Brand & Category Manager – Talent Pool - Rainbow Chicken

For decades, Rainbow Chicken has been a trusted name in South Africa's poultry industry — known for quality, resilience, and innovation. As we continue to grow, we're looking for exceptional leaders to help shape the next chapter of our journey.This opportunity is part of our Management Talent Pool— a proactive initiative to identify and engage top talent ahead of future leadership needs. While there may not be an immediate vacancy, joining the talent pool means you'll be considered for upcoming roles aligned to your skills and experience as they arise.If you're passionate about driving excellence, sustainability, and feeding the nation, we invite you to express interest and become part of our pipeline for future leadership opportunities. Key Responsibilities A degree or diploma in marketing or business management (3 years) Valid Code EB drivers' licence 3 - 5 years relevant experience in a similar environment Main Responsibilities Brand Management Participate in the formulation of the Chicken marketing strategy.Formulate the brand SIA targets in consultation with the Marketing Director and ensure alignment with the national targets.Drive the achievement of the brand SIA operation targets.Operationalise and implement the marketing strategy in the marketplace and with the category team.Drive the brand building execution programme with the category team.Liaise with advertising creatives to devise comprehensive marketing strategies and conduct the briefing and management of the daily agency requirements.Facilitate brand audits and inputs at customer cycle meetings.Coordinate events, promotions, marketing project and advertisement campaigns for the brand(s). Develop the pricing strategy and maintain strong insights into financial income statements to ensure the development of profitable innovations and profit management of existing products.Liaise with the category team to develop new instore promotional initiatives.Liaise with the NPD team to develop new packaging or new products. New Product Development and Marketing Research Lead branded NPD projects with cross‑functional teams and external service providers (ingredients suppliers, agencies etc). Conduct relevant analysis to identify strengths and weaknesses in the brand portfolio / strategy by reviewing purchased data or proactively scanning other sources.Lead market analysis through a variety of mediums such as market research, consumer research and product research. Information Analysis, Management and Reporting Provide detailed and precise reports to illustrate trends, predictions and relevant strategies.Analyse and interpret a wide range of key data – research reports, financial income statement, media reports etcProvide forecasting input with the category and customer teams into the S&OP forecasts.Provide regular reports on brand results and activities and integrate corporate objectives into their brand management strategies.Analyse information daily to ensure targets are being met. Financial Management Formulate and manage the brand budget on a monthly basis.Meet budgetary targets.Manage fixed and operational assets ensuring they are utilised optimally.Formulate and control approved NPD budgets. Organisational Efficiency Participate in BU Exco. Meetings to bring to life, research findings and activation updates.This should include any bigger business issues that require resolution.Drive efficient working relationship with the Category Teams, Marketing, Sales, Operations to ensure effective delivery of the Chicken strategy.Participate in the Cycle Planning Process and ensure your brands has a body of activity at necessary levels for each quarter, covering innovation and activation.Implement and simplify appropriate business processes to increase organisational effectiveness and efficiency. People Management When and if there is a direct report to this role : -Lead and develop staff within the context of the Labour Relations Act, Employment Equity Act, Basic Conditions of Employment Act and the Skills Development Act.Monitor staff performance in line with the Talent Management system and provide feedback to ensure high performing teamsManage staff activities, ensuring service levels are met and protocols are adhered to.Coach and support staff where necessary to achieve objectivesManage and deliver on succession plans to enable the development of a future generation of leaders and specialists and ensure optimal turnover and retention levels are maintained.Champion staff training and development through the utilisation of available training opportunities or contributing to the development of new training solutions in collaboration with HRDrive employment equity within the team to ensure that diversity is achieved at all levels and that statutory targets and requirements are met.Conduct regular meetings and ensure that records are kept and shared across the team and that action plans agreed to within team meetings are delivered uponYour Assistant will need direction from you and workload regulation in line with your priority project and on‑going needs. Category Manager Category Management Analyse shelf health (on‑shelf availability, right forward share, best shelf position). Analyse pricing data (from relevant pricing tools). Monitor product availability, visibility and affordability and consolidate feedback into actionable plans for the customer team to implement.Use and leverage specific category insights.Execute brand standards (brand DNA) and support development and execution of channel‑specific brand standards.Measure and review category performance; retail / wholesale margins and customer profitability.Clean and analyse scan data provided by customers / distributors.Create specific shelf planograms for customers / categories, ensuring fair share of shelf not only for Rainbow brands but also competitor brands.Conduct periodic updates of planograms with new launches.Conduct periodic reviews of planograms and ranging to ensure maximised shelf efficiency communicate with all account management and sales operations on any implementation initiatives to ensure smooth operation execution.Information Analysis, Management and ReportingProvide detailed and precise reports to illustrate trends, predictions and relevant strategies.Analyse and interpret key data.Provide regular reports on category resultsAssist in the production of reports, data, presentations and any other items deemed necessary to support the sales function. New Product Launching Develop and deliver new product launch plans in the trade, with required analysis and feedback.Support new product introductions for listing into mix. Customer Relationship Management Ensure that critical customer information is available to the customer team. Identify customer information requirements. Follow up and ensure that sales team initiatives (customer plans) are effectively implemented with the identified customers. Prepare, analyse and present category reviews to customers and interact with customers on assortment analysis, category performance and ranging. Category Planning Support the annual joint business planning process through data analysis and opportunity identification. Run customer‑specific category management projects. Integrate research insights into the category process for actionable on‑ground deliverables. Performance Evaluation Measure and review category performance and customer profitability. Consolidate business dashboards, scorecards and measurement. Conduct category performance analysis (incl. causes of deviation). Financial Management – Trade Show Manage the trade show budgets within agreed limits and ensure that all initiatives are shown to be commercially sound. Meet budgetary targets. South Africa Published Date : 02 October Closing Date : 30 June #J-18808-Ljbffr