Fragrances Evaluation Manager SSA

MANE; Germiston; On-site; ZAR 300 000 - 400 000; Full time

Job summary

A family-owned fragrance company is looking for a Fragrance Evaluation Manager in Germiston, South Africa. The role involves leading a team to evaluate fragrances and manage projects to ensure client satisfaction. Candidates should have a Fragrance Development Management Qualification and significant experience in a strategic role. This position emphasizes strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work under pressure.

Qualifications

• At least 5 years in a strategic position with exposure to senior management.
• Experience in presentation and customer interaction at a senior management level.
• Ability to manage teams in different locations.

Responsibilities

• Oversee and manage the Sub-Saharan Africa FDM team.
• Lead and guide the Evaluation team effectively.
• Manage fragrance projects to meet client briefs.

Skills

Strategic thinking

Customer centricity

Communication skills

People management

Project management

Education

Fragrance Development Management Qualification

Tools

Office and business tools

Job description

MANE is a 5th generation French family-owned business known for innovation and progress in the world of Flavor and Fragrance. As sensation enthusiasts, we strive to provide exceptional moments in people’s daily lives through the timeless flavors and fragrances we create. With our passion, creativity, and innovation, “We capture what moves”.

MANE has an opening for a Fragrances Evaluation Manager SSA position in Johannesburg, South Africa.

MAIN PURPOSE OF JOB

The Fragrance Evaluation Manager Sub Saharan Africa oversees the Sub-Saharan Africa FDM team based in Ivory Coast and South Africa. She/he is fundamentally a team leader as well as a project manager in the fragrance division. His/her duty as manager is to assist the Fragrance sales team and lead the Evaluation team efficiently confidently by bringing guidance, market knowledge and olfactive strategies. As an evaluator he/she must manage fragrance projects in order to answer client briefs with the best proposals by a scheduled due date.

His/ her role is to build a high performing SSA evaluation team.

SCOPE OF JOB

Independence (Finance)

• Manage his/her team annual trip budget effectively

Innovation

• Has the responsibility to lead the build and update the relevant collections in each category, regarding the needs of the customers in each country
• Is responsible for the transmission of the knowledge within his / her team of any innovation (product/process) developed inside Mane worldwide

Customer Centricity

• Ensure the knowledge of the customer preferences through a strong link with sales
• Ensure the knowledge of the consumer needs in each country through a strong link with marketing and CI departments

Project management

She/he is given Fragrance projects which need to be compliant to the client brief and MANE Development Policies.

His/her mission is:

• To decide the technical & human needs of the project
• To schedule a due date together with the Sales Department
• To make sure the brief is answered correctly.
• To justify his/her olfactive choices

Fragrance management

To answer a brief precisely and promote Mane’s Creations, the incumbent should:

• Analyse the market and its evolution.
• Create, complete, and optimize a local fragrance collection fitting the market trends and expectations.
• Manage the collection using tools given by the company (classification of fragrances, stability test, GPMS)
• Advise the Sales department & clients on their olfactive choices

People

• Align yourself to the performance driven culture through the implementation of performance management and talent management.
• Participate in development planning process.
• Align yourself to the Mane Code of Ethics.
• Align yourself to the Value System.
• Build a strong SSA evaluation organisation acting as one team for speed and best-in‑class olfactive proposals for each project
• Assist the evaluation team when they approach difficulties with projects.
• Clear instructions and guidance to the team as how to handle projects and utilise resources for specific clients and projects.
• As a manager she/he must ensure that communication among the team is strong and continuous and that they are working successfully together
• It is his/her duty to identify team weaknesses and strengths to recommend further development and training for those individuals to improve their skills and abilities within the workplace.
• She/he is responsible for yearly evaluation, training recommendations for her/his reporting team members. This might include on‑job coaching and mentoring.

Corporate social responsibility

• Adhere to the Code of Ethics and drive ethical business practices across the group, including the management of anti‑competitive behavior.
• Participate in Group wellness and CSR activity and utilize group resources in this regard.
• Drive awareness of group energy consumption initiatives.
• Support the SHEQ and OHS landscape across the group.

Relations

Marketing

• To describe market products, new launches in the local market
• To build with Marketing department presentations (market review, client submissions, trends, etc)
• To develop market product and consumer trends knowledge, creative ideas, and inspiration
• To detect future olfactive trends and needs

Perfumers

• To give starting points
• To give critical & objective opinions to perfumers on technical & sensorial performance to improve their creation to fit the brief.

Lab

• To ask for samples made up for projects
• To ensure the compatibility between the fragrance and the client base
• To request and follow stability test
• To schedule completion of samples and send to the client

Sales

• To inform sales of any difficulties
• To explain his/her olfactive choices
• To lead client presentation
• To participate in the account strategy

Evaluation

• To share olfactive knowledge with the MANE evaluation community.
• He/she can be asked to have regular contacts with clients and to visit customers together with the Sales representative and/or Marketing.

VALUES, ETHICS & PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES

• Ability to operate in a privately owned and managed entity.
• Ethically driven to achieve business results.
• Focus on sustainability to ensure business continuity.
• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate and influence at all levels within the organisation.
• Must be able to work independently and also as part of a team organisation and collaborate across the business.
• Ability to work under pressure and make good decisions in pressurised situations.
• Ability to hold all employees accountable to deliver on their required outputs.
• A good communicator with the ability to read and write in English.
• Upholds the company´s values, rules, and policies and lives the MANE Way: Passionate about our customers' needs, operating with a family culture of respect and trust, and maintaining the highest ethical standards within a professionally managed business environment.

LEADERSHIP

• Ability to think strategically and develop strategy. Displays a high degree of customer centricity for both internal and external stakeholders.
• Ability to drive results in execution with clear goals, prioritization, decision‑making, and alignment across teams and disciplines.
• Excellent communication skills with internal and external stakeholders
• Leads and manages collaboratively and effectively translates objectives and goals into meaningful tasks.
• Ability to manage teams in different locations
• Ability to delegate and develop others through mutually agreed outcomes.
• Upholds the company´s values, rules, and policies and lives the MANE Way: Passionate about our customers' needs, operating with a family culture of respect and trust, and maintaining the highest ethical standards within a professionally managed business environment.

QUALIFICATIONS & SKILLS LEVEL

• Fragrance Development Management Qualification
• Plus: At least 5 years in a strategic position with exposure to senior management
• Presentation and customer interaction experience on the senior management level
• People management through matrix and a diverse cultural organisation
• Networks (internal & external) Management
• Communication and presentation skills
• Office and business tools
• Willingness to travel throughout our SSA Region and abroad, aligned with Business needs.