & Innovation Manager, working alongside a Channel Marketing Manager (specialising in trade comms) and a large Sales team covering different profit
- and non-profit sectors.
- You will partner closely with the core Grocery marketing & innovation teams in each category but will take ownership for leading those brands within the Foodservice channel.
- You’ll lead delivery of innovation and core product renovation projects through a wider cross-functional team that spans R&D, Project Management, Commercial Planning, and Finance.

**What we need from you**:

- 3-5 years successful experience within a leading FMCG or other equivalent business.
- Experience in a Brand Management and/or Innovation role, delivering projects to market with a track record of success.
- Passionate about developing brand growth strategies and plans, combining market data, consumer needs, competitive landscape, and emerging trends.
- Strong commercial & analytical skills; comfortable digging under the surface to uncover insights, reach logical conclusions and recommend actions back to the business in a compelling way, making recommendations that are financially viable.
- Strong bias for action, a high degree of personal accountability and an entrepreneurial spirit.
- Experience of the Foodservice channel or similar Business-to-Business channel environments is a plus but not essential.