Senior Brand Manager : Lays - Cape Town Hq

Pepsico; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 600 000 - 800 000; Full time

Job summary

A global food and beverage leader is seeking a Senior Brand Manager for its Cape Town HQ. The successful candidate will lead cross-functional teams and manage the Lay's brand strategy over 3-5 years. Responsibilities include overseeing marketing initiatives, P&L management, and innovation projects. Ideal applicants have 8-10 years' experience in FMCG, strong financial acumen, and excellent communication skills. This full-time position is pivotal in driving brand growth and market strategy.

Qualifications

• 8-10 years' experience, preferably within FMCG.
• Ability to engage and influence internal and external stakeholders.
• Willingness and ability to travel.

Responsibilities

• Leading the cross-functional team.
• Driving collaboration across stakeholders.
• Owning and driving the Lay’s P&L.
• Innovation and renovation portfolio management.

Skills

Financial acumen

Excellent communication skills

Multi-disciplinary team leadership

Consumer and shopper behavior understanding

Education

Three-year tertiary Marketing qualification

Job description

Senior Brand Manager – Lays, Cape Town HQ

Location: Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

Responsibilities

• Leading the cross‑functional team.
• Role modelling the PepsiCo values whilst always driving collaboration across multiple internal stakeholders and external stakeholders.
• Leading Agency & Creative Management by overseeing vendors and agencies and the creative process.
• Influencing the scope of work development, creative evaluation and feedback.
• Driving with agency the media plan development and assessment; research understanding, evaluation and plan development.
• Working in partnership with Insights team to unearth killer actionable insights to grow and accelerate the Lay’s brand.
• Strategic planning: working closely with Sector Marketing to ensure a brand strategy for 3‑5 years is clearly laid out and revised at the beginning of each business cycle.
• Brand Calendar: shaping and prioritising Lay’s 24‑month calendar and campaigns.
• Brand Identity: partnering with Sector Marketing to ensure localised brand identity aligns with global best practice.
• Accelerating Lay’s Purpose and Proposition: evolving the Lay’s brand through brand‑building initiatives; developing and deploying the ATL & BTL assets for all campaigns, innovations and launches.
• Developing the line campaign and executing a new brand proposition for the brand, working with external partners.
• Commercial Ownership: operationally leading Lay’s input into iS&OP via monthly PMRs, sales alignment and forecasts.
• Owning and driving the Lay’s P&L, tracking and contributing to delivery of business performance metrics – turnover, net revenue, GP, EBIT – with monthly reporting on brand and category performance.
• Net revenue tracking and management.
• Proactive identification of opportunities designed to drive growth and efficiencies.
• Go‑to‑market: driving Lay’s channel agenda by working closely with customer, shopper teams and NRM teams to define and implement the right promotional strategy, portfolio priorities, pricing strategy, distribution and visibility initiatives across retail channels.
• Performance management: mastering knowledge and understanding of performance drivers and performance against key KPIs on brand health, penetration, shares, distribution, volume etc., executing a plan of actions to accelerate performance.
• Innovation: evolving portfolio through innovation and renovation projects; collaborating with Commercial / Sales / Manufacturing / R&D and other teams to prioritise, commercialise and deliver projects.
• Collaborating with NRM to recommend pricing strategy and price pack architecture business case development to effect brand growth.
• Identifying new opportunities; setting growth ambition assumptions & business case building.
• Ensuring Lay’s innovative delivery is on time and in full, with impact across all key consumer touchpoints.
• Building a longer‑term innovation pipeline partnering with R&D.
• Strategy Planning: ensuring alignment with Sector on the 5‑year strategic planning, leveraging the most relevant global work.
• Business Planning / AOP – owning and driving Lay’s planning for agility initiatives, including owning key snacking occasions & moments (cultural, retailer events, calendar etc.) across the year.
• Social strategy and execution: collaborating with partner agency to develop & execute Lay’s social strategy including tone of voice and content calendar across the year (local creations).
• A&M Budget Management: responsible for A&M budgets, raising CE’s and supplying agencies with PO’s.

Qualifications

• 8–10 years’ experience, preferably within FMCG.
• Three‑year tertiary Marketing qualification – diploma / degree minimum.
• Commercial understanding and ownership: income statement to GP and bottom line, plus budget management and reconciliation.
• Financial acumen for reporting and tracking financial, share performance and forecasting.
• Multi‑disciplinary team and project leadership.
• Full value‑chain understanding and management.
• Consumer behaviour and shopper behaviour understanding.
• Research and analytics understanding and tracking; customer and trade understanding, shopper and category growth strategies.
• Excellent communication skills (written, spoken & presentation).
• Efficient and effective cross‑functional partnering with Commercialisation, R&D, Manufacturing, Category Management, Procurement and Sales teams.
• Capability to engage, report to and influence internal and external stakeholders.
• Ability to work independently and self‑manage.
• Willingness and ability to travel.

EEO Statement

PepsiCo is an Equal Opportunity Employer in line with the Employment Equity Act.

Seniority level

Mid‑Senior level

Employment type

Full‑time

Job function

Marketing

Industries

Manufacturing and Food and Beverage Services