Associate Manager, Business Unit (Condiments)

Winland Foods•Oak Brook, IL

1d•$73,000 - $109,000•Hybrid

About The Position

At Winland Foods, our success starts with people who live our values of Excellence, Quality, Integrity, Respect, and Collaboration every day. If you're looking for a role with real ownership, broad exposure to general management leadership, and the opportunity to collaborate with top retailers, we'd love to talk. In this role, you will: • Own the strategy and financial performance of a ~$100M sauces business. • Drive innovation across some of North America's largest retailers. • Lead cross-functional teams to bring new products from concept through commercialization. • Build skills that prepare you for future Business/General Manager or Brand Manager leadership roles through broad exposure to strategy, commercialization, finance, innovation, operations, and customer engagement. Winland Foods may not be a household name because our name isn't on the package—but our products are found at many of North America's leading retailers. As part of the Windoria Group and financially sponsored by Investindustrial, we manufacture private label and branded foods across 12 categories from 29 facilities in the U.S., Canada and Italy. By partnering with many of the world's largest retailers and foodservice companies, you'll influence multiple brands rather than a single consumer brand. We believe that great food starts with great people. That's why we're proud to have a company culture that's rooted in creativity, collaboration, and respect for each other and the world around us. From our leaders on the plant floor to our R&D scientists, every member of our team is valued and respected for their unique skills, ideas, and contributions. We believe that by working together, we can create a better, more delicious, and more sustainable food future for everyone. Success in this role requires a self-starter with growth mindset and bias for action as well as strategic thinking, financial/business acumen, analytical rigor, intellectual curiosity, and the ability to influence cross-functional teams to deliver profitable growth.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business, or related degree required; MBA preferred
Minimum of 2 years of progressive experience required, serving as the business owner of products and having responsibility for:
Building short-term and long-term business plans
Owning the P&L by understanding business levers to influence financial outcomes
Analyzing and reporting of data to understand trends and business opportunities
Identifying competitive strengths and weaknesses to define growth opportunities
Product development and launches from concept through commercialization
Consumer research and POS data (IRI and/or Nielsen preferred)
Food CPG experience preferred
Strong financial acumen with understanding of P&L drivers and pricing
Demonstrated success in leading cross functional teams and collaborating with others
Ability to influence cross-functional partners without direct authority
Self-starter with the ability to work independently
Demonstrated curiosity, learning agility, and bias for action
Exceptional analytical capabilities
Strategic thinker with growth mindset
Thrives in an entrepreneurial, fast-paced work environment with a high level of ambiguity and change
Ability to prioritize work and effectively manage multiple priorities with a sense of urgency
Excellent presentation and storytelling skills with the ability to translate complex data into compelling business recommendations

Nice To Haves

MBA preferred
IRI and/or Nielsen preferred
Food CPG experience preferred

Responsibilities

Develops annual and long-range business plans that deliver profitable growth, market share gains, and innovation objectives.
Owns the Sauces category P&L in partnership with Finance.
Understands the drivers influencing the P&L to meet and exceed financial plans.
Develops and executes objectives to achieve the strategic business plan.
Identifies any gaps to plan and recommends corrective actions.
Leads and motivates cross-functional teams to accomplish new product plans, renovation projects, and simplification efforts that support the business.
Applies knowledge of product and competitive strengths and weaknesses, developing defensive strategies as needed.
Collaborates with Supply Chain and Demand Planning to develop demand forecasts that optimize customer service, inventory, and profitability.
Provides ongoing reporting and analysis of Sauces category dynamics, including sales, velocity, distribution, pricing, and promotional performance.
Leverages syndicated data (Circana/Nielsen), Technomic, Mintel, AI-enabled analytics tools, and market research to identify emerging trends and provide selling stories for key initiatives.
Understands and monitors competitive landscape, including new item launches and performance.
Serves as the daily primary contact for business guidance, decisions, communication and management for the Sauces category, acting with a sense of urgency to provide direction.
Creates category and product presentations, leveraging category and consumer insights.
Presents category insights, innovation strategies, and new product recommendations to retail and foodservice customers.
Provides guidance on manufacturing feasibility and financial viability as part of the Stage Gate process.
Conducts “size of prize” analysis and cannibalization modeling.
Partners with the Commercialization Manager to lead cross-functional execution of product launches from concept approval through first shipment and post-launch performance evaluation.
Collaborates with Innovation and R&D to develop and execute a three-year innovation pipeline.
Optimizes the product portfolio to maximize growth, profitability, and manufacturing efficiency.