Director Own Brands Product Development

Ahold Delhaize USA, a division of global food retailer Ahold Delhaize, is part of the U.S. family of brands, which also includes five leading omnichannel grocery brands – Food Lion, Giant Food, The GIANT Company, Hannaford and Stop & Shop. Ahold Delhaize USA associates support the brands with a wide range of services, including Finance, Legal, Sustainability, Commercial, Digital and E-commerce, Technology and more.

In working partnership with the ADUSA Commercial & Digital functions & Local Brands, the Director, Own Brands Product Development leads and drives the Own Brands product strategies and planning in the assigned categories. This individual will lead a high-performing team of Own Brand Product Managers and Specialists, accountable for business performance and financial results across approximately one-third of the Own Brands portfolio, generating $5 billion in sales.

This role holds close working relationships with Sourcing & Procurement and is responsible for enabling Own Brand Portfolio business performance across sales, profit and penetration in collaboration and support of the Local Brand Category Merchants, along with developing the long term innovation roadmap across all ADUSA Own Brands tiers and brand while phasing product development to ensure timely and on-trend go-to-market, understanding supplier landscape and develops relationships with new and existing suppliers to enable innovation pipeline development, accountability to manage end-to-end product development timeline and steps to enable on-time delivery of projects (e.g., project management).

The Director leads the development of the Own Brands short- and long-term product strategies within assigned vertical; including but not limited to total prioritization of portfolio business plans, performance improvement, annual new item planning & budgeting to meet the needs of category go to market strategies (value, assortment, mix, planograms, etc.), while upholding brand Own Brand standards and completes annual business planning with key suppliers (along with the Category Merchants) and ensures core components of the contract are upheld or escalated properly.

This role requires a leader with strong working knowledge, business acumen, a track record of success and the ability to lead, build consensus, drive transformation, and grow the business. This role will support all ADUSA banners in assigned categories in a multi-state operation with +2,000 stores and will partner with other Own Brands leaders to improve processes & tooling to ensure the team is leveraging a modern & sustainable approach to managing the Own Brands business.

Location Strategy:
Quincy MA, Scarborough ME, Salisbury NC, Carlisle PA, Hyattsville MD. Our flexible/hybrid work schedule includes 3 in-person days at one of our core locations and 2 remote days.

• Responsible for business performance and financial results across approximately one-third of the Own Brands portfolio.
• Leads cross-functional projects from concept through execution, aligning stakeholders, managing timelines, mitigating risks, and ensuring successful delivery of business objectives.
• Influences decision-making across multiple functions and leadership levels, building alignment and driving strategic initiatives in a matrixed environment without direct authority.
• Develops long term product innovation pipeline across all tiers and brands.
• Maintains view of Own Brands product catalog across all brands and tiers.
• Develops new products and reformulates current products to meet category growth goals.
• Recommends appropriate assortment improvements through omni-review processes.
• Owns item development process to ensure on time delivery to shelf.
• Drives efforts to prioritize product delivery to the business to meet own brand financial goals.
• Drive sales, profit, and penetration of Own Brands through product development and management.
• Represents Own Brands regular top-to-top meetings with suppliers to develop scorecards, performance metrics, long range plans, and collaborative opportunities.
• Collaborates with internal stakeholders to build strategic supplier relationships focused on short- and long-term product development pipeline (new and renovation).
• Accountable to monitor/oversee and influence all aspects related to Own Brands in assigned categories, including but not limited to product quality, product specification overall and financial performance, assortment and…