Senior Product Manager

The Senior Product Manager strategically leads and grows a product portfolio within the U.S. Foodservice or National Account channels by driving innovation, optimizing product lifecycle management, and delivering strong financial performance.  Through cross-functional collaboration, customer and market insights, and data-driven decision-making, this role champions long-term profitability, manufacturing excellence, and brand impact – ensuring every product delivers value to both the business and the customer. 
 

Responsibilities:

• Work cross-functionally to develop and execute annual and multi-year product strategies across assigned product portfolio, resulting in year-over-year margin-enhancing revenue growth and cost improvements, while supporting excellent service and quality.  Strategies should balance long- and short-term goals to drive results and maximize impact.
• Assume P&L ownership for assigned product lines and proactively monitor revenue, cost, and profitability metrics to identify opportunities and address risks early
• Collaborate with leadership and Finance to develop annual financial goals and deliver results which drive sustainable business growth
• Develop and execute pricing strategy and participate in key customer-specific pricing decisions which lead to profitable and expanded market share growth
• Align COGS and portfolio mix to strategic priorities, contributing to a reduction in operating costs, by supporting and potentially leading cross-functional efforts to discover and execute cost-reduction initiatives that do not negatively impact the customer/consumer experience
• Proactively lead all aspects of product life-cycle management for assigned products, including the product portfolio strategy, product management, pricing guidelines, product development, product enhancements, SKU optimization, and obsolescence
• Develop, prioritize, and maintain a robust new product pipeline for assigned product lines to ensure future success and our continuing ability to meet evolving customer needs.  Build robust business cases to support efforts, and then champion and commercialize, through collaboration with other functions, these new products.  Assume Sponsor role to ensure projects deliver the predicted business benefits, on time and within budget. Build robust business cases to support efforts, and then champion and commercialize, through collaboration with other functions, these new products.  Assume Sponsor role to ensure projects deliver the predicted business benefits, on time and within budget.
• Develop a deep understanding of our customers, competitors, and markets by diligently listening to customer needs and gathering comprehensive market insights and competitive product knowledge, and use these insights to develop successful strategies to grow the business profitably
• Develop a deep understanding of the manufacturing processes and specific manufacturing locations applicable to assigned product lines
• Proactively monitor and manage service levels for assigned product lines and, where applicable, urgently address issues to minimize customer impact.  Collaborate with cross-functional teams to identify root causes, implement corrective actions, and communicate details to manage customer expectations.
• Partner with Sales to build and drive relationships with large customers and provide direction on product line focus areas to maximize sales and profitability.  Engage directly with large customers to understand their business needs and align product strategy/roadmap with customer objectives to drive profitable growth.
• Ensure product quality meets or exceeds customer expectations for assigned product lines by proactively monitoring trends, supporting specification development and adjustment, working cross-functionally to address large customer and/or market-wide quality issues, and using insights to make product changes to drive profitable growth and/or reduce cost
• Collaborate with Marketing and Sales on product-line marketing including brand strategy, brand standards, channel marketing messaging, and brand activation to achieve desired customer outcomes and financial results
• Collaborate closely with Sales and Supply Chain Management on demand planning and forecasting to achieve desired financial and customer outcomes (e.g. minimize excess inventory and maximize fill rates for key product lines).  Further, proactively monitor capacity utilization and asset health and anticipate future demand for assigned product lines to make data-driven capacity expansion recommendations where applicable.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Engineering, Packaging, or related field of study
• Minimum five (5) years of experience in product management or a closely related role, or
• Demonstrated experience managing product lines and delivering results by proactively driving year over year top and bottom line growth
• Experienced in applying a strategic mindset to P&L ownership, product roadmap development, innovation, portfolio optimization, and all aspects of product lifecycle management
• Successful champion of customer satisfaction by aligning product development, pricing, and portfolio decisions with market needs.  Maintains a strong focus on delivering value through reliable service, quality standards, and responsiveness to evolving customer expectations to enhance outcomes.
• Strong strategic and critical thinking along with the ability to blend creative problem solving with data driven, analytical, financial, and quantitative skills to analyze complex challenges, synthesize insights from multiple sources, and implement effective long-term solutions.
• Proven ability to achieve results by fostering strong cross-functional collaboration and creating a motivational environment which encourages ownership.  Builds trust and alignment across internal teams and external partners, influencing decision-making and driving consensus, accountability, and continuous improvement at all organizational levels.
• Ability to operate with a strong sense of urgency and focus on providing exceptionally reliable customer service
• Skilled in the interpretation of financial models and analysis (NPV, ROI, DCF), budgets, and financial statements to support data-driven decision-making
• Ability to be composed, adapt, and effectively manage tasks and projects in a dynamic, fast-paced, customer-focused work environment characterized by rapid change, minimal lead times, and multiple competing priorities while consistently meeting deadlines and delivering reliable results
• Ability to communicate complex product strategies and financial insights with clarity and confidence
• Ability to maintain confidentiality on sensitive issues
• SAP experience preferred