Ciranda is a company rooted in five core values which include: Curiosity, Courage, Collaboration, Clarity, and Character. These values shape Ciranda's culture and drive our success, making us a remarkable company to engage with.
Job Purpose Summary
The Product Manager will lead product lifecycle management across Ciranda’s leading portfolio of ingredients, including existing portfolio, new product innovation, and commercialization. Establishes and executes product portfolio strategies. Monitors product line performance and collaborates on annual product line budgets. Leads innovation efforts and new product roadmap development. Manages technical support resources for existing and new product efforts. Manages the product team to achieve long-term and annual objectives.
Responsibilities - Develops & executes product strategies for existing portfolio based on market conditions, competitive intelligence, and customer knowledge.
- Evaluates product categories and channels to optimize portfolio; oversees extensions and discontinuations.
- Works cross-functionally, leading identified initiatives, to achieve annual product objectives and move long-term strategies forward.
- Conducts regular cross-functional reviews of initiatives related to objective achievement (both existing and new product initiatives).
- Leads technical support team for existing product line, including sales training, application development and customer engagement
- Facilitates and organizes key product information and benefits. Collaborates with marketing on the development of product value propositions and sell-in materials.
- Collaborates with New Business Development team on new product projects and support New Business Development commercialization.
- Leads core portfolio innovation efforts for Ciranda
- Develops and manages new product pipeline and roadmap
- Monitors trends and conducts research (customer and market) to identify product/market opportunities, understand market potential, and determine key customers/brands.
- Identifies market segments for new products, determines product and/or service requirements, evaluates competitive offerings and communicates requirements to cross-functional teams.
- Leads Ciranda’s Stage Gate process, overseeing the Product Development Specialist to ensure project management, deadline completion, and successful cross-functional communication.
- In collaboration with Sourcing team, engages with suppliers to review new product opportunities and ensure commercialization of active projects.
- Partners with sales, strategic sourcing, strategic marketing, quality, and finance teams on new product launches. Collaborates with strategic sourcing during scale up to ensure adequate sample stock is obtained.
- Manages Ciranda’s product budget
- Participates in the development of Ciranda’s strategic and annual operating plan, setting product line objectives and aligning with cross-functional teams to support goals.
- Travel up to 10% to support sales efforts and product training
Required Education & Experience
- Bachelor’s degree in business, marketing, advertising, or food science - or equivalent relative experience.
- Minimum 7 years of experience in project management and/or product development of food products or ingredients.
- Additional experience with research tools, trends monitoring. and insights preferred.
Desired Competencies
- Drives Results: Understands and demonstrates sound judgement, fiscal competence, and business knowledge to optimize the quality of operations.
- Aligns Execution: Focuses efforts to efficiently achieve measurable and customer-driven results consistent with the organizations, mission, and operating plans.
- Thinks Strategically: Supports and promotes the organization’s vision and values - creates a compelling future state of the unit – understands the necessity of change in light of internal and external influences.
- Models Accountability: Holds self and others accountable for measurable high-quality, timely and cost-effective results – accepts responsibility for failures.
- Effectively Decisive: Makes well-informed, effective, and timely decisions, using available data.
- Agile & Resilient: Deals effectively with pressure, remains optimistic and persists even under adversity-recovers quickly from setbacks.
- Develops Talent: Effectively selects and develops people in a way that contributes to motivation and retention of a high-performing team.
- Instills Confidence: Commits to placing the organizations and team’s interests above self-interests- expresses authentic gratitude and understand its value.
- Cultivates Engagement: Energizes and creates a sense of direction, purpose and excitement-creates a positive work environment with clarity around goals and working collaboratively to achieve them.
- Innovation: Ability to monitor industry trends to make informed decisions, assist in customer innovation through collaboration and develop products against Ciranda’s innovation platforms.
- Commercialization: Strategically implement new product commercialization, oversees business cases and market development, and establishes success metrics for new products.
- Portfolio Management: Proficient in managing the product life cycle, SKU management, discontinuation, and monitoring competitor products.
- Strategy and Planning: The ability to set attainable goals and reach them within the timeline of project completion.