Senior Director, Brand Strategy

COMPANY OVERVIEW:

Vital Proteins is a dynamic organization consisting of a team of passionate individuals who believe whole-food-based nutrition is essential for overall health, fitness and wellbeing. Our team is comprised of intelligent and innovative talent who work collaboratively to ensure creativity, success, and global growth. And we need one more.

Vital Proteins is hiring a Senior Director of Brand Strategy to lead the brand management and consumer insights functions. This is a role for a consumer centric, commercially savvy brand marketer with strong analytical chops and a passion for building a long-term vision and delivering annual growth. It is also a role for an inspirational leader who is excited to cement this function and bring a talented group to new heights. They will get to drive the Vital Proteins brand vision, strategic plans and annual marketing agenda that will set the stage for sustainable and scaled growth. They will lead building an innovation strategy and roadmap to expand the brand with new cohorts, occasions, and parts of store, in partnership with R&D. They will partner with the Consumer Engagement and Shopper Marketing leads to build plans that move the needle with our consumers and shoppers. They will know their way around a P&L and be well versed in financial decision making. Finally, they will have a history in brand management within a fast-growing CPG and will geek out on all things brand marketing. They will report to the General Manager.

For this position, the ideal candidate will be based in Chicago and will pop into the office a few days a week.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Keep our Brand Foundations fresh – pressure test our brand positioning, clarify our points of distinction, refine our brand architecture
• Building a Brand Growth Strategy muscle in the organization – identify growth audiences, strategic initiatives and marketing jobs to be done
• Leading the annual brand planning process, from Situation Assessment to Marketing Plan delivery, and intersecting with cross-functional partners on the business’ annual operating plan.
• Monitoring in-market performance of current products, evaluating drivers and drags and recommending corrective action as needed.
• Building out an innovation and renovation strategy and multi-year roadmap, and partnering with R&D, Sales, Consumer Engagement, Finance and Shopper Marketing to drive commercial success
• Serve on the Marketing Leadership Team and Executive Leadership Team, helping to shape and evolve the function within the organization and the broader team culture.
• Championing the consumer by crafting an annual learning agenda, overseeing all consumer insights work streams and sharing this knowledge effectively within the organization
• Building out a new-to-company Brand Management + Insights function, educating the organization on the role and value of Brand Management and Consumer Insights and writing the playbook for the process and practices that we need to cultivate a successful team and brand
• Leading a variety of cross-functional teams for the business in order to deliver strategies and short- and long-term goals. 

REQUIREMENTS:

• Bachelors degree required; MBA preferred
• 15+ Years of experience in CPG marketing
• Prior People Management required
• A love for wellness, and live the lifestyle on your own time
• You are an effective cross-functional lead with strong leadership, communication, and influence across sales and marketing, managing up, sideways and downward
• You are curious, agile, embrace change and want to build things
• You are a true problem solver, highly collaborative and seek to define and improve processes and programs as you work through challenges
• You know your stuff when it comes to syndicated data (e.g. IRI/ Spins) and have a strong understanding of consumer insights methodology
• You have strong time management and organization skills and are able to prioritize and manage multiple projects

****Applicants must be authorized to work for ANY employer in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment Visa at this time.