Brand Manager

Tillamook County Creamery Association; Portland (OR); On-site; USD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

The Brand Manager at Tillamook County Creamery Association will lead strategy for our established branded cheese business, coordinating cross‑functional teams and guiding initiatives from concept to shelf.

You will own the long-range plan for the base cheese portfolio, drive product improvements and line extensions, support field sales with category insights, and partner with Marketing and Packaging design to bring initiatives to life on shelves and in consumer communications.

Qualifications

• MBA or equivalent experience in food/beverage industry.
• 7+ years in marketing, product management or related field.
• Experience managing a brand with accountability for meeting project objectives.
• Experience in product improvement projects to improve profitability or relevance and launching to market on time.
• Experience delivering presentations to category buyers and executives.
• Experience owning a P&L and achieving profitable growth in an established category.
• Experience in scoping/executing primary and secondary research and translating insights for sales/marketing decisions.
• Strong data analysis skills (e.g., scan and panel data) and understanding of retail/foodservice go‑to‑market.

Responsibilities

• Lead strategy for the established branded cheese business and coordinate cross‑functional teams.
• Own the long-range plan for the base cheese portfolio across all segments and drive line extensions.
• Support field sales with category insights to strengthen retail distribution relationships.
• Partner with Marketing and Packaging design to bring base business initiatives to life on shelf and in communications.
• Collaborate on Cheese Innovation initiatives and ensure successful launches and growth.

Skills

Brand management

Cross-functional leadership

P&L management

Presentation skills

Market research

Data analysis (sale data)

Education

MBA or equivalent experience in food/beverage industry

Tools

MS Office

Job description

Come join the Tillamook Team, one of the fastest-growing dairy brands in the US, where we Play to Win to create over 200 dairy products in 7 different categories: cheese, ice cream, yogurt, sour cream, butter, cream cheese and frozen meals. Our Uncompromising Quality has led us to become the #1 Cheddar, #2 Cream Cheese and #3 Family Size Ice Cream brand, but we’re not stopping there. We’re loading up for our best years to come and want you to join us.

As a farmer-owned cooperative since 1909, we know that being Good Stewards for our stakeholders and doing a little extra always pays off. We’re looking for team members with a One Team and Genuine Care mindset who are inspired to share the delight of the Tillamook brand with each other and others every day.

What you will do

The Brand Manager is responsible for leading the strategy on our established branded cheese business. This is a cross-functional role that requires excellent relationship building skills, presentations skills, and project management skills.

This role is responsible for leading the long range plan of our base portfolio across all segments for the Tillamook Cheese brand. This role will initiate and own base product improvements and line extensions as well as P&L stewardship. They will support field sales with category insights to help gain and maintain strong retail distribution relationships while also partnering with marketing and packaging design to bring base business initiatives to life on shelf and in consumer communication.

This role will partner with our Brand Manager on Cheese Innovation to ensure successful launch and ongoing market growth of new platform initiatives for the branded cheese business.

This role reports into the Director of Category Growth, Cheese.

Here’s a day in the life

• The internal champion of owned cheese segments at Tillamook; uphold the product and brand strategy, inspires internal teams with the product vision
• Oversee development of category strategy and objectives, while also implementing and reporting out on annual plans, tactics and budgets for product categories
• Define product segment strategies that grow the total cheese portfolio, including but not limited to identifying what products to offer, product positioning, pricing approach, packaging improvement
• Analyze consumer/customer/market trends and recommend corrective actions to meet or exceed annual sales and profit objectives
• Initiate research projects, working with Consumer Insights Manager to develop research scope, analysis information, and develop insights that drive strategic decisions on brands or products
• Know your product P&L, and work with cross-functional partners to set product pricing, analyze and set margin targets, and understand and communicate variances to profit
• Develop strategy briefs for new products, packaging, and communications.
• Participate in customer calls/market visits to continue momentum on base initiatives and to identify improvement opportunities to move the business forward
• Oversee packaging design projects that impact existing portfolio, working with packaging vendors and marketing communications
• Work with Vendor Relations to make sure projects stay on track
• Work with sales to form the merchandising strategy for current portfolio
• Manage SKU rationalization process
• Manage category scorecard reporting to organization
• Understanding of manufacturing, packaging, out-of-store marketing, in-store marketing, sales
• Demonstrate excellent communications skills, with experience in managing complex, cross-functional projects
• Demonstrate strong analytical and quantitative skills
• Utilize MS Office applications, especially Excel and PowerPoint

Knowledge, skills, and abilities

EDUCATION: MBA or equivalent experience in food/beverage industry

EXPERIENCE: 7+ years in marketing, product management

• Experience managing a brand – ideally consumer packaged goods – having input on manufacturing decisions as well as sales/marketing, with direct experience in owning the accountability for meeting project objectives
• Experience in product improvement projects – either to improve profitability or consumer relevance – including aligning cross-functional teams, driving work and successfully launching into market on time
• Experience delivering presentations to category buyers and executives
• Experience owning a P&L, delivering profitable growth in a established category
• Experience in scoping and executing primary and secondary research, digesting the information, and leveraging it for use in sales presentations and for product marketing decisions
• Hands on experience in analyzing and deriving insights from scan and panel data (such as IRI, Nielsen)
• A solid understanding of how food manufacturers/marketers go to market through retail or foodservice channels
• Experience leading teams and in-direct management of cross-functional teams

Industry leading benefit and reward programs

We offer outstanding benefits to our employees. For more information, please visit the careers page: .

We are committed to creating a culture of inclusion where all employees are heard, valued and feel a sense of belonging. We rely on different perspectives, thoughts, backgrounds and cultures to inform our work, to help us be better as a brand and as an employer and to fuel our success. We are seeking talent from a wide range of diversity, perspectives, and backgrounds to join our exceptional organization and help us build our future.

Tillamook County Creamery Association (TCCA) is a Drug-Free Workplace. EEO

TCCA prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type and affords equal employment opportunities to employees and applicants without regard to age, race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender or gender identity, disability status (including those related to pregnancy and childbirth), protected veteran status, membership/non-membership in a labor organization, or any other characteristic protected by law.