Brand Manager in London

About Deliciously Ella

Deliciously Ella’s mission is to help people eat real food again, with more plants, more of the time. We are growing fast and we’re looking for talented, passionate, purpose-led people who share in our mission to help us get there. Every day, we work to cultivate positive change, sharing delicious, natural, plant-based recipes and food products with the aim of building the world’s leading plant-based platform. Starting from a recipe website, the business has evolved into a restaurant, a range of plant-based food products, an app, a collection of bestselling recipe books and a growing social media community that sits at the heart of what we do. We launched our first food products in 2016 and have since launched a wide range of products across different categories. We work with all the major grocers and OOH retailers across the UK. We also have a growing international business in the US and Europe.

Working at Deliciously Ella

We have around 75 team members across two sites. Our factory site near Milton Keynes produces some of our best-loved products like our energy balls, caramel cups, nut butter bites and dipped nuts. Our Head Office is based in the heart of central London, on Tottenham Court Road, and this is where our Leadership Team work, alongside our Commercial, Finance, Supply Chain, Marketing and People teams. We are part of Hero Group. In Hero UK&I our brands are Organix, Goodies and Deliciously Ella.

Purpose of the role

Responsible for proactively managing, with the support and guidance of the Marketing Manager, the implementation of UK Annual Business & Brand Plans including performance management of existing foods and development & execution of NFD & EFD projects to deliver continued profitable growth for Deliciously Ella, to be measured in terms of sales, market share and gross margin. Support the Global rollout strategy for Deliciously Ella.

Key Responsibilities/Accountabilities:

• Performance Management and Portfolio Execution
  • Manage the day-to-day performance of the portfolio identifying risks, opportunities and required activations.
  • Ensure range fits brand positioning, strategy and our audiences evolving needs.
  • Understand the business P&L and track the range gross sales and profitability targets, flagging areas of concern when appropriate to the Marketing Manager.
  • Support the delivery of the annual portfolio SWOT analysis, working with the Commercial and Category teams, with associated action plans to drive growth and efficiency.
• Market, Consumer & Shopper Insight & Analysis
  • Develop a thorough understanding of our consumer and shopper needs in order to identify risks & opportunities and action plans.
  • Working with the Category Team, use all relevant market and shopper data to understand market performance and dynamics.
  • Work with Marketing Manager, Commercial Teams and Category Teams to develop proposals and briefs for key insight generation projects.
  • Deliver and execute a monthly research plan using the engaged ‘DE Lab’ audience.
  • Evaluate research outputs and translate insights into clear recommendations for the business.
  • Disseminate findings to cross functional teams to inform decision making and future planning.
• Portfolio Development & Execution
  • Manage the development and delivery of the 2–3 year UK Innovation roadmap working closely with UK Marketing, Commercial, Food and Factory teams and aligning to the Global Wholesome Goodness Category Strategy and local market opportunities.
  • Responsible for managing and driving forward NFD and EFD concepts/projects from ideation stage, through pipeline stages to launch ensuring seamless project & process management with all key stakeholders and aligned to Hero processes (IMT / D2P / Local Reviews / Commercial Planning Mtgs etc).
  • Ensure all projects meet customer needs and are delivered on time, to budget, to include development of packaging & claims.
  • Create compelling, insight-driven selling stories for NFD & EFD that create ‘wow’ moments for customers and drive retailer engagement.
  • Work with sales on category management reviews, range reviews, space planning and other customer facing presentations.
  • Provide post evaluation of all NFD and EFD projects against clearly defined KPIs including sales and activity results, learnings and best practice, for presentation to internal key stakeholders.
  • Participate in Ideation sessions to identify new food innovation ideas and work to develop these through to concept stage.
  • Ensure brand and packaging guidelines are adhered to and executed to the highest standards, elevating any future improvements.
• Brand & Communication Plans – Development and Implementation
  • Plan and develop a cohesive and stretching annual brand plan together with the Deliciously Ella Marketing Manager and Digital Marketing Manager.
  • Use influencing skills and personal impact to excite and engage key stakeholders in the brand communication and activation plans.
  • Day-to-day implementation of the brand plan and activities, on time and within budget – working cross functionally and with internal marketing, shopper marketing and commercial teams and externally with agencies / brand partners / Ella as required.
  • Support Marketing Manager in the development of advertising and media planning.
  • Manage the implementation of the media plan, the PR plan and other activations.
  • Liaise with the Digital Marketing Team on campaigns ensuring seamless execution.
  • Overall day to day marketing budget management & tracking.
  • Evaluate all activity against defined KPIs to ensure ROI is optimised.
• Pricing & Promotional Strategy
  • Support in-market pricing and promotional benchmarking across the Deliciously Ella portfolio.
  • Support in the development of strategic pricing recommendations to support brand positioning, competitiveness, and profitability.

Your team

This role can be based either in London or Bournemouth and your key relationships internally will include: All Hero UK&I teams including Marketing, Commercial, Shopper Marketing, Category, Food Development, Supply Chain, Finance. All key stakeholders within Hero business – Marketing Excellence, Category Teams, Other countries Marketing teams. And Externally: Packaging & Design Agencies; Advertising & Media Agencies; PR, Influencer, Experiential and Sampling Agencies; Other brands for brand partnerships / Collaborations.

What you will bring (skills and experience)

• Degree level or equivalent.
• Strong experience in brand management, portfolio strategy, or innovation within FMCG.
• Experience leading cross-functional teams and influencing stakeholders at all levels.
• Demonstrated experience developing and executing innovation pipelines (NFD/EPD).
• Strong commercial acumen with the ability to translate insights into compelling selling stories.
• Excellent analytical skills with experience in performance management and portfolio optimisation.
• Ability to manage external partners and build productive, long-term relationships.
• Strong communication and brief writing skills, particularly for research and creative development.
• Confident working with research platforms and methodologies (e.g., VYPR).

Desirable Skills

• Experience in health focused FMCG categories.

Other Skills

• Energy, tenacity and enthusiasm.
• Consumer first mentality.
• An ambitious, team player attitude.
• Keen problem-solving skills – able to use ‘gut instinct’ balanced with analytical evidence.
• Strong influencing and communication skills at all levels and cross-functionally.
• Attention to detail.
• Personal integrity.
• Be a role model for the Hero Values: Take Responsibility, Create Wow, Nourish Others and Everyone Hero.