Associate Brand Manager

Job Description Summary

The Associate Brand Manager will support Bel’s Fruit Business by contributing to the development and execution of brand strategies, innovation plans, and go-to-market initiatives that drive business growth. Reporting to the Sr. Brand Manager, this role partners closely with Innovation, Sales, R&D, Packaging, Supply Chain, Finance, Design, Regulatory, agency partners, and external vendors to help advance commercialization projects from concept through launch while ensuring alignment with brand objectives, consumer needs, customer requirements, and market opportunities.

This position requires a highly organized, analytical, and proactive marketer who can evaluate brand performance, synthesize consumer and market insights, develop actionable recommendations, and support customer-facing launch materials. The ideal candidate will bring strong strategic thinking, project management, communication, and collaboration skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities, influence cross-functional partners, and execute with excellence in a fast-paced CPG environment.

**Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Brand Strategy & Management

• Analyze brand performance, syndicated data, consumer insights, and competitive trends to identify opportunities and develop actionable recommendations.

• Support the development of annual marketing plans, innovation pipelines, and business cases by applying core marketing principles, including positioning, consumer segmentation, and competitive assessment.

• Evaluate creative concepts and marketing materials to ensure strategic alignment, brand consistency, and consumer relevance.

• Partner with Sales to develop customer-facing selling stories, merchandising tools, and launch materials that support commercial execution.

• Monitor key business and marketing performance metrics, identify learnings, and recommend actions to improve business performance.

• Commercialization & Project Execution

• Manage the day-to-day execution of innovation and commercialization projects from concept through launch, ensuring projects are delivered on time, within scope, and aligned with business objectives.

• Partner with cross-functional teams, including R&D, Packaging, Supply Chain, Sales, Finance, Design, and Regulatory, to manage timelines, resolve issues, and drive project milestones.

• Develop commercialization materials such as project briefs, launch plans, artwork approvals, packaging updates, and go-to-market deliverables.

• Coordinate with agency and vendor partners throughout the development process while ensuring high-quality execution and adherence to brand standards.

• Coordinate customer-specific commercialization initiatives and support the successful execution of key retailer programs.

Skills & Qualifications:

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business, or a related field required; MBA a plus.

• Background: 2+ years of prior experience in brand management, marketing, innovation, or related CPG roles preferred.

• Business & Marketing Acumen: Understanding of brand management principles, consumer marketing, innovation processes, and commercialization within a CPG environment.

• Strategic Thinking: Ability to synthesize data, identify key insights, develop hypotheses, and translate analysis into clear business recommendations.

• Analytical Skills: Proficiency in interpreting syndicated data (e.g., Circana/Nielsen), consumer research, and market trends to support decision-making.

• Project Management & Cross-Functional Leadership: Demonstrated ability to manage multiple innovation and commercialization projects simultaneously while supporting cross-functional alignment and delivering against key milestones.

• Execution Excellence: Highly organized with exceptional attention to detail and the ability to prioritize competing initiatives while meeting deadlines.

• Communication & Storytelling: Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to build compelling, insight-driven presentations for cross-functional teams and leadership.

• Collaboration & Influence: Proven ability to build effective partnerships and work collaboratively across Marketing, Sales, R&D, Supply Chain, Finance, Design, and external agencies.

• Ownership & Initiative: Demonstrates accountability, proactively identifies solutions, and takes ownership of projects from initiation through execution while continuously seeking opportunities to improve outcomes.

Working Conditions: Work is performed largely in a hybrid office environment. Hours of work will generally be during regular business hours, with at least 40 hours per week. At times, there may be some variation in work hours due to special projects, deadlines, and other business needs. Occasional travel may be required.

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Acknowledgement: This job description describes the general nature and level of work performed by employees assigned to this position. It does not state or imply that these are the only duties and responsibilities assigned to the job. The employee may be required to perform other job-related duties as requested by management. All requirements are subject to change over time and may be modified to reasonably accommodate individuals with disabilities.

Total Rewards

• Base Salary: $95,000 – $110,000

• Bonus Opportunity: 10%

• 401(k) plan with 4% company match

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage, plus PTO available Day 1