Senior Brand and Retail Marketing Manager (Exempt)

Vitamin Angels Alliance, Inc. (VA) is a global non-profit organization with headquarters in Santa Barbara, California, USA. It is working to improve nutrition and health outcomes for underserved women and children worldwide through evidence-based nutrition interventions in 65 countries.

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Position: Senior Brand and Retail Marketing Manager (exempt position)
Employer: Vitamin Angels Alliance, Inc.
Division: Marketing
Location: Flexible. This person can work remotely from anywhere in the US or work from our corporate headquarters in Goleta, CA or our office in Chicago, IL, or any combination thereof.
Date: August 2022

About Vitamin Angels

Vitamin Angels is a public health nonprofit working to improve nutrition worldwide. We work directly with local organizations, including governments, to reach the most nutritionally vulnerable populations – pregnant women, infants, and young children – who are underserved by existing systems. Since 1994, we have been delivering evidence-based nutrition interventions and providing technical assistance to reach more than 70 million women and children in low-resource settings annually.

Vitamin Angels is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We are committed to fostering a supportive environment where everyone can contribute, thrive, and grow.

Role or Purpose of Position

The role of the Senior Brand and Retail Marketing Manager is to help build strategic marketing plans with retail and brand partners, and lead the implementation and execution that delivers on corporate partner and Vitamin Angels’ objectives.

The successful candidate will demonstrate strong leadership and direct management of retail and brand activities, as well as partner on internal coordination and fulfillment of value-add marketing for our Corporate Partners. This position requires a results-driven blend of strategy, relationship-building and strong integrated marketing skills. In this role you will work in partnership with the Account Management team (Development Division) to help fulfill the marketing needs of our corporate partners while demonstrating the value of our brand.

You have deep experience in brand and shopper marketing and have developed strategic marketing plans across a range of retailers and brands. You are a highly skilled collaborator and build strong relationships with cross-functional partners. You thrive in helping to deliver value to our Corporate Partners through innovative, two-way marketing initiatives and consistently execute with excellence. You will help our Corporate Partners (CP’s) unlock the true marketing value of the Vitamin Angels brand by helping to create custom and campaign-focused marketing plans for top Retail and Brand partners. 

This position will represent the brand of Vitamin Angels and uphold the image of the organization by remaining sensitive to the complexities of nonprofit marketing, especially as it pertains to retail, mass media, digital and other emerging media.

The Sr. Brand & Retail Marketing Manager is part of the Marketing Division, reporting to the Vice President of Marketing, and collaborates with the Marketing team on defining and developing Vitamin Angels’ overall marketing strategies. This position will also manage and coach the Brand & Retail Marketing Manager. S/he applies expertise in all aspects of integrated and retail marketing while working to promote, exemplify and further the mission, values and culture of Vitamin Angels.

Major Duties and Responsibilities

The major duties and responsibilities of the Senior Brand and Retail Marketing Manager are as follows:  

• • Develops Corporate Partner marketing strategy, leads execution including partnership proposals, creative briefs, activations, and developing creative concepts working in close partnership with the Development team.
• • Leads the generation of partnership marketing plans for key accounts, and the overall approach for retail and brand accounts
• • Works with the Development Division to add value to the partnership by providing support in marketing endeavors (ideation, content/asset development, relationship building and marketing retail/brand relevance)
• • Manages external Corporate Partner marketing strategy and relationships focused on meeting partnership timelines and business objectives. Includes ability to manage day-to-day partner relationships, critical issues, and executive-level presentations
• • Responsible for the integration and inclusion of Vitamin Angels across the marketing channels of our partners
• • Understands partner target audiences and works with corporate partners (through Development Account Managers) to engage audiences through campaigns, content creation and marketing activation.
• • Understands internal marketing mechanisms of largest corporate partners on multiple levels and can engage them strategically to ensure a successful partnership
• • Collaborates with SVP, Associate Directors, Project Managers, and Account Managers on Development team to establish strategy, metrics and objectives for key marketing initiatives with corporate partners
• • Oversees marketing strategy to support Development team’s objectives, including outreach and emerging markets
• • Standardizes and develops best practices to efficiently manage and monitor marketing programs, sponsorships and co-marketing opportunities
• • Participates in strategic account meetings / calls providing support to the Development Division
• • Attends and helps coordinate in-person and virtual events with key corporate partners including webinars, milestone recognition celebrations, trade shows, etc.
• • Conducts analyses and creates reports that demonstrate the impact of key partnerships including actionable recommendations. 

Level of Decision-Making 

Within the bounds of VA’s mission, values, and policies, and sound professional practices, the Senior Brand and Retail Marketing Manager has the discretion to use independent judgment to make decisions of significant consequence that affect VA clients, partners, and employees. Specific authorities associated with this position and their implementation procedures will be determined in conjunction with the Vice President of Marketing.

Organizational Relationships

VA operates under a collaborative, matrix management model. The Senior Brand & Retail Marketing Manager is supervised by the VP of Marketing (or his/her designee) with respect to overall assignments and performance and interacts daily with all members of the VA team. 

Reports to:	Vice President of Marketing
Supervises:	Brand and Retail Marketing Manager
Primary working relationships:	Marketing Division, Development Division
Travel required	Yes, as needed

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (Required and Desired) 

Required:

• • 4-year college degree (Marketing, Business, or Communications majors preferred)
• • Ability to translate product, trend and merchandising details into unique marketing narratives
• • 5+ years’ experience of shopper and/or brand marketing experience working in a role focused on adapting brand narrative and stories for the retail landscape, setting the strategy for what needs to be communicated to and by our Corporate Partners to drive brand KPIs
• • Curiosity of consumer, category and shopper trends and how brands can be uniquely presented at retail and .com locations in a way that resonates with the target consumer and delivers on KPIs
• • Organized and able to see through projects from start to finish; knows how to drive high-level strategy and able to steer projects to completion
• • Ability to prioritize not only business needs and activities, but also day-to-day activities, to ensure focus on the most important projects
• • Collaborator and strong cross-functional influencer with a proven track record of gaining alignment and influence quickly with a diverse group of stakeholders
• • Strong communicator who can push thinking and steer strategy internally, and share brand vision and advocate for the customer externally
• • Business Acumen with an ability to understand key drivers of the business and knows how to prioritize marketing activities accordingly; is financially minded and can quickly size and action opportunities against the impact to our business
• • Ability to remain flexible and adapt quickly to shifting business priorities
• • Ability to juggle competing priorities and manage expectations from various internal and external stakeholders
• • Ability to exercise a high degree of discretion, professionalism and tact in dealing with corporate partners, especially with regard to confidential or sensitive information
• • Sensitivity to cultural and circumstantial norms and differences
• • Ability to remain seated for extended periods of time, including but not limited to prolonged air travel, and general job assignments performed at a desk.
• • Must have a valid passport and ability to travel internationally.
• • Ability to walk or hike in conditions which may include uneven surfaces, inclinations, stairs, extreme weather, long distances, elevation changes or extremes, and/or other conditions associated with foreign travel.
• • Strong knowledge and understanding of relevant retail marketing strategies and channel optimization
• • Strong understanding of DTC brand strategies.
• • Strong experience building holistic, integrated marketing campaigns including digital, social media, PR, and in-store tactics.
• • Knowledge of Microsoft Office Word, Excel and PowerPoint

Highly Desirable

• • MBA preferred
• • Knowledge of Adobe Photoshop
• • Knowledge of user analytics platforms in order to make data-driven decisions
• • Knowledge of media production, particularly video production

Application

Applications will be accepted until September 16^th or until a qualified applicant is identified.