The Senior Product Manager translates control brand strategies into category product plans, that deliver both innovation and base business growth to drive sales, profit, and customer loyalty. The PM is responsible for working across a wide eco-system of stakeholders to build control brand programs that drive the business end to end from strategy to tactics. The PM will facilitate alignment across a director stakeholder team, including category directors and sourcing directors, while also managing and prioritizing the workflow across an extensive internal support team and external vendor stakeholders. The PM will also manage, coach, and develop their team and provide direction on day-to-day tasks. 

What You Will Do:  

•  Strategic Planning and Execution: Builds and sets financial targets for a 2-year control brand category strategy, while implementing against the strategy with excellence, achieving sales, margin and control brand penetration OKRs on annual basis.  

• Innovation: Deliver on Sales from New with end-to-end product lifecycle management. This includes: (i) developing strategic rationale and business cases for new product development (including financial feasibility assessment, supplier negotiation and selection, finalizing product and packaging features and developing sales projections), (ii) providing pricing, marketing, merchandising and promotions launch support recommendations; and (iii) leading the APM team in project management to deliver on time and on cost.  

• Base Business Management to maintain CB penetration: Utilize internal and external financial metrics to compile, analyze and monitor sales results to recommend corrective actions and identify opportunities across total business to optimize sales, margin and availability. Execution of savings and supply initiatives to action recommendations identified via assessment process noted 

• Stakeholder Management across Director level peers: The PM will facilitate alignment across a director stakeholder team, including, but not limited to, the multiple category directors and sourcing directors that for each of the categories under the PM’s portfolio.  

• Prioritization and Workflow Management across internal and external support: Managing and prioritizing the workflow across an extensive internal support team, including product development, quality assurance, regulatory affairs, packaging design agency, supply chain and marketing. Day to day management of all vendor relationships (can range from 30-100 vendors per PM) to deliver on innovation and base business plans and ensure that vendors deliver on time and on cost within Loblaw Brand guidelines. This scope also includes facilitating forward looking innovation sessions with vendors to unlock future and first to market innovation  

• Team Management: Coaching and talent development for direct report(s) 

• Packaging Excellence: From brief to agency, leadership of 20+ packaging projects per year, with accountability for best in class design and leadership approvals.  

• Marketing Support and Briefing to drive customer acquisition: Brief marketing and support execution to ensure that go-to-market messaging is optimized for products under development  across all marketing programs, including Insider’s.  

• Other duties as assigned. 

What You Will Bring:

•  5-7 years' related experience (preferably in a corporate food, packaged goods environment). 

• Exceptional analytical skills used to assess current Control Brand performance as well as forecast sales, penetration, etc. 

• Naturally proactive with a high degree of self-discipline and organization skills in order to manage numerous overlapping projects and deadlines. 

• Superior interpersonal and formal presentation skills to influence suppliers, senior management, and colleagues to accept business recommendations. 

• Lateral thinker who considers financial, technical, and marketing parameters in order to introduce innovative products to the marketplace. 

• Experienced in vendor management determining vendor capabilities to handle capacity, volume, demand, quality issues etc. 

• Creative and strong negotiation skills are required with increased knowledge of the market and financial analysis to support the claims. 

• Strong business acumen, including PnL management, core understanding of financial metrics and business drivers 

• Ability to coach and mentor direct reports and team with a focus on people development 

Key Measures (Performance indicators):  

•  Control brand sales, penetration, and margin 

• Incremental profitability to the enterprise 

• Brand Health 

• Sales from New and associated in-year product launch targets 

• Insider’s delivery and growth 

• Growth in market share 

• Customer acquisition