Associate Brand Manager

Company Description

Simple Mills is a rapidly-growing Chicago-based company on the forefront of the clean food movement, transforming center store grocery aisles with products made from simple, whole food, nutrient dense ingredients. In the company’s short history, Simple Mills has become the #1 bestselling natural baking mix, the #1 bestselling natural cracker, and the #2 bestselling natural cookie.

Distributed in 20,000+ grocery stores nationally from Whole Foods to Target, Walmart and Kroger, the brand’s newest products include: Almond Flour Brownie Mix, Soft-Baked Almond Flour Bars, and Veggie Pita Crackers. Simple Mills has earned broad recognition from top magazines, bloggers, and industry associations- including a segment on our Founder & CEO Katlin Smith on the TODAY Show in April 2020. Our products have been featured in a wide array of top publications including Vogue, Women's Health, Forbes, Business Insider, mindbodygreen, NOSH and many more. Simple Mills was also a 2019 Clean Eating Clean Choice Award Winner!

The company’s mission is to enrich lives and bodies through simple, delicious, real foods. We strive to make healthful choices easy by offering food that tastes great in the moment and nourishes your body for the long-term. We’re here to positively impact the way food is made because we believe in clean, nutritious foods for a greater life. It’s that simple.

Role Description

The Associate Brand Manager, Cookies & Bars will be a critical role in driving brand awareness, product trial, category share, and revenue growth. The role will be responsible for supporting the cookies & bars product lines through management of commercialization and packaging design projects, performance analysts and reporting, as well as leveraging consumer insights, category drivers, competitive intel, customer needs, and market/industry trends to craft and implement breakthrough marketing initiatives that create a competitive advantage for the brand and support company strategic and financial objectives.

This role will work closely with the sales team and agency partner to manager the shopper marketing strategy, budget, creative development, and activation planning across product lines and key retail customers. In this role, it is essential to have a passion for our products and mission and feel strongly connected to the brand. The position will report to the Brand Manager.

Role Expectations

• Partner with retained agency to lead shopper marketing efforts across all Simple Mills product lines and key retain accounts. You will serve as the point person for strategic oversight as well as manage budget, agency, and stakeholder relationships, ensuring plans are coordinated effectively and meet the strategic objectives of the respective product line(s), sales team, and retail customer.
  
  • Correspondingly, you will be responsible for reporting on program/campaign results, with a continuous eye toward plan, process, and KPI optimization and ongoing adaptation to organizational pivots for product line/retailer priorities and key timings.
• Work cross-functionally to support base business and new product launces for the cookies & bars product lines:
  
  • Support development and coordination of IMC/go-to-market plans, including maintaining holistic marketing activity calendar for respective product lines, ensuring synergies across marketing team/agencies (influencer, content, media, PR, eComm, shopper), cross-channel integration, and driving efficiency through portfolio support.
  • Maximize effectiveness of marketing plans through deep understanding of brand positioning, target consumers, as well as top customers' agendas, philosophies, shoppers, and available tactics.
  • Manage packaging graphics/design process for innovation and renovation SKUs.
• Actively seek and seize opportunities for growth by translating consumption data, consumer insights, market research, and industry/category trends into actions that drive brand and company growth.
  
  • Partner with Insights & Analytics team to monitor performance and ensure brand and product line sales objectives are accomplished, implementing corrective actions as necessary.
  • Lead monthly performance reporting based on consumption data.
  • Monitor category/competitive activity and performance to inform deep dives, strategy, and tactics.
  • Manage other/various ad hoc projects, including setting scope/structure, timelines, and budgets, with coordination cross-functionally, as needs of business warrant.
    

This is a full-time, exempt, benefited position within the Simple Mills Marketing team.

Position Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree required in marketing or related field; Master's Degree/MBA preferred.
• 2-4 years of experience in CPG Brand Management (or equivalent). Shopper Marketing experience, at either an agency or on the brand/manufacturer side is a desirable plus.
• Interpersonal savvy and project management dexterity, with the ability to be agile, navigate various internal and external stakeholders, and handle multiple complex projects simultaneously.
• Comfort with ambiguity and uncertainty, ability to navigate unfamiliar situations and can handle organizational pivots.
• Experience interpreting and presenting on syndicated (quantitative) data (Nielsen, IRI, Numerator, etc.) to derive actionable insights and strategic implications.
• Experience developing and executing brand marketing plans and strategies.
• Demonstrated knowledge of the CPG industry, retail channels, and account-specific marketing.
• Strong analytical acumen and critical thinking skills complemented by well-developed marketing intuition to confidently take action and make recommendations.
• Entrepreneurial spirit and roll-up-the-sleeves mentality, including willingness to find scrappy solutions, take calculated risks, and act with healthy sense of urgency.
• Ability to collaborate with cross-functional team members and agencies/vendors to solve problems quickly and with limited direction.
• High level of curiosity about the marketplace, competitors, consumers, and technologies.
• Experience managing or working with agency partners or external vendors.
• A passion for natural food and healthy eating as well as a desire to change the way we think about ingredient labels
  
  

Benefits Of Working At Simple Mills

• You will make a huge impact as a key member of an emerging brand that’s changing the way we eat and facing explosive growth
• Working with a unified group of passionate team members that are driven by healthy food that tastes good and fuels your body
• Integrating into a company that is passionate about its people and their development, with consistent in-office classes and trainings
• Employee benefits including health, dental, vision, life, disability, FSA/DCA account options, Commuter Reimbursement Plan, and a 401(k) plan
  
  

Compensation will be competitive for the ideal candidate. Due to current COVID restrictions, you must be able to work remotely at your own designated location with sufficient internet access to support video conferencing. You must be willing and able to work at our Chicago office in the future. As of present, the majority of our workforce is working remotely.

At Simple Mills, we are committed to providing an environment of mutual respect and inclusion. Equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants and teammates without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, past or present military service, physical or mental disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. All aspects of employment are decided on the basis of business need, job requirements, and individual qualifications.