Associate Manager, Portfolio Strategy and Planning

Midwest Yogurt Inc•Minnetonka, MN

About The Position

Looking for a job that can grow into a lifelong career? At Lactalis USA, we believe in promoting from within and giving our employees meaningful opportunities to learn, grow, and thrive. Whether you’re just starting out or bringing years of experience, we’ll provide the tools and support you need to succeed. Lactalis is the world leader in dairy—a family-owned company with over 85,000 pragmatic and ambitious professionals across the globe. Every day, we’re proud to produce award-winning dairy products that bring people together every day. In the US, we offer an unrivaled house of beloved brands, including Galbani® Italian cheeses and ricotta, Président® specialty cheeses and butters, Kraft® natural and grated cheeses, Breakstone’s® cottage cheese, Cracker Barrel®, Black Diamond® cheddar, and Parmalat® milk. Our yogurt portfolio includes siggi’s®, Stonyfield Organic®, Brown Cow™, Oui®, Yoplait®, Go-Gurt®, :ratio®, Green Mountain Creamery®, and Mountain High®, along with sour cream and a growing family of ethnic favorites like Karoun®, Gopi®, and Arz®. At Lactalis, we live by our core values—Ambition, Engagement, and Simplicity. We’re building a workplace where innovation thrives, diverse perspectives are celebrated, and everyone’s unique background and ideas are valued. Even if you don’t meet every qualification, we encourage you to apply. We want to hear about your PASSION, your STORY, and how your EXPERTISE can help us make an impact. From your PASSION to ours The Associate Manager, Portfolio Strategy & Planning Manager will contribute to the strategic development, storytelling, commercialization and execution of retail initiatives across retail channels. This role will be the go-to headquarter partner for the Field Sales team – collaborating throughout the selling process to deliver the strongest, insight-driven narratives while working internally with Brand Marketing, Supply Chain, Operations, Trade Planning and Finance to ensure optimal execution of priorities. This role will specifically be responsible for the commercialization of Go-GURT products, sales strategy and performance analytics. The Associate Manager, Portfolio Strategy & Planning reports to the Senior Manager, Portfolio Strategy & Planning, Yoplait.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree
5+ years of CPG Sales or Brand Marketing required
Advanced Excel and PowerPoint skills required.
Proven experience with syndicated data and decision data/tools such as IRI/Circana, AC Nielsen, Spectra, Numerator, Scintilla, HH Panel, SPINs, Symphony
General knowledge of the Commercialization process.

Nice To Haves

Category Strategy, Sales Strategy & Planning and/or Trade Marketing experience a plus

Responsibilities

Contribute to the development of the Go-GURT Sales Strategy, utilizing point of sale data, shopper insights and trends. Partner with the Field Sales team to tailor strategy across customers – prioritizing innovation based on assortment gaps, regional trends, and internal capabilities.
Manage Innovation Plan, working collaboratively with Marketing to ensure the right innovation is developed and shepherded through the commercialization process. Ensure critical sales deadlines are met without sacrificing the quality of the proposition.
Utilize category management skills to develop fact-based sales presentations employing brand research to include customer and consumer syndicated data such as IRI/Circana, AC Nielsen, Numerator. Incorporate this information into on-going planning and decision making for focus brand(s).
Collaborate with internal functions and customer teams to create innovative brand solutions to accelerate brand growth that address critical plan risks. Represent the voice of sales to the headquarter teams - ensure clear communication to the field sales team of changes in the plans and implications.
Provide data-driven insights of brand(s) business trends, marketing strategies, competitive landscape, and regional/channel risks and opportunities; help develop the strategy that ties brand, category and customer plans together.
Partner with Demand Planning and Brand Marketing to contribute to the forecasting process for Go-GURT. Coordinate the brand Risks & Opportunities, develop communication and action plan. Partner with the customer strategy team to ensure that accepted item volumes, reset timings, and promotions are all accurately reflected in monthly demand plan.
Enable connectivity between field sales team and brand team, ensuring appropriate focus on priorities, adherence to brand guidelines and Topline partnership from concept to launch.
Partner with Finance and Brand Marketing to develop project P&Ls; lead development and communication of recommendations based on financial analysis, project rationale and operational feasibility.
Perform other duties as assigned.

Benefits

At Lactalis, we offer a comprehensive Total Rewards Program with a variety of affordable benefits and coverage options.
We support insurance costs significantly, contribute generously to retirement plans, and offer Paid Time Off from day one.
We are committed to your professional growth, providing training and development opportunities, including Education Reimbursement.
Join us and grow your career.

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