Founded in a small town in Alberta, Canada, Champion Petfoods started as a feed mill and has evolved to become a leading international premium pet food manufacturer under the ORIJEN and ACANA brands. The Company is an award-winning pet food maker that proudly makes the world’s best pet food, with a reputation of trust spanning more than 25 years. Today Champion is distributed primarily through the pet specialty channel and exports to more than 85 countries around the world. The Company’s vision is to be “trusted by pet lovers everywhere”. It is among a small number of pet food companies with a global platform with state-of the art kitchens in Kentucky and Alberta. Today Champion is effectively a start-up with the scale of a large company. It offers the “best of small” (i.e. entrepreneurial, real accountability and ownership, challenger brand mindset, innovative, fast-moving) and “best of big” (i.e. leadership talent, access to capital, and strategic capability).
Champion makes Biologically Appropriate™ dog and cat foods from fresh regional ingredients and makes them from start to finish in its very own custom-built and award-winning kitchens. Champion’s mission represents a new standard in pet food, designed to nourish cats and dogs in two ways. First, according to their natural evolution to a meat and protein-rich diet. Second, by using meats, poultry, eggs and fish that are sustainably ranched, farmed or fished by local suppliers and delivered to Champion’s kitchens each day. Our ORIJEN and ACANA brands feature unmatched inclusions of fresh regional ingredients.
Champion Petfoods is expanding! We are excited to announce that we are looking for an Associate Brand Manager to join our rapidly growing company. With thirty years of growth in the global pet food sector, our ORIJEN and ACANA brands define our vision of being The Global Leader in Advancing Premium Food for Pets. If you are passionate about personal and professional growth and see yourself as a key player contributing to our continued success by working in our award-winning company – we would love to hear from you.
Summary
This Associate Brand Manager role will support the Dog Brand Team. This role will lead and manage our growing Freeze-Dried Food and Treats segments while leading other business analysis and marketing initiatives to support the Kibble and Wet businesses. We are looking for an energetic problem solver who can work across multiple teams and workstreams. This newly created role represents an excellent opportunity to refine skills in brand management, base business management, packaging, marketing, media, communications, sales collaboration, and new product development.
Reporting to the Brand Manager-Dog, this position will be based out of our corporate head office in Boulder, CO on a hybrid work program.
Responsibilities
• Lead the brand strategy, operational management, and business development of ACANA and ORIJEN Freeze Dried Food and Treats in the US market.
• Deliver monthly data analysis on assigned product lines from sources including Nielsen, Stackline, Mintel, and other internal data resources.
• Support brand team with data requests and ad-hoc analyses from sources including Nielsen, Mintel, Stackline, and other internal data resources.
• Lead development and manage the execution of yearly marketing plan for assigned product lines.
• Contribute to development and implementation of growth brand strategy ensuring flawless execution of consumer driven initiatives (media, digital, all other consumer experience materials)
• Provide support to Sales for promotional plans, point of purchase assets and channel development.
• Build key marketing materials and initiatives across consumer touchpoints to ensure brand growth in line or ahead of plan.
• Provide brand and design feedback to creative team and approve all consumer-facing assets for assigned product lines.
• Partner with Finance to provide relevant information for costing and pricing purposes to deliver sales and profit targets.
• Collaborate with R&I and brand innovation team to support new product development projects on assigned categories.
• Establish a working knowledge of pet food industry regulatory and legal issues and ensure all aspects are taken in account during the scoping and validation of communication and new products.
• Lead creative team in the packaging design of new products on the assigned product lines
• Exhibit project management leadership to push projects over the finish line with sound planning and alignment of resources toward common outcome; on time and on budget.
• Complete other duties as assigned. Examples include competitive reviews, maintaining marketing calendar, supporting innovation launches, and more. As a lean organization all Champion team members need to have a roll up the sleeves and support the team mentality.
• Pivot when needed among projects and sometimes with changing direction. Comfort with ambiguity in a fast growth environment is essential.
• Be a role model of Champion’s culture and core values of teamwork, responsibility, authenticity, innovation and leadership.
Requirements
• 5 years’ Marketing experience with 2 years in an associate brand manager or related role.
• Sales Analytics experience (minimum 12 months).
• Prior experience pulling and analyzing syndicated data (Nielsen, IRI, Spins).
• Passion for a career-path in brand management.
• Post-secondary education preferred but not necessary.
• Basic knowledge of marketing terminology and processes.
• Fluent in English, both written and spoken.
• Proficient in the use of MS Office Suite.
• The Associate Brand Manager should demonstrate competence in the following:
o Communicate Effectively – speak, listen and write in a clear, thorough and timely manger using appropriate and effective communication tools and techniques.
o Foster Teamwork – work cooperatively and effectively with others to set goals, and track details/data/information/activities.
o Organize – set priorities, develop a work schedule, monitor progress towards goals, and track details/data/information/activities.
o Plan – Determine strategies to move projects forward, set goals, create and implement action plans, and evaluate the process and results.
o Solve Problems – Assess problem situations to identify causes, gather and process relevant information, generate possible solutions and make recommendations to resolve the problem.
• Evening and weekend work may be required from time to time to meet project milestones
• Occasional travel may be required
Compensation and Benefits
• Salary Range: Target pay range for this position is $80,000-$100,000 USD annually, however base pay offered may vary depending on job related experience and skills. This information is based on anticipated market location (Boulder, CO)
• Annual Incentive Eligibility: This position is eligible to participate in an annual incentive plan. Awards are based on the achievement of both individual objectives as well as company objectives.
• Benefits: This position is eligible for medical, dental, 401k benefits, and annual vacation.
Champion is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, age, veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable law.
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