General Manager- Private Label Business
Position Overview
Our client is a leading food and beverage manufacturer seeking a General Manager, U.S. Private Label to lead profitable, scalable growth across its private label business. This role owns the end‑to‑end commercial engine-from pipeline development and RFP pursuits through commercialization and launch stabilization-while ensuring opportunities align with network capacity, operational fit, and overall business economics.
This leader carries full P&L responsibility for the U.S. Private Label business and partners closely with executive leadership to manage cross‑functional trade‑offs related to capacity, mix, complexity, and shared resources.
Key Responsibilities
Strategy & Growth
- Develop and execute annual and multi‑year private label growth strategies, including target customers, channels, categories, and value propositions
- Build and manage a prioritized pursuit roadmap aligned with plant capabilities, capacity, and profitability thresholds
P&L Ownership & Financial Performance
- Own revenue, margin, cost‑to‑serve, and overall P&L performance
- Partner cross‑functionally to deliver annual operating plans and long‑range growth targets
- Ensure disciplined business cases for bids, expansions, and pricing decisions
Commercial Leadership
- Lead and develop teams across account leadership, RFP/bid management, and commercialization
- Drive negotiation excellence, customer retention, and long‑term partnership growth
Deal Qualification & Governance
- Establish rigorous bid qualification standards (feasibility, complexity, service terms, lead times, operational fit)
- Elevate opportunities requiring cross‑business trade‑offs through executive governance forums
Commercialization & Launch Execution
- Own award‑to‑shelf execution including specifications, packaging approvals, item setup, production slotting, and distribution onboarding
- Lead stage‑gated governance and ensure post‑launch stabilization during the first 8-12 weeks
Demand, Service & Complexity Management
- Ensure demand signal integrity in partnership with Demand Planning and S&OP
- Manage customer scorecards, escalations, corrective actions, and service performance metrics
- Actively manage SKU mix, complexity, and margin trade‑offs
Quality, Compliance & Cross‑Functional Execution
- Ensure programs meet quality, regulatory, and operational feasibility requirements
- Remove cross‑functional blockers with urgency and accountability
Executive Communication
- Provide clear, decision‑oriented updates to senior leadership on performance, risks, outlook, major wins/losses, capacity constraints, and margin impacts
Qualifications
- 12-15+ years of commercial leadership experience within CPG and/or beverage manufacturing
- Prior experience in private label and/or contract manufacturing environments
- Proven success leading RFP processes, complex negotiations, and large customer relationships
- Strong cross‑functional leadership across Supply Chain, Quality/Regulatory, R&D, and Finance
- Highly analytical with a strong grasp of economics, cost‑to‑serve, and operational feasibility
- Bachelor's degree required
Preferred Experience
- Beverage category experience (aseptic, ambient, and/or chilled)
- Experience managing broker networks and third‑party retail execution
- Strong commercialization and stage‑gate governance background
- CRM and TPM adoption leadership
- Strategic, data‑driven leader with strong execution discipline and collaborative style
FAQs
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