Senior Brand Manager, Innovation – Mainstream Indulgence

The Senior Brand Manager, Innovation (Mainstream Indulgence) leads the Demand Cluster of Mainstream Indulgence across a portfolio of iconic brands including Breyers, Klondike, and Hershey’s licensed brands (Reese’s, Hershey’s, Almond Joy).

About the role

With 19,000 expert ice cream colleagues and iconic brands like Wall’s, Cornetto, and Ben & Jerry’s, we are the world’s largest ice cream company, leading the industry in 76 countries. We create moments of joy through everyday ice cream experiences. Our culture is high-performance, collaborative, and focused on getting things done—moving fast, trusting ownership, and embracing digital and data to drive decisions.

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end innovation pipeline and renovation strategy across the Mainstream Indulgence portfolio.
• Identify whitespace opportunities grounded in consumer insights, trends, and financial targets.
• Lead cross-functional teams (R&D, Supply Chain, Finance, Sales) to deliver scalable, margin-accretive innovation.
• Balance core, premiumization, and licensed brand expansion to maximize long-term portfolio health.
• Define and evolve clear, differentiated brand roles and positioning for Breyers, Klondike, and Hershey’s brands.
• Ensure each brand has a distinct, ownable point of view while working cohesively within the broader demand cluster.
• Translate consumer, cultural, and market insights into actionable brand strategies that unlock growth with mainstream households.
• Partner with leadership to shape portfolio and brand prioritization decisions.
• Lead development of integrated, consumer-facing campaigns and campaign assets.
• Ensure communications are insight-driven, creatively distinctive, and grounded in product truths.
• Partner with agencies to deliver high-quality creative across paid, owned, and retail channels.
• Drive consistency across touchpoints while tailoring content to channel-native execution.
• Manage and develop 2 Associate Brand Managers (ABMs).
• Provide clear direction, coaching, and growth opportunities to build a high-performing team.
• Foster strong cross-functional collaboration and influence across internal and external partners.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree required; MBA a plus.
• 5-7 years’ experience in brand marketing, preferably in Consumer-Packaged Goods.
• Understanding of digital and eCommerce.
• Clear demonstration of successful, consistent delivery to the business.
• Project management and leadership skills.
• Experience working with agencies and media partners.
• Experience working with different customer channels.
• Ability to operate in a fast-paced, dynamic environment and provide innovative approaches in a team-based structure.
• Ability to deliver both verbal and written communication in a simple, compelling manner.
• Ability to think strategically, both from a brand and portfolio view.
• Values collaboration, clarity, and low-ego ways of working.

What success looks like

• A winning, future-fit innovation pipeline that fuels sustainable growth.
• Clear, differentiated brand roles that shift growth from distribution-led to demand-led.
• Breakthrough communications that resonate with mainstream families and drive penetration.

Culture / Ways of Working

• Category obsessed: Deep passion for ice cream and delivering great taste and experience.
• Consumer-first thinking: Grounded in real needs, behaviors, and occasions.
• Bias for action: Moving with speed in a rapidly evolving, competitive marketplace.
• Collaborative & entrepreneurial: Ready to partner with teams to solve real consumer problems with agile solutions.

Benefits

• Market-competitive pay and performance-related rewards.
• Flexible ways of working.
• Support for health, wellbeing, and life outside of work.
• Time off to rest and recharge.
• Ongoing learning and development opportunities.
• Medical, dental, and (where applicable) vision coverage.
• Health and wellbeing support, including employee assistance programs and wellness initiatives.
• Health-related savings and spending accounts.
• Retirement savings programs with a competitive matching plan.
• Additional employee perks (e.g., corporate discounts, commuter or learning support).