Brand Manager

• Pay or shift range: $130,000 USD to $155,000 USD
  The estimated range is the budgeted amount for this position. Final offers are based on various factors, including skill set, experience, location, qualifications and other job-related reasons.

Ruiz Foods has been family owned since 1964, is one of the largest Hispanic-owned companies in the U.S., and is the proud maker of two #1 brands:
El Monterey®, America's #1 frozen Mexican food brand, and Tornados®, a convenience-store favorite on the roller grill. Guided by our values of Innovation, Integrity, Quality, Respect, Safety, and Teamwork, we're looking for a Brand Manager who's ready to shape the future of our food service business and grow their career with a company that invests in its people and its brands.

• Real ownership and visible impact: Lead strategy, innovation, and P&L results for brands sold in convenience stores and food service outlets nationwide.
• Room to grow: Work side by side with senior leadership and cross-functional partners, with tuition reimbursement to support your continued development.
• A culture that feels like family: Join a company built on family values, entrepreneurial energy, and a commitment to giving back to the communities where we live and work.
• Competitive rewards: Competitive base salary with bonus opportunity, health care coverage, life, accident and disability insurance, 401(k), and an Employee Assistance Program (EAP).

• Experience: 5+ years in brand management, innovation, product marketing, or category management in food manufacturing or food service
• Must-have: Proven success developing food products and leading cross-functional commercialization from concept through launch
• Strongly preferred: Convenience store or food service channel experience
• Education: Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business, Food Science, Culinary, or related field; MBA preferred

As Brand Manager, you'll lead brand, portfolio, and go-to-market strategy for our food service business, which serves convenience stores and other food service outlets. You'll turn consumer, operator, customer, and channel insights into differentiated products, compelling customer solutions, and profitable growth plans. Partnering closely with Sales, R&D, Operations, Finance, Category Management, and Supply Chain, you'll take ideas from concept through commercialization and in-market performance, and you'll lead change by building alignment around new strategies and ways of working.

• Set the strategy: Build annual and long-range brand, portfolio, channel, and go-to-market plans aligned with company growth and profit goals.
• Find the next big opportunity: Identify unmet consumer, operator, distributor, and customer needs and turn them into clear growth platforms.
• Lead innovation end to end: Drive new product and renovation initiatives from concept and validation through launch and post-launch optimization, starting with clear product briefs that define needs, cost, pricing, margin, and success measures.
• Deliver great food: Partner with R&D, Culinary, Operations, Quality, and Supply Chain to create finished goods that excel in taste, quality, ease of preparation, hold performance, food safety, and operator profitability.
• Win in every channel: Build strategies for roller grill, hot case, grab-and-go, vending, education, healthcare, and other food service occasions.
• Equip Sales to win: Develop differentiated positioning, value propositions, selling stories, and launch plans that gain distribution and drive velocity.
• Build the brand: Lead campaigns and marketing communications across traditional, trade, and digital media.
• Own the numbers: Manage…