Sr Manager, Product Strategy

The Senior Manager, Product Strategy will work in partnership with the Senior Director, Product Strategy to drive the growth of Panera’s categories by ensuring that the product lines deliver irresistible craveability and value, while defining the Menu, Category, Daypart and Innovation activities to achieve the goals.

Position is ideally hybrid and based in Newton, MA.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Define Growth Strategies
  • Define clear strategies to drive growth for the business across respective areas of focus (guest segments, product categories, value offerings, dayparts and jobs to be done). They will be responsible for increasing frequency of existing customers and attracting new customers, inclusive of translation to specific projects.
  • Develop a deep understanding of competitive categories and a strategic positioning to gain market share
  • Support analysis to identify new areas for Panera to expand into where there is credibility and permission to play
  • Advise appropriate balance for respective areas of focus to grow without adding complexity – numbers of products, product ranges, pricing – with input from Finance and Culinary
• Cross-functional Conductor
  • Highly effective cross-functional leader to bring strategies and corresponding projects to life across the organization
  • Manage different perspectives and priorities across the organization to prioritize and ensure we’re delivering growth to plan in a timely manner
  • A General Manager and guest first mentality to ensure we are developing business strategies that can be executed and delivered to the guest
• Go-to-Expert for Product Analysis and Understanding
  • Monitor product performance to uncover opportunities for performance improvement
  • Stay abreast of industry and competitor trends to proactively develop insights that could lead to new avenues of growth
  • Establish a target setting and post mortem process for identifying how we will define success and evaluate if we delivered on those goals
• Develop Sales Driving Promotional Programs
  • Lead cross functional teams to pull multiple levers – marketing, merchandising, pricing, etc. to drive growth
  • Ensure consistently delivering a value equation that is worth it to the guest across pricing, portion, experience and brand distinctiveness

Qualifications

The successful candidate will be an experienced leader, skilled in developing and executing plans across marketing, strategy and innovation. S/He should have 5+ years of prior job-related experience in restaurant category growth, CPG food or beverage brand management, or related strategic / management consulting. S/he will have experience growing and scaling a category or business. This individual enjoys developing strategic plans and rolling up sleeves to execute and evaluate. S/he will have strong strategic, creative, and analytical skills and the ability to blend art and science.

• Setting Strategy
  • The ability to create and articulate a vision for the dayparts/segments/categories and areas of responsibility with limited oversight
  • The inclination to seek and analyze data from a variety of sources to support decisions and to align others with the organization's overall strategy
  • An entrepreneurial and creative approach to support the development of new, innovative ideas that will stretch the organization and push the boundaries within the industry
  • The ability to effectively balance the desire/need for broad change with an understanding of how much change the organization is capable of handling, to create realistic goals and implementation plans that are achievable and successful
• Executing for Results
  • The ability to set clear and challenging goals while committing the organization to improved performance; tenacious and accountable in driving results with limited oversight
  • Comfortable with ambiguity and uncertainty; the ability to adapt nimbly and lead others through complex situations
  • Seeks data and input from others to foresee possible threats or unintended circumstances from decisions; someone who takes smart risks
  • An independent leader who is viewed by others as having a high degree of integrity and forethought in his/her approach to making decisions; the ability to act in a transparent and consistent manner while always taking into account what is best for the organization
• Relationships and Influence
  • Naturally connects and builds strong relationships with others, demonstrating strong emotional intelligence
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills