Assistant Brand Manager

Kao • Cincinnati, OH

7d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Assistant Brand Manager supports the planning, execution, and optimization of marketing programs to drive brand growth in the local market. This role leads insight-driven execution across social, media, retail, influencer, PR, and sampling, working closely with cross-functional teams and agencies to ensure integrated, on-brand delivery. The Assistant Brand Manager serves as a central resource for performance reporting and analysis, translating complex data into clear recommendations that guide strategy, media investment, and commercial planning. This role also supports P&L management, budget tracking, and financial planning, and helps bring innovation to life by collaborating on inputs to the BD teams to successfully launch new products.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree required in Business Administration or a related field
• 5+ years of relevant CPG or marketing related experience
• Strong Microsoft Office Usage (PowerPoint, Excel, Word, Outlook)
• Experience with Data Analytics tools such as Circana, You Scan, Scintilla, Numerator, & Retailer POS
• Creative and proven ability to collaborate, while also working independent as appropriate.

Nice To Haves

• MBA preferred
• knowledge of and experience with beauty brands and /or categories preferred
• Canva a plus

Responsibilities

• Support integrated brand activation efforts (social, PR, influencer, TikTok Shop, sampling, retail, and/or paid media), in alignment to brand strategy and business objectives
• Review and guide agency-led concepts and executions, elevating work to ensure it is insight-led, on-brand, and platform-appropriate
• Partner cross-functionally with Trade Marketing, Consumer Engagement, Legal, and Media teams to ensure integrated, compliant, and effective execution
• Collaborate with other team members, providing prioritization, feedback, and context to elevate execution and impact
• Share key learnings, best practices, and insights with Business Division and other country partners to support alignment and capability building
• Guide the development and ongoing evolution of performance dashboards and reporting tools to support decision-making
• Synthesize consumer, category, and competitive insights to identify opportunities, risks, and key performance drivers
• Lead insight-driven analyses and retrospectives to inform strategic planning, optimization, and prioritization
• Recommend actions to take based on data and insights
• Support P&L management by tracking marketing spend, consolidating budget inputs, monitoring variances, and flagging risks or optimization opportunities
• Partner with Finance to understand forecasts, investment trade-offs, and financial implications of brand decisions
• Contribute insight-based input into annual planning and budgeting processes
• Support innovation plans with BD/ Global teams building from knowledge of consumer, brand and market
• Implement a learning mindset for themselves to stay current on trends, resource allocation & industry capabilities to close existing gaps & develop relevant capabilities in the future.
• Foster a positive, fact based, growth-minded, and collaborative team environment within team, department, and cross-functionally.
• Champion professional development and individual growth while driving performance, alignment, and engagement across the Kao organization.

Benefits

• healthcare
• 401(k) plus company match
• 36 total days off (vacation + holidays + sick)
• A friendly and flexible work environment with great compensation packages, benefits package, ongoing development and the opportunity to enhance your skills and deliver tangible results.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level