Brand Category Director, Shelf Stable

Bonduelle Americas; Philadelphia (Philadelphia County); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Bonduelle Americas is seeking a Brand Category Director, Shelf Stable to build a ground-up product portfolio and drive it as a new business line. You will lead a Senior Brand Marketing Manager and collaborate with Product Development and co-manufacturers to bring shelf-stable products to U.S. retailers.

The role reports to the Chief Marketing Officer and focuses on identifying channels, developing roadmaps, and delivering revenue growth with strong margin management.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of CPG experience with progressive responsibility across brand management, category leadership, or general management, ideally including P&L ownership.
• Demonstrated experience building a new product portfolio or business line from the ground up, not just managing an established category.
• Direct experience sourcing, vetting, and managing co-manufacturing or contract manufacturing partners.
• Experience working with or adapting products from a global or international innovation pipeline a strong plus.
• Strong commercial acumen, with experience partnering directly with Sales, Customer Sales Planning, and Shopper Marketing.
• Track record opening new sales channels (club, mass, national distribution, export, or similar) for a branded portfolio.
• Entrepreneurial mindset and comfort with ambiguity, given this is a newly created role and business line.
• Shelf-stable, center-store, or broader packaged food category experience strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

• Define and own the strategy for a new shelf-stable portfolio, targeting a minimum one-year code life, acting as general manager for the category's business plan and performance.
• Identify and prioritize the sales channels and customers this portfolio unlocks that aren't accessible to Bonduelle's fresh business today (e.g., club, mass, national distribution).
• Build the multi-year roadmap and annual business plan, including volume, revenue, and margin targets, recognizing this is a new business build rather than an established category.
• Monitor category, competitive, and consumer trends in shelf-stable and adjacent center-store categories to identify white space.
• Tap the Groupe's global innovation pipeline to identify products, formats, and concepts with a path to the U.S. shelf-stable market, adapting them for American consumers and retail channels.
• Develop net-new, U.S.-originated concepts where the global pipeline doesn't fill a gap, partnering with Product Development on formulation and concept work.
• Build the business case for each opportunity, balancing speed-to-market against long-term brand and margin objectives.
• Identify, evaluate, and manage co-manufacturing partners capable of producing shelf-stable products to Bonduelle's quality and food safety standards.
• Own commercial terms and relationship management with co-manufacturers, in partnership with Supply Chain and Procurement, to ensure reliable, cost-effective production.
• Coordinate packaging, artwork, formulation, and regulatory/label requirements to keep new-product timelines on track.
• Work closely with Brand Management, Digital Activation & eCommerce, and Public Relations to build activation plans appropriate to each new channel this portfolio enters.
• Ensure brand positioning, packaging, and content translate effectively into the new channels this portfolio opens.
• Partner with Sales leaders, the Customer Sales Planning team, and Shopper Marketing to build account-level plans and secure distribution in new and existing channels.
• Support key customer and business review meetings, providing category expertise to strengthen new retail partnerships.
• Manage, coach, and develop the Senior Brand Marketing Manager, building a team capability appropriate to a fast-growing new business line.
• Direct the Senior Brand Marketing Manager on day-to-day brand execution for the Shelf Stable portfolio.
• Represent the Shelf Stable growth agenda in cross-functional and leadership planning forums, including business reviews with the CMO and CEO.

Skills

Brand management

Category leadership

General management

P&L ownership

Co-manufacturing

Commercial acumen

Cross-functional collaboration

New business building

Job description

Location: Philadelphia, PA l Hybrid 4x days onsite

Make a greater impact at Bonduelle Americas!

Bonduelle Americas is a certified B Corp inviting people to embrace a flexitarian lifestyle with an expanding portfolio of plant-rich products available in and beyond the produce aisle. We operate four facilities and employ nearly 3,000 Associates in the US.

Bonduelle Americas is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Groupe Bonduelle (BON.PA), an established global brand with more than 170 years of family heritage bringing the joy of plants to tables around the world. Globally, our ready-to-eat plant-rich food products are grown on 173,000 acres by our grower partners and marketed in nearly 100 countries. Our mission is to inspire the transition toward a plant-rich diet to contribute to people's well-being and planet health.

Join us at Bonduelle Americas for an opportunity to advance your career in a culture that places people first. As a valued member of our company, you will work in a mission-driven environment aimed at preserving the planet’s resources while providing healthy plant-based products to millions of consumers around the world.

Position Summary:

Bonduelle Americas is seeking a Brand Category Director, Shelf Stable to build a new, ground-up product portfolio that extends the Bonduelle brand beyond its traditional fresh, limited-code-life business. Reporting to the Chief Marketing Officer, this role operates like the general manager of a new business line — identifying, developing, and commercializing shelf-stable products with a code life of one year or greater, and opening the sales channels those products make possible. The Brand Category Director will lead one direct report, a Senior Brand Marketing Manager, will draw on both the Groupe's global innovation pipeline and net-new, U.S.-developed concepts, and will rely primarily on co-manufacturing partners to bring products to market. This is a critical growth engine for Bonduelle Americas, carrying significant latitude — and accountability — for building it from the ground up.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and own the strategy for a new shelf-stable portfolio, targeting a minimum one-year code life, acting as general manager for the category's business plan and performance.
• Identify and prioritize the sales channels and customers this portfolio unlocks that aren't accessible to Bonduelle's fresh business today (e.g., club, mass, national distribution).
• Build the multi-year roadmap and annual business plan, including volume, revenue, and margin targets, recognizing this is a new business build rather than an established category.
• Monitor category, competitive, and consumer trends in shelf-stable and adjacent center-store categories to identify white space.
• Tap the Groupe's global innovation pipeline to identify products, formats, and concepts with a path to the U.S. shelf-stable market, adapting them for American consumers and retail channels.
• Develop net-new, U.S.-originated concepts where the global pipeline doesn't fill a gap, partnering with Product Development on formulation and concept work.
• Build the business case for each opportunity, balancing speed-to-market against long-term brand and margin objectives.
• Identify, evaluate, and manage co-manufacturing partners capable of producing shelf-stable products to Bonduelle's quality and food safety standards.
• Own commercial terms and relationship management with co-manufacturers, in partnership with Supply Chain and Procurement, to ensure reliable, cost-effective production.
• Coordinate packaging, artwork, formulation, and regulatory/label requirements to keep new-product timelines on track.

Retail & Commercial Activation

• Work closely with Brand Management, Digital Activation & eCommerce, and Public Relations to build activation plans appropriate to each new channel this portfolio enters.
• Ensure brand positioning, packaging, and content translate effectively into the new channels this portfolio opens.
• Partner with Sales leaders, the Customer Sales Planning team, and Shopper Marketing to build account-level plans and secure distribution in new and existing channels.
• Support key customer and business review meetings, providing category expertise to strengthen new retail partnerships.
• Manage, coach, and develop the Senior Brand Marketing Manager, building a team capability appropriate to a fast-growing new business line.
• Direct the Senior Brand Marketing Manager on day-to-day brand execution for the Shelf Stable portfolio.
• Represent the Shelf Stable growth agenda in cross-functional and leadership planning forums, including business reviews with the CMO and CEO.

Minimum Qualifications

• 8+ years of CPG experience with progressive responsibility across brand management, category leadership, or general management, ideally including P&L ownership.
• Demonstrated experience building a new product portfolio or business line from the ground up, not just managing an established category.
• Direct experience sourcing, vetting, and managing co-manufacturing or contract manufacturing partners.
• Experience working with or adapting products from a global or international innovation pipeline a strong plus.
• Strong commercial acumen, with experience partnering directly with Sales, Customer Sales Planning, and Shopper Marketing.
• Track record opening new sales channels (club, mass, national distribution, export, or similar) for a branded portfolio.
• Entrepreneurial mindset and comfort with ambiguity, given this is a newly created role and business line.
• Shelf-stable, center-store, or broader packaged food category experience strongly preferred.

What Success Looks Like

Within the first year, this role will have stood up a clear shelf-stable portfolio strategy and roadmap, commercialized an initial slate of products through qualified co-manufacturing partners, opened at least one new sales channel for Bonduelle, and driven initial revenue to [$X]M — establishing the foundation for a growth engine that extends the brand well beyond its traditional fresh business.