Portfolio & Concept Manager

The name Paulig may not be known by everyone, but their premium food and beverage brands can be found in many European kitchens. The company is now preparing to take over the Dutch brand Conimex from Unilever. The Portfolio & Concept Manager is responsible for the structure, development, and overarching story of the Conimex portfolio.

About Paulig

The company’s World Foods brands include Santa Maria and Poco Loco in the Benelux, Zanuy in Spain, Risenta in Sweden, and the leading Finnish coffee brand Paulig. With these brands, Paulig wants to play a formative role in popular food culture. This ambition fits perfectly with the company’s purpose: For a life full of flavor. Paulig wants to become one of the fastest-growing profitable companies in Food & Beverages and be a leader regarding sustainability.

Paulig is growing both organically and through acquisitions. The company has recently signed an agreement to take over the well-known Conimex, a Southeast Asian cuisine brand, from Unilever. The Scandinavian company is active in thirteen countries with around 2,500 passionate employees and its culture is based on three core values: Stay Curious, Strive for Excellence, and Grow Together.

The latter is reflected, for example, in the many opportunities for personal and professional development based on employees’ interests and strengths. Although the central headquarters are responsible for the company’s overall strategy, employees at the country level are given ample opportunity and space to use their insights, ideas, and experience in realizing the central strategy. After all, they are the experts, with intricate knowledge of the local market and consumers.

Vacancy: Portfolio & Concept Manager

The Portfolio & Concept Manager is responsible for the Conimex portfolio and leads the development of innovations and initiatives that strengthen the brand, drive volume, and improve profitability. In doing so, this person takes care to maintain the strong legacy of the Conimex brand while anchoring it even more firmly in the Benelux. As part of a team with strong growth ambitions, the Portfolio & Concept Manager will also have the opportunity to lead projects across markets and brands.

Strategic importance
As portfolio owner, this person’s main responsibility will be to ensure growth and profitability targets are met by executing the joint strategy. The Portfolio & Concept Manager should be a champion of consumer and shopper insight, trends, market data, and competition, and be able to identify new opportunities and develop the marketing mix.

This role contributes to defining the category and brand strategy and to co-creating the corresponding portfolio roadmap. The Portfolio & Concept Manager drives portfolio optimization and other key initiatives and leads innovation projects with cross-functional teams – from idea to implementation.

Strong collaborator within a matrix organization
On the one hand, the Portfolio & Concept Manager reports formally to the Head of Portfolio and is part of the central Brand and Portfolio team. On the other hand, they also work closely with the local brand and commercial team, which consists of a category manager and a brand activation manager. Knowledge sharing, supporting each other with insights and operational contributions, and exploring synergies and opportunities for the entire product portfolio are key.

In this role, strong communication and presentation skills and the ability to create commercial arguments are key.

“This person will be responsible for the onboarding of a well-known brand into a new context. They need to be bold enough to identify opportunities and innovate, while also being careful to respect the brand’s legacy from the perspective of the shopper and consumer. This is a balancing act, requiring a sharp eye for synergies and potential, while taking care to ensure continuity.” – Ida Engsfors, Head of Portfolio World Foods & Flavouring

The Portfolio & Concept Manager has serious professional experience in brand and portfolio management. They are a business-minded marketing expert, well familiar with FMCG and the marketing dynamic behind premium brands. They are excited about working in an international organization, where they are responsible for a brand that currently has a presence in the Benelux. The candidate likes to conceptualize and innovate while maintaining structure and an analytical perspective. They are results-oriented and collaborative and enjoy inspiring colleagues and consumers – and being inspired by them.

Paulig is a growing organization that proudly develops, commercializes, and scales its various A-brands and private-label products internationally. At the same time, it is a relatively small company compared to the large FMCG players. This combination makes Paulig highly interesting for professionals enthused by the prospect of broad personal and professional development, lots of responsibility and learning opportunities, and a pleasant and personal company culture. The Portfolio & Concept Manager will be able to grow within their function or elsewhere in the international organization.

*The closing of the acquisition of Conimex is subject to the merger control clearance by the Dutch competition authority and customary works council consultation procedures.

Interested?

Paulig is working with Top of Minds to fill this vacancy.
To express your interest, please contact Marc Mohr at marc.mohr@topofminds.com.